By Elaine Yaw, Assistant Professor of Journalism

“And I have promises and miles to go, And I have promises and miles to go.”

These are words the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) community knows well. They come from the College’s Ring Song, and anyone who has heard the SMWC Madrigals sing those words can hear them echo.

It is out of a promise that “I Sleep, But My Heart Watches” returns to the SMWC campus Oct. 16-19. Sharon Ammen, in a campus email, shared the promise she made to Sue Pietrus, SP, Ph.D., while sitting on the back porch of Corbe House on campus four days before Pietrus died. Pietrus was a professor of music at SMWC and director of the College’s Chorale and Madrigal ensembles, and she passed away on Sept. 13 after a brief battle with cancer.

“I promised her that I would do this production for her and that I would make her proud and that I would fill the auditorium with love and music,” wrote Ammen, associate professor of theater, of her Sept. 10 visit with Pietrus, a professor of music at SMWC since 1980.

“I Sleep, But My Heart Watches” made its debut in the fall of 1998 as a tribute to Mother Theodore Guerin for her beatification. Now, it returns in celebration of her canonization in 2006.

Ammen put the production together during her first year at SMWC. “I saw I had some talented students in music and theater and thought we could write a play within a play celebrating Mother Theodore’s beatification,” Ammen said.

Having read Guerin’s letters and journals, Ammen found a way to add some humor to the story. She began to write the dialogue for the students, envisioning four students with very distinctive personalities and thought Guerin would have some advice for them.

One student at that time wanted to have a Gilbert and Sullivan song in the production, and that led Ammen to a line that would be the seed for the whole production.

“I was goofing off one day and it came into my head: ‘I am the very model of a modern day Mother Theodore,’” Ammen said of the line modeled after the catchy patter song from “Pirates of Penzance.” Ammen ran with it. Discoveries in the conservatory basement, where she found plays written about Guerin in the 1950s, kept her going. From those pages she borrowed serious material to balance the melodrama of Guerin’s fight with the bishop about land, putting Guerin in a white cowboy hat and the bishop in a black cowboy hat. And then she created the four student characters.

“I made one student a little bit shallow and concerned about the costumes,” Ammen said. “She’s the one who always does the Gilbert and Sullivan line, ‘Oh we can have cute costumes.’” This character is Carrie, who will be performed by Tiffany Rusin, a freshman professional writing major from Brazil, Ind.

Ammen made another student organized and impatient. “She tries to do the entire story as a documentary,” she said. This is Sara, performed by Ashley McDonald, a sophomore pre-professional major from Brazil, Ind.

“One student is really religious and wants to do a serious piece,” Ammen said. This character is Jennifer and will be performed by Hannah McGrayel, a freshman women and theatre major from Nashville, Ind.

The fourth student is a free spirit, alternative lifestyle gal, according to Ammen. “She studies women’s studies and discovers the first post-Roman playwright was a woman named Roswitha. So she wants to do some of that,” Ammen explained. This is Delia, performed by Maggie Roberts, a freshman equine training and instruction major from Ballwin, Mo.

The cast also includes seven students performing the roles of a young Guerin and her companions. Whitney Kos, a senior from West Terre Haute, Ind., who is majoring in English and middle/high school education, is the younger version of Guerin. In the roles of her companions are Morgan May, a junior music therapy major from Terre Haute, Ind., as Sister Basilide; Danielle O’Connor, a sophomore women and theatre major from Greenwood, Ind., as Sister Liguori; Jill Storm, a sophomore music therapy major from Madison, Ind., as Sister Francis; Magen Hammons, a freshman business administration and pre-veterinary major from Indianapolis, Ind., as Sister Vincent; Camielle Larrick a freshman art major from Bolingbrook, Ill., as Sister Olympiade; and Shauna Lampley, a freshman digital media and graphic design major from Fairfield, Ind., as Sister Xavier.

Ann Casper, S.P., executive director of the Office of Congregational Advancement for the Sisters of Providence, returns in her role as the older, wiser Mother Theodore Guerin, which she performed in the original production 10 years ago. She appears at the end, standing behind each student, giving advice, with lines right out of her journals.

To help her keep her promise to Pietrus, Ammen sent an e-mail to the SMWC community asking for everyone to donate time, sewing supplies, and carpentry and networking skills. She now hopes that the College and local communities will assist her in filling the auditorium with love and music.

“Tell everyone you know to come, bring everyone you know,” Ammen said.

“I Sleep, But My Heart Watches” will be presented in the Cecilian Auditorium of the SMWC Conservatory of Music building on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 17, and Saturday, Oct. 18, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 19 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and children 12 and over; children 11 and under are free. Students at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Indiana State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Ivy Tech Community College will also be admitted for free with a valid student ID. Discounts for groups of 10 or more are also available. Tickets can be reserved in advance or purchased at the door. To reserve tickets or to get more information, contact the SMWC Music and Theatre Information Line at 812-535-6211.