MASS DRAG

How the Catholic Church Came to Bless Gay Love… Again

Five drag nuns. One gay bar.
A thousand years of queer history
the Church would rather you not know about.

The Congregation Is Growing Follow the Sisters. History beyond the heels. The Word behind the wimple. First access when tickets go live.

Please enter a valid email address.

No spam. No selling of souls. Unsubscribe any time.

You’re almost in.
Watch for a note from Sebastian at sebastian@massdrag.org to confirm — check Spam, Promotions, or Other if it doesn’t turn up. The Sisters have been known to get lost in the mail.

Next Stop

Rochester, NY Sept 15–18, 2026 · 8 PM · Biltmore Bar & Lounge · Rochester Fringe Festival · $23 · 16+

Get Tickets →

Following the show beyond Rochester? Get email updates — no ticket required.

Please enter a valid email address.

You’re in — watch for a note from sebastian@massdrag.org.

Also Touring

Easton Mountain · Greenwich, NY Aug 14–15, 2026 · 7 PM · Part of Gay Spirit Camp 2026

Geneva, NY Nov 5, 2026 · 8 AM–9 PM · Hobart & William Smith Colleges

Sisters of the Blessed Canon

See It

Teaser Video

From the March 2026 table read — 20+ participants, standing ovation.

Mass Drag · Table Read Teaser · March 2026

The Show

It’s October 9, the anniversary of the canonization of Saint John Henry Newman — a Victorian cardinal who loved another man for thirty-two years, asked to share his grave for eternity, and was made a saint anyway.

Five Sisters of the Blessed Canon are performing a High Drag Mass in a gay bar. They follow the full structure of the Catholic liturgy — processional, readings, homily, offering, communion, recessional. But the sacred texts are Newman’s love letters, Vatican dossiers, and a saint who turned up missing from his grave.

Why do we keep asking for the blessing
of an institution that has tried to bury us?

Part queer history lesson. Part liturgical comedy. Part revival meeting.
Original book, music, and lyrics.

Four Performances Only · Sept 15–18 · 8 PM Nightly

Get Tickets → Not ready yet? Get email updates instead

A Timeline

4th–13th
Centuries Documented same-sex union ceremonies in the Catholic Church

14th–17th
Centuries Men tried by Church inquisitions for sodomy, then burned at the stake

1890 As insisted in his will, Cardinal Newman is buried with his beloved Ambrose St. John

2008 Cardinal Newman’s grave exhumed, to have his remains separated from Ambrose St. John

2019 John Henry Newman canonized — a saint who asked to share another man’s grave for eternity

2026 World premiere at Rochester Fringe Festival. The Sisters are ready.

The Playwright

James Lopata

Book, music, and lyrics

Master of Theological Studies, Harvard Divinity School
Harvard Institute of Coaching Fellow
Studied playwriting under Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott
Cantor for several decades in Catholic parishes, including the landmark 1998 Rochester LGBTQ Catholic Mass under Bishop Matthew Clark
Soto Zen Teacher
Grammy Voting Member
Founder, Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce

He knows the history in this play from the inside. The Catholic liturgy, the queer grief, the spiritual hunger, the dark comedy of an institution that keeps blessing and erasing the same love. Mass Drag is the show he was always going to write.

Only Four Performances

Sebastian, Personal Assistant to the Sisters of the Blessed Canon

Come to Mass.

You know it’s been too long. Sebastian · Personal Assistant
Sisters of the Blessed Canon

Tickets on sale July 14 · $23 · Biltmore, Rochester NY

Get Tickets → Not ready yet? Get email updates instead $23 · Sept 15–18 · 8 PM · Biltmore Bar & Lounge