Dramatic Reading “Having Opened the Book” Features Mother’s Response to Daughter’s Journal

The Caldwell University Tower Poets will present “Having Opened the Book”, a dramatic reading of poetic texts produced by Caldwell University staff member Mary Ladany who lost her 23 year old daughter suddenly in 2009. The event will be held on Mon. March 31 at 6 p.m. in the Alumni Theatre on campus.

“Our daughter Kate was killed, when running through Fairmont Park in Philadelphia, a tree branch fell and struck her. In August of 2013 I found a journal which Kate had kept from when she was 12 until the year she turned 16,” explains Ladany at the beginning of the presentation. Since last summer Ladany has been crafting responses to her daughter’s journal. The poetic texts have been developed into a compelling piece of readers’ theatre.

“Having Opened the Book” features a quartet voicing 20 individual poems beginning with a call and response between mother and daughter and opening into a tapestry of dreams and memory, sacred scripture, ancient masters, and biblical verses.

A celebratory reading was held on March 9 at the Hamilton Stage in Rahway and elicited profound audience response. Ladany, Professor Lindroth and Anna Cahill and Kathleen Kelly of Montclair were the readers. 

At the March 31 reading, Caldwell University student Melissa Pascucci will be one of the readers. The event is open to the campus community.