Fr. John Foley, SJ
Composer
Fr. Foley, one of the founding members of the St. Louis Jesuits, is known for his liturgical music, including The Cry of the Poor, One Bread One Body, and Come to the Water. A composer of classical music, his works have been performed by the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, and members of the St. Louis Symphony. Currently director of the Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University, he writes (Creativity and the Roots of Liturgy, Pastoral Press, 1994) and lectures on liturgy and liturgical music.

Fr. Ernest Ferlita, SJ
Playwright
Fr. Ferlita's first play, The Ballad of John Ogilvie, was produced off-Broadway in 1968. He's had others produced off-off-Broadway: The Obelisk, Black Medea (which was named Dramatic Production of the Year at the 5th Annual Black Theatre Festival), and, most recently, Two Cities, a double bill of one-act plays: The Mask of Hiroshima and The Bells of Nagasaki. He is author of The Uttermost Mask, a book on Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, and librettist for Dear Ignatius, Dear Isabel and Edith Stein, operas composed by Fr. Kevin Waters, SJ. Fr. Ferlita is a professor of drama at Loyola University of New Orleans.

Br. Michael Breault, SJ
Theater Director
Br. Breault, artistic associate at Circle in the Square in New York for the 1995-1996 season, has also been resident director at the Cleveland Play House and artistic associate at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. His directing credits include Guy World (New York Shakespeare Festival), As You Like It (Great Lakes Theatre Festival), and Avenue X (Dallas Theater Center). He won Ohio Live Outstanding Achievement in Theatre awards for his directing of The Taming of the Shrew in 1994 and Bovver Boys in 1990, and is currently directing Bad Blood, opening in January in New York, and What the Butler Saw, opening in March in Cleveland.

Fr. George Drance, SJ
Dance and Drama Teacher
Fr. Drance taught theater at Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota and is studying for an MFA in acting at Columbia University. He has performed and directed for teatro la fragua in Honduras (see article) and Theatre YETU in Kenya. A company actor with La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club of New York, he played the roles of Laius and Tiresias in a European tour of Oedipus. He has performed with the American Repertory Theater and ImprovBoston, a weekly improvisational comedy and theater group.

Fr. Francis Guentner, SJ
Professor of Music
From 1957 to 1989 Fr. Guentner worked at Saint Louis University's music department as instructor, professor, and, later, chair. He taught music theory and music of the baroque, Renaissance, and modern periods. For thirteen years he gave preconcert lectures for St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performances. He has directed the Saint Louis University Mastersingers, a madrigal group, and has edited and published numerous chansons, balletti, canzonette, villancicos, and other works of Renaissance music.

Fr. Robert O'Connor, SJ
Composer
Fr. O'Connor was one of the original St. Louis Jesuits, a group that wrote, performed, and recorded liturgical music; he contributed songs and guitar to many of their recordings in the '70s and the '80s. Since then he has written and recorded two other collections of liturgical music: Rise Up in Splendor: Music for Children That Adults Can Sing (OCP 1988), and Behold the Glory of God: Music for the Easter Vigil (OCP 1992). He serves as Catholic chaplain at the Presbyterian Macalester College in St. Paul; he also directs the choir for Jesuit functions in the Twin Cities, including (above) ordinations at St. Luke's in St. Paul. The goal of his work as musician, liturgist, presider, preacher, and workshop speaker is to enhance prayer.

Fr. Kevin Waters, SJ
Composer
Fr. Waters, professor of music at Gonzaga University in Spokane, has written numerous works of music, including operas, masses, and choral settings in large form, some of which have been performed by the Seattle Symphony. His opera Dear Ignatius, Dear Isabel was produced at Loyola College in Baltimore and Loyola University of New Orleans and was telecast by KSPS-TV in Spokane. His Psalm 150, for chorus and symphonic band, was commissioned by the University of Scranton. The Seattle Girls Choir and the Spokane Area Children's Choir performed his A Child's Psalm of Creation; Gonzaga University's Wind Ensemble premiered his In Dulci Jubilo, a set of variations for concert band; and the Gonzaga Symphony Orchestra premiered his Clare Symphony this October.