A new master's thesis about nuns peforming plays and musical compositions in the 20th century in the Cistercian monastery of Magdenau has been accepted in Vienna. Sister Veronika Kucharová describes celebrations within the monastic enclosure on various occasions like name days of  the abbess. This study presents documents (among them, plays written by nuns) from the abbey archives, especially those written by Maria Sophia Gimmi between 1937 and 1947. The study concludes with a theological reflection on the monastic joy of celebration as the expression of lived Christian faith.

Die niederösterreichische Theaterlandschaft war und ist stets von einer großen Vielfalt geprägt. Im Rahmen der diesjährigen Tagung des Vereins für Landeskunde von Niederösterreich werden einige ihrer Aspekte herausgehoben und in mehreren Vorträgen vorgestellt: Die Bandbreite reicht vom kirchlichen und höfischen Theater über die Theaternetzwerke im 19. Jh., den Theaterunternehmerinnen im 19. Jh. und der Theaterzensur 1848/1850 bis hin zur Architekturgeschichte. Als Veranstaltungsort wurde beispielhaft ein Theater (das im Neukloster!) gewählt, das stellvertretend für viele andere im Land mit großem Engagement Produktionen „auf die Bühne bringt“. (Aus der Tagungsankündigung)

In order to accentuate the Marian dimension of the Blessed Sacrament, Abbot Armand-Jean de Rancé replaced the tabernacle in La Trappe with a statue of Our Lady holding a pyx containing the Eucharist. The abbot wrote an inscription highlighting the honor of Mary bearing God. Some found it shocking, but defenders claimed it was an ancient Cistercian tradition, although no one has been able to confirm that.

The theater publisher Albert Langen / Georg Müller in Berlin used a cheap but charming cover for low-budget scripts, like this play (Onkel Theodor by Selma Lagerlöf). 

By simply opening the cover, readers noticed that it had a window in the style of a stage. The effect was a little like the curtain rising in the theater. These covers were applicable to any play, since the title of the play was printed on the title page which, originally, seemed to be part of the cover. 
Other publishers used this technique in more prosaic ways, e.g. for the cost-efficient publication of dissertations.

The recently deceased American stage director, designer, and architect Robert Wilson (1941–2025) was famous for monumental, hypnotizing stage designs and a drastic reduction in gesture and action. Although far away from Catholic monasticism in his own daily life, his style had something "Cistercian" about it, and his interests consistently returned to the narrative forms of parable or folk tale. Howard Fishman noted that spiritual matters form the core of Wilson's work (1). 
The Temptation of St. Anthony, staged in 2003, was a treatment of Flaubert's 1874 novel. Wilson and Bernice Johnson Reagon, a founder and codirector of Sweet Honey in the Rock, joined forces to portray temptation and ascetic self-control in the life of the famous fourth-century hermit saint who is considerd "desert father" of Christian monasticism. 
Wilson's production explored the themes of faith, temptation, and perseverance in ascetic life. Also: must monastics live in isolation or should their Christian charity compel them to serve others?
The result is a more joyous production than one might have expected: "it's all about hope," said one performer.  Another religious aspect of Wilson's work is his extensive work with amateur performers. He founded “The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds,” a loosely-organized group of volunteers and amateur performers who worked with him for nearly a decade. Catholic performance culture is almost always reliant on amateur performers. 
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Today (12 August) is the day of commemoration for Blessed Isidore Bakanja, who was introduced to Catholicism by Trappist monks in what was then a Belgian colony. They baptized him and catechized him at St. Eugene Parish, which was likely given that name as a reference to the Cistercian pope Eugene III.
The Trappists introduced African children, Isidore among them, to two popular devotions: the rosary and the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel. For Belgian monks, these two devotions were standards, although few in today's Belgium would know what they are. Isidore gave his life for these devotions.
While working as a bricklayer, he was told by a Belgian plantation owner who hated Catholicism that he must remove the scapular from around his neck. When Isidore refused on several different occasions, he was repeatedy flogged, sustaining wounds that would kill him. 
Isidore is a reminder of a few things: first, Trappists were missionaries in Africa. They did not live in strict enclosure. They even taught in schools. In fact, it was a Trappist priest who visited Blessed Isidore as he was dying and gave him Divine Unction.
Second, missionaries may have cooperated with colonial enterprises in order to gain access to the unchurched, but they did not share the same ideological outlook. The plantation boss hated the faith and flew into a rage when he saw Isidore praying the rosary. Colonialists and missionaries are not to be regarded as one and the same group.

Nina Sontag (1811–1879) had a successful stage career in northern Germany before entering the Cistercian Abbey of Marienthal in 1846. She had first tried the Discalced Carmelites, but did not have the stamina for their severe penances. That may have been providential, since she had more opportunities to sing as Sister Juliane, her name as a Cistercian nun. 

This advertisement shows that she performed in Drury Lane Theater together with her sister Henriette in June, 1829. Nina was then only 17. Her career had begun even earlier: when she was 14 she had der debut as an opera singer in Berlin.

This photo shows a scene from Frank Rebitschek's modern play, Schwestern, which describes the relationship between Nina and her 

Often summer is the time for induction (or vesting) ceremonies, that is: young men entering the novitiate. The Rule of St. Benedict (RB) is very minimalistic when describing the ceremony, but the Rule of the Master (RM) goes into more detail, even dramatic detail. RM preceded RB.
George Klawitter explains in his 1981 article that after the chapter had been informed and assented to the candidate's wish to begin monastic life, the next day after prime a type of playlet took place in the choir stalls or in the chapter house. The candidate interrupts the exit procession and asks the monks to pray for him and then grabs the abbot's habit and asks to be admitted. Of course, every one knows how the dialogue will end; the candidate receives the habit. The play is the induction ceremony.  
Klawitter shows that early monastic rituals could be very emotional. A melodramatic tone is documented in Gallican prayers. It might seem exaggerated to some. The Rule of St. Benedict, by contrast, is much more austere and discreet. Benedict's version of induction has endured more or less intact to the present day in Benedictine and Cistercian communities.
The RM ceremony is to be found in Adalbert de Vogüé, La Règle du Maitre (Paris 1964) vol. 2, pp. 372-377, qtd. in George Klawitter, Dramatic Elements in Early Monastic Induction Ceremonies. Comparative Drama 15.3 (1981) 213-230.