Mass Drag

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Tonight’s Cast

HWS student and faculty readers bringing Mass Drag to life for tonight’s staged reading, Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

Sister Maggie

Yan Pang

Sister Anita

Cameron Smith

Sister Mercy

Reagan De La Cruz

Sister Tommy

Tionbre “Tea” Austin

Sister Jude

Muira Kreher

Stage Directions

CJ Luna

Music Director & Arrangements

Katherine Snelling

Book, Music, Lyrics & Direction

James Lopata

The Gathering

When and where

Tue Nov 3
7:30 pm

The Reading, about 70 minutes, then a conversation with the audience. Coxe Hall, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York. All are welcome — yes, even you.

Getting there. Park in the Medbury lot (it fills up, so circle if you need to). Walk south onto the Quad. Coxe Hall is on the west side, and Bartlett Theater is straight ahead inside the front doors.

The Show

About Mass Drag

Five drag nuns hold a High Mass in a gay bar and trace a thousand years of queer Catholic history, from medieval brother-making rites to Cardinal Newman’s shared grave to the AIDS wards of the 1980s. The audience is the congregation: they sing, answer “Present” for the dead, and pass a blessing hand to hand. Funny and serious in turns, the play is, in its author’s words, “a love letter to the Church” written with candor, humor, charity, hope, and love. It premiered to sold-out houses at the Rochester Fringe Festival in September 2026.

The Scholarship

Sources and open questions

Mass Drag stands on real history. Some of it is settled; some is argued over by serious scholars, including people of faith who read it differently than the play does. This sheet shares many sides so you can decide for yourself.

The Liturgy

The program

The full order of service for tonight’s reading — every song and every word, in order, so you can follow along and join in where it invites you to.

The Book of Witness

Going deeper

Mass Drag: The Annotated Reader is the companion book to the show — the complete script, with every historical claim annotated, plus a set of readings that tell the stories behind the scenes. Two excerpts, shared for tonight’s reading:

Each annotation carries a reliability marker — verified, scholarly consensus, interpretation, disputed, or the Sisters’ own Chapter Tradition — so you can tell what’s documented from what’s argued. Keep going at massdrag.org.

The Announcements

Know before you go

• It is a reading. Scripts in hand, nothing to memorize. Mostly seated or standing at music stands, with a few simple staged moments.
• The audience is the congregation. You’ll sing the refrains, answer “Present” during the Naming, and pass a blessing hand to hand. Singing along is always optional — speaking the words, or just listening, works too.
• Play it straight. Camp is welcome, but the comedy lands best when the stakes are real.
• Content note. The show is affectionate, funny and serious in turns. It includes sharp satire of Church officials, campy innuendo, frank discussion of burnings for sodomy and of the AIDS epidemic, and a spoken litany of names of people who died. One scene is an angry generational argument between two Sisters.
• Stay for the conversation. After the 70-minute reading, there’s a conversation with the cast and creative team.

Mass Drag · Fringe

The Original Cast

The world premiere at the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival 2026, The Biltmore Bar & Lounge, Rochester, New York. September 15 to 18, sold out.

Sister Maggie

Dino Kolios

Sister Anita

Sean Scott

Sister Mercy

Tim Stuff

Sister Tommy

Dylan Burley

Sister Jude

Terry Quataert

Swing & Assistant Director

Paul Scheib

Music Director & Arrangements

Katherine Snelling

Book, Music, Lyrics & Direction

James Lopata

Produced by The Newman Project, James Lopata, Executive Producer, with the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival 2026.

Contact

Questions?