Griselda Steiner — Poet, Playwright

A longtime resident of Westbeth, Griselda Steiner is a playwright, poet, feature-article and screenplay writer. Griselda’s poetry compilation The Silent Power of Words is currently available on Amazon. She has read her poetry at the Cornelia Street Café, Episcopal Actors’ Guild, 92Y, Tribeca Cafe, Duplex Club, Poetry House, and the Mexican Consulate in New York City. Many of her poems appear in literary journals and online.

Griselda’s plays have been read at Polaris North Theatre, the Actors Studio, Episcopal Actors’ Guild, Angelica’s Salon, and Village Playwrights. Scenes from her screenplays Da Vinci’s New World Order and The Goddess in Exile have been published in Scene4 online. Her feature articles have appeared in the Mailer Review, American Theatre, Parabola, Filmmakers Newsletter, Scene4 online as well as many other publications. Her poetry videos are featured on her YouTube channel.

Introduction

This poem is from my play Mary M and the Mad Prophet, which follows the New Testament story of Jesus with two Mary Magdalenes—one a whore and the other a bride. After the crucifixion, Mary the Bride, who is pregnant with Jesus’s child, travels to Alexandria, Egypt, where she awaits escape to France. After the birth of her child, she becomes a preacher.

Detail from Appearance of Jesus Christ to Maria Magdalena by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov.