California Revels copes with loss of leader Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer
IN 1986, Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer realized a dream by staging a production of "The Christmas Revels" at Mills College. The theme that year was Medieval England.
"Revels" was then and remains part of Revels, Inc., a national organization founded by John Langstaff in 1971 that celebrates the winter solstice with a grand pageant full of music, dance and storytelling. The group has grown and flourished over the years, and this month there are "Revels" performances in 12 cities, including Oakland.
Mayer, known as Lisby by her many friends and colleagues, founded California Revels out of an interest she'd had since childhood in the shortest day of the year and the idea of light in the darkness. California Revels is the local group that produces "The Christmas Revels" each year at Oakland's Scottish Rite Theatre.
"The winter solstice falls on the shortest day and brings on the longest night of the year," Mayer wrote. "Across the centuries, people have chosen this time to acknowledge and celebrate the cycle of light and darkness, good and evil, life and death, that governs all our lives."
For the first time since California Revels was founded, Mayer won't be part of the show.
Mayer, who was also a psychoanalyst, author and teacher, died last January at age 57 of complications stemming from intestinal scleroderma.
California Revels celebrates its 20th production this year by dedicating the show to Mayer and returning to the Medieval England setting that introduced "Revels" to local audiences.
David Parr, a longtime director of the "Revels" productions, is the new artistic director of California Revels, and he says Mayer was the soul of the group.
"She was the person we all looked to for re-stating our purpose, for expressing our reason for being," Parr says. "She could articulate the elusive spirit of 'Revels' better than anybody about how it develops a sense of community and how we take that community into the wider world and invite people in every year."
Parr, who works alongside executive director Dirk Burns, a large creative team and a board of directors, says that in addition to losing Mayer, the company lost a major funder when the City of Oakland failed to provide an annual grant this year.
"A significant portion of our operating budget has disappeared, but we are resolved to continue producing 'The Christmas Revels' and expanding our program the way Lisby wanted us to," Parr says.
Executive director Burns says that he, Parr and the entire Revels team are forging ahead, but it's just not as easy without Mayer.
"Lisby had a lot of connections," Burns says. "Her fund-raising skills were almost as phenomenal as her many other skills. As executive director, I can tell you, I really miss that. It was a big learning curve for me to pick up that slack. We've also had to help our board become more of a fund-raising board."
Any expansion for the company depends on successful fund raising, but Parr and Burns say they would like to see California Revels become a source of year-round celebrations — of the summer solstice, of the fall harvest and of All Hallow's Eve.
Though finances are tight and promise to be a continuing challenge, Burns points out that there's something in place for the first time this year: The Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer Endowment Fund.
"It gives us a little bit of a nest egg," Burns says, "'and some security so we can continue moving forward."
Cal Revels also has a new CD, one of Mayer's last projects, celebrating 20 years of "Christmas Revels" performances with live tracks recorded over the last two decades.
With the loss of an organization's "soul" comes reflection, reorganization and re-dedication. Parr says there are no major changes in store for California Revels and adds that Mayer is greatly missed but hardly forgotten.
"When you lose someone as important and as loved as Lisby, you realize everybody carries a little bit of that soul," Parr says. "She left a bit of herself in every one of us, so she's not really gone. She's really present in all that succeed her."
— Chad Jones