Though thousands of miles from home, she still understood the sermon. It was in Latin, her Sunday morning tongue. Strangers around her went through the motions—sitting, kneeling, standing. It was thrilling to find such familiarity amid so strange a land.

It ended. She left the church, resuming her loneliness exactly where she left off. This isn’t right, she thought. I’m empty. I am not connected.

She sat on a nearby bench, looking across the plaza. Boys played soccer. Men threw bocce balls. Reflexively, she pulled out Rosary beads, pinching one of the beads between her knuckles. Her eyes wandered down to the beads.

Will I never slice through this spiritual scar tissue? she wondered. These beads imbue me with nothing.

Then—a crash. She looked up: an old woman was face down on the concrete, arms flailing like a crab.

The boys ran over, pulling the woman up gingerly. Then the men. She saw it: genuine empathy. One boy offered the toothless woman gum—the men laughed.

That moment was more spiritual than all her decades at Church. She stood, crying. Then went over to see how she could be of any assistance.

Her Rosary beads stayed behind.

 by Ross Pruden

 

 

Jillian Boshart considers herself to be an amalgam of her time spent in Spokane, Utah and Seattle. One part small town gal, one part obedient and naive, and one part rainy liberal who feels really guilty about using two paper towels. Jillian has been sing-songing since she was five years old, with her “My First Sony” microphone in hand. Like most major events in her life it was a happy accident that got Jillian acting and improvising–playing games of pretend in the backyard with babysitters and other scrappy neighborhood kids. Precocious! When she was a young’un she got the opportunity to sing with Johnny Cash, at the Vatican, and she also performed as an actor at the Kennedy Center. She is completely astonished at these opportunities, feels very blessed and lucky, and hopes they keep coming! She became a “real actor” in high school and went on to obtain a bachelors degree in musical theatre from Weber State University. While at school she became one of the founding members of GAF, an all female sketch and improv ensemble. Since moving to Seattle Jillian has spent much of her time performing on Seattle stages. She has worked with Wing-It Productions, Balagan Theatre, Pony World Theatre, Ghost Light Theatricals, Stone Soup Theatre, Unexpected Productions, and many others. Favorite scripted roles have included Leanne in Cannibal: The Musical, Cathy in The Last Five Years, Sarah Jane Moore in Assassins, and Abby in Musical of Musicals: The Musical! She also performs burlesque as “Sara Dipity,” and was recently seen in Whedonesque Burlesque: Burlesque Inspired by the Works of Joss Whedon and the Tuesday Tease. She thanks you for your support of Revelation, and hopes you enjoy it.