Previous Collaborators
Presented by Oratorio, Bread & Wine put on “Theatre & Christian Vision,” a fundraiser and performance exhibit on March 1st 2026. The event featured speeches from Owen Brown and former board president, Bo Hanley. Ms. Hanley documented the progress of the organization and laid out its vision for the future while Mr. Brown highlighted the role that theatre plays in shaping a Christian vision for life and the place of theatre in Christ’s kingdom. The event was held at St. Francis De Sales Oratory. Bread & Wine would like to give a special thanks to Canon Coggeshall, Abbé Alex, and James Marck for the success of the event.
The featured exhibit of this event was the first ever performance of Vicki Riba Koestler and Owen Brown’s new play, Encircled with Ice. This imagined epilogue of Wilder’s classic one act has been termed by Stephen Rojcewicz, M.D., Ph.D., as “a perfect homage to Thornton Wilder’s The Long Christmas Dinner.” Rojewicz’s fellow Thornton Wilder Society BOD and Thornton Wilder Journal editor, Lincoln Konkle, Ph.D., touts in a similar vein that “this new play would make a great companion piece to LCD in a professional production.” The staged reading was directed by Owen Brown, starring Tara Laurel as Lucia III, Riley Schelmbauer as Lulu, Amy Sterner as Andrea, Nicholas Urbanowicz as Tyler, and Haley Clegg as Jen. A review of the production was written by Axel Liimatta and published by the Thornton Wilder Scoiety.
Oratorio’s mission is “To enrich with performing arts the shared effort to keep St. Louis a beautiful place to live, starting with Fox Park, the neighborhood surrounding St. Francis de Sales Oratory.” Bread & Wine is thankful for their phenomenal work in the areas of music, dance, theatre, and more to restore Christian patrimony in the arts. For those interested in learning more, James Marck recorded a wonderful podcast episode with Bread & Wine artistic director Owen Brown on “Beauty: A Universal Human Desire” accessible on Spotify.
Babette’s Feast was a new step in innovation and collaboration for Bread & Wine. We were also able to bring in professional quality dancers from to highlight the mystical elements of this wonderful tale. A special thanks to Eileen Gannon for her brainstorming to make this happen and of course to dancers Pippa Gutting and Lucy Marie. These dancers served as the angelic representatives of the unification of heaven and earth brought about through the show’s climactic meal. In the words of critic Richard Green, “Lucy Marie and Pippa Gutting whip up their own magic spell with three great intervals of disciplined Irish dance. The style is dissonant, but transporting on a primal level, as a kind of road sign to the enchantment of the people of Berlevåg.”
For over four decades, St. Louis Irish Arts (SLIA) has been preserving and promoting Irish culture in St. Louis, Missouri. From its humble beginnings in the basement of Helen and PJ Gannon’s home, the school has grown and prospered and it is now one of the most successful Irish music and dance schools in North America. More than 4,000 students have passed through the doors of St. Louis Irish Arts. The ethos of the school has always been to instill a love of the music, song and dance in the child. Unlike many US cities, St. Louis does not have a large population of first-generation Irish immigrants. Consequently, many of the students at SLIA have little or no Irish blood. Enrollment in the school is not dependent on Irish heritage!
The Historic Sappington House has been a wonderful partner for Bread & Wine Theatre Company. From helping us develop the script for Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the Murder to inviting us to perform the inaugural production of an early version of it at their spirits of the Sappington House to lending us costumes for Babette’s Feast to hosting our Christmas Short Play Festival for its first two years. We hope to continue to collaborate with them for years to come.
The Thomas Sappington House Museum in Crestwood, a St. Louis suburb, is on the National Registry of Historic Places and is tucked away in a 2.5-acre park, featuring lush lawns and a small lake with a fountain. A stunning and rare example in Missouri of Federal architecture, popular from 1780 to 1830, the historic structure still stands at its original site and is bordered by period flower and herb gardens which appear as they did over 200 years ago.
KTK Productions has served as one of Bread & Wine Theatre Company’s most valuable collaborators in 2026. They are an outstanding community theatre that has served as the epitome of excellence in St. Louis for the past forty years. Their wonderful KTK North stage served as the home for Babette’s Feast; they wonderfully sourced set pieces, costumes, and props without hesitation; they have been assisting with various other needs such as rehearsal venues; and as a company with years of experience, they have served as a fountain of knowledge for our leadership team as we develop our organization.