For The Love Of Me at Spencertown Academy Arts Center

It’s 1886: A young woman packs her few belongings and her determination into a

shabby bag, boards a coffin ship in Dublin landing in the rat-infested streets of New York

City. After a year with the rats she finds work on her knees scrubbing floors in the

household of the famous artist, Frederick Church—Olana—in the Hudson Valley. At

Olana, life changes for Emilia. She begins to understand her desires and her gifts

through the connection with the Churches and others. Her dreams expand. But with the

changes, come unexpected challenges.

A young man, who has made the same journey tends the barn animals. His

conversations with the horses give him an idea: write a book—Parables From the Barn.

A Catholic priest, intent on saving souls, pays particular attention to the Irish servants

residing in Protestant households. The Church is a weapon against faithlessness and

he is the savior—a maniacal one obsessed with Emilia. What happens when these

three souls cross paths? What happens to the dreams and deep-seated beliefs when

confronted with the realities of class, ambition and vulnerable human drive?