Annie Finch
poet, speaker, performer
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Poetry Witchual Theater

Poetry WITCHUALS

Where Magic & Poetry Meet

Inquiries & BOOKINGS
 

Poetry Witchuals bring poetry home to its heart, interweaving ancient rhythmical language patterns with music, dance, and ritual transformation. They are a joyful offering to address our society’s urgent needs for authentic meaning and hope.  

Through a fusion of poetry, theater and ceremony in collaboration with puppetteers, dancers, clowns, musicians, and other artists,  Poetry Ritual Theater performances are designed to mark the seasons of our world and our lives, such as Winter Solstice, Samhain/Halloween, Valentine’s Day, or Earth Day; as well as Coming of Age, healing, or the dedication of a building.  

Each Witchual involves inspirational performance and interactive ritual. Evolved through decades of dedication to poetry, mythic and spiritual transformation, and ritual performance, this unique form of ceremonial theater addresses folks of any faith and background.

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” wrote John Keats, another poet who shares Annie’s birthday of October 31. Whether a creation of our amazing NYC Witchual troiupe, a traveling solo performance, a jazz or folk collaboration, or a full-scale theater production engaging the skills of a local community, each Poetry Witchual production offers the audience a gateway into a unique, transformative experience of the beauty inherent to the intersection of poetry and spirituality.

Our group of Poetry Witchualists are always interested in new possibilities for performance themes, audiences, or venues. If you’re interested in learning more about participating in Poetry Witchual as a collaborator, supporter, event sponsor, or audience member, please do get in touch –and remember to sign up for our newsletter!

InquirIES & BOOKINGS

SOME Previous Performances

Inquiries & Bookings

MEDUSA AND THE MIRROR

A snaky, slithery empowerment ceremony of Divine Feminine power. Annie was joined by performance poet Jane LeCroy and harpist Anna Balakis for a Goddessful celebration of Beltane and Walpurgis at the Historic Blue Moon Hotel on New York’s Lower East Side, with Rumi translations by Haleh Liza Gafori performed by Giancarlo Luiggi.

 

REMEMBER VULVA POWER 

Sacred Display ritual honoring the Divine Feminine power.  Reclaiming the ancient worldwide rite of Sacred Display, we honored the eminent scholar of sacred display, Dr. Miriam Robbins Dexter, as the culmination of a community-wide five-stage initiation ceremony. Brewed up by a collaborative group of women under the guidance of Annie Finch for attendees of the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology conference in New Mexico.  

 

ABORTION HEALING READING & WITCHUAL

Ceremony of cleansing and empowerment within the healing cauldron of the Goddess.    
Sponsored by Annie’s Artist Residency at Space Gallery, Portland, Maine, this performance ritual  opened with a community reading from her anthology of literature on abortion, Choice Words. The evening incorporated the talents of local musicians, dancers, writers, and clowns and culminated in an optional interactive audience ritual.. Produced, directed and performed by Annie Finch, Reverend Devin Green, and Circe Moss McDonald. Music by Myra Robinson. Opened with a community reading from Annie’s anthology Choice Words.

 

A SEED FOR SPRING EQUINOX WOMB-HEALING & PERFORMANCE 

Fusion of music, poetry, and healing ceremony for women, interweaving the tale of Persephone and Demeter with dance and chant for the Goddess Oshun.
 Collaborative Goddessful celebration of the divine Feminine at 4th Universalist Society, Central Park West, New York.  Performed by Annie Finch, Deborah Roth, and Graciela Asher and featuring a world premiere of “Seed for Spring Equinox” with music by Matthew Harris

 

WINTER SOLSTICE DREAMS 

Annie Finch as Poetry Witch performs the fertile gifts of darkness and the cauldron of light in a theatrical staging of pageantry, music, song and ritual spiraling together Solstice ceremony, goddess mythology, and poetic incantation. 
Premiered at Deepak Homespace, NYC.  Produced by Rozanne Gold and directed by Vera Beren with Annie Finch as Poetry Witch, music composed by Matthew Harris and performed by the Triple Goddess Chorus.

 

SAMHAIN VEILS

Annie’s spine-chilling, inspiring performance of poems, spells, and curses for the Witch’s new year, Halloween, when the veil between the worlds of dead and living is the thinnest.
Solo show produced, written, and performed by Annie Finch. Premiered at LaPop Cultural Salon, Washington DC

 

CALLING IN THE MAGIC OF PLACE 

A ceremony and performance to bless and connect with the spirit of the place where we are.
Premiered at Stonington Opera House, Deer Isle, Maine. Sponsored by the Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Forum, with music by Church of the Morning After.

 

THE STORY OF ANNIE’S FIVE DIRECTIONS 

“Five Directions” is a collaborative presents the path of Annie’s development as a witch, weaving poetry with invocation, dance, mask, song, and story. 
Premiered at Mayo Street Arts in Portland, Maine, produced and directed by Lady Zen (Alzenira Quezada), featuring Annie Finch as Poetry Witch with music by Paul Servizio, belly dance by Joie Grandbois and Dark Follies and vocals by Vincent Finch-Brand.

 

ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES 

A Goddess miracle play of  interactive ritual theater centering on the Eleusianian Mysteries and the esoteric dance of sacred display. 
Premiered at the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, San Antonio, TX. Produced, directed, and performed by Annie Finch with music and performance by members of the Austin, Texas Goddess Circle.

 

SUMMER SOLSTICE DAWNING 

Interactive poetic ritual theater focused on themes of creativity, fertility, and empowerment.
Premiered at A Room of Her Own Conference, Ghost Ranch, NM, produced and directed by Annie Finch with participants in Poetry as Ritual workshop.

 

CHANT FOR THE SUN 

Ceremonial solo performance of “Summer Solstice Chant” for liberation and creative opening.
Premiered at the Ministry of Culture, Republic of the Congo.

 

THE FURIOUS SUN IN HER MANE 

Ritual dance theater invocation of seven Goddesses  
Dancers in sacred choreography channel the seven Goddesses of Annie Finch’s poetic sequence: Aphrodite, Brigid, Changing Woman, Coatlique, Eve, Inanna, Rhiannon, Spider Woman. Premiered at Hearst Center for the Performing Arts, Cedar Falls, Iowa.  Produced and directed by Annie Finch,  music composed by Laura Manning Beck, choreography by Georgia Bonatis, masks by Marie Francois.

 

THE MOON AND THE SNAKE 

Ritual theater performance of an original short play by Annie Finch.
A dream play about fear and transformation.  Premiered at Cloudhouse Poetry Archive, San Francisco, May 1989, produced, directed, and performed by Annie Finch,  music by Glen Brand and performance by Francesca DeGrandis.

 

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SCOTLAND 

Collaborative ritual theater performance of the entire ‘libretto version’ of Annie’s first book The Encyclopedia of Scotland.
Premiered at Brooklyn Art Theater and at Hampshire College, 1982, produced, directed, and performed  by Annie Finch, costumes by Alix Baer and music by Roy Finch and Fiction Music Ensemble.