A Drag Liturgy in One Act
MASSDRAG
How the Catholic Church Came to Bless Gay Couples … Again
Five drag nuns. A gay bar.
A thousand years of queer Catholic history
the Church keeps trying to erase.
One High Drag Mass.
It's October 13, 2044 — the 25th 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 Perpetual Indulgence 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.
The Sisters argue all night about whether to pursue beatification for their fallen Sister Donna Wanna Noh. Underneath that argument is the show's real question: 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.
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James Lopata wrote the book, music, and lyrics for Mass Drag.
He holds a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a Harvard Institute of Coaching Fellow. He studied playwriting with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott and spent years as cantor at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan — one of New York's most celebrated progressive Catholic communities. He has more than thirty years of Zen practice and founded the 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.
Support the Show
No institution behind this. No university department, no foundation grant already in place. Just the work, and the people who believe in it.
We're Building the Team
Mass Drag is a world-premiere musical targeting Rochester Fringe Festival, September 2026. We're assembling a small, passionate core team. If this show speaks to you — the history, the drag, the liturgy, the irreverence — we want to hear from you.
All roles are compensated. Stipend amounts depend on final budget. Production currently in fundraising.
Help Us Get to the Stage
No institution behind this. No university department, no foundation grant already in place. Every dollar goes directly to production — cast, costumes, venue, and the music that makes it sacred.
- Name in the program
- Production updates
- Name in the program
- Behind-the-scenes dispatches
- Name in the program
- Invitation to dress rehearsal
- Boa
- Name in the program
- Dress rehearsal invitation
- Two tickets for a Fringe performance (pending availability)
- Name in the program
- Two tickest to opening night
- Post-show reception invitation for 2
- Signed script
- Permanent name on massdrag.org
- Two additional tickets to a Fringe performance
- Additional opening night reception invite for two
- Signed script + personal note
Crowdfunding campaign launching April 2026. Email now to be notified — or to give directly today.