Ave Maria Living.com
Ave Maria, Florida – the town with a Catholic heart.©™ Stories & information for residents & visitors.Archive for Performing Arts
Patrick Cassidy, composer of “Calvary” soundtrack, visits Ave Maria
It is not very often that a film with an overtly Catholic theme portrays people of orthodox faith in a positive light, portrays them realistically and without saccharine, and offers the viewer an experience of truth, beauty, and goodness. Rarer still do both critics and audiences laud such a film (see National Catholic Register’s Steven Greydanus, First Things, Roger Ebert, New York Times, Patheos, The New Yorker, and Rotten Tomatoes).
That film, Calvary, is currently playing in theaters here in the Naples area and throughout the United States. You can view the trailer here. You can listen to the soundtrack here and here.
This week, the man who composed Calvary’s soundtrack and score, Patrick Cassidy, and the producer of the soundtrack, his brother Frank Cassidy, have been visiting Ave Maria, Florida. 
Hailing from Ireland but now living in Los Angeles, Patrick’s artistic accomplishments speak for themselves. People in town might recall that Patrick wrote the “Ave Maria” that was played during the unveiling of Marton Varo’s magnum opus, the “Annunciation” sculpture that graces the façade of the Oratory (click video to listen).
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Because I’m happy – it’s Easter
Because I’m happy – Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I’m happy – Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I’m happy – Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy – Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do
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To celebrate this incredibly joyous occasion of Easter, please enjoy “Happy” performed by the Ave Maria University’s Shakespeare in Performance troupe as a prelude to What You Will. Lyrics are from the hit song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.
Tickets to What You Will are free but you must reserve seats in advance at AveShakespeare@gmail.com. All shows are held in the Academic Building, room 1019 at Ave Maria University. Dates and start times are below:
Wed, 4/23: 7:30 PM.
Thurs, 4/24, 7:30 PM.
Fri, 4/25: Sold Out!
Sat, 4/26, 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM
Sun, 4/27, 2:00 PM
All evening shows begin seating at 7:00 PM, pre-show starts at 7:15, doors close at 7:30. Afternoon shows begin seating at 1:30 PM, pre-show starts at 1:45, doors close at 2:00.
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Shakespeare’s What You Will at Ave Maria: a jester who seriously enjoys acting
Name: Nicholas Ciavarra
School: Ave Maria University
Major: Humanities
Graduation: 2015
Troupe: Shakespeare in Performance at AMU
Play: What You Will (aka Twelfth Night) (click here for tickets April 16-27)
Years with the troupe and various jobs and roles: This is my second year with the troupe. Last year, I played the role of Claudio and this year I am playing the role of the clown, Feste. I performed at the Ave Maria Scholarship Dinner too.
How did you discover and become part of Shakespeare in Performance? I transferred to Ave Maria in the fall of 2012 from a prestigious Liberal Arts college in Massachusetts, where I was pursuing a theatre minor. Whenever I told someone at Ave Maria about my interest in theatre,
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What’s up at Ave Maria University?
The 3rd Annual AMU Scholarship Dinner was held on Feb. 20, 2014 at the Ritz-Carlton, Naples.
Someone in the know had this to say:
The whole video is great: Cog Audino juggling during Jim Towey’s speech, Myra’s passion about the Performing Arts Center, and everything. But if you really want the goods, check out Travis’ troupe at 1:50 when Andrew Olson, Michael Stewart, Nicholas Robert George Ciavarra, John C Miller, Peter Atkinson, and Andrew Heim rock out to One Direction.
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Mother Teresa at the Ritz
AMU had its big gala tonight (at the Ritz). The legendary Myra Daniels (may God bless her and this project more and more) and President Towey seem well-positioned to raise the millions needed for the new performing arts theater and Mother Teresa museum. I am a big supporter of this very worthy project, which will be about 300 yards from my front porch. But I couldn’t stop laughing at the first sentence of this story (close your eyes and imagine a wrinkled Sister in a white sari tapping her toes to the music):
Click to read the original article’s first sentence
which brought this book to mind:
Monsignor Albacete’s book “God at the Ritz” is excellent (if you live in town I’ll loan it to you)
UPDATE: As ever, the Ave Herald has the best coverage of the gala:
“You have blessed me by giving me the chance to do this,” Mrs. Daniels said. “This is the most exciting thing I have done. It’s needed, it’s wanted, and it will change the life of the students.”
and of the dedication of the temporary home of the Mother Teresa Museum:
Sr. Lima Marie told the group, “I really feel the presence of Mother here. Anyone who visits won’t be the same person when they come out of this room.”
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Location of the new Ave Maria Center for Truth, Beauty and Goodness* and Mother Teresa Museum
For those who are curious, we have pieced together exactly where the Ave Maria Center f
or Truth, Beauty and Goodness* will be located. Today AMU issued a press release with this site plan:
According to the clues provided in the Ave Herald, we can overlay the site plan onto the official county map of Ave Maria to see exactly where AMU plans to build the performing arts center and Mother Teresa museum:
[*not its real name]
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Big news: Ave Maria Center for Truth, Beauty & Goodness* launches this week
After a year of whispers, the news finally leaks out as Ave Maria University gets ready for its annual gala: a new $10 million performing arts center is planned. The Ave Herald has the best details (they usually do).
May this facility ever be to God’s greater glory and may God bless Myra Daniels.
[*not its real name]
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