Sanctuary Arts Series brings silent film, live musical accompaniment, and cultural programming to downtown Reading
Reading, MA — First Congregational Church of Reading is home to many arts programs in Reading. This November, the church continues to offer arts and cultural programming with a screening of “The Scarlet Letter,” a silent film that premiered 100 years ago.
The screening takes place in the historic sanctuary in downtown Reading on Friday, November 6, at 7 PM. Jeff Rapsis, a local silent film historian and musician, returns to the church to provide live, improvised musical accompaniment for the screening. The event is free and open to the public thanks to a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant awarded by the Reading Cultural Council.
The church first hosted Rapsis in 2024 for a screening of “The Phantom of the Opera” as part of its Sanctuary Arts Series.
In 1926, MGM adapted the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter into a silent film starring Lillian Gish as Hester Prynne. The film follows Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic, in which a young Puritan woman, after having a child out of wedlock, is pressured to reveal the name of her lover.
“Music is tremendously important to our church,” said Rev. Emelia Attridge, pastor of First Congregational Church of Reading. “It always has been. Today, it lives out in our music ministries, including our choir, 20-piece orchestra, and handbell ensemble, as well as in how we steward our building as a home for the arts. For decades, our church has been where musicians come to rehearse, perform, and learn, thanks to non-profit programming from groups like Creative Arts, the Reading Community Concert Band, and the Middlesex Concert Band. The Sanctuary Arts Series seeks to promote the programming and events of these organizations, and supplement that programming with more downtown arts and culture programs in our historic sanctuary.”
The screening is part of the church’s Sanctuary Arts Series, an initiative to partner with local musicians, artists, theatre, and arts organizations to host arts and humanities programming in its historic 113-year-old sanctuary in downtown Reading. The church functions as Reading’s “home to the arts” and, through local grant funding from the Reading Cultural Council, offers arts and cultural programs in addition to the many arts events and programs that happen at 25 Woburn Street. Earlier this fall, performer Audrey Stuck-Girard came to the church to portray Abigail Adams to an audience of about 50 people from across the wider Reading community as another Sanctuary Arts program.
About First Congregational Church
First Congregational Church of Reading, United Church of Christ is an Open and Affirming congregation in the heart of downtown Reading, Mass. Founded in 1770, the church continues to support the community of Reading as it has for the last 256 years.
Contact office@churchofreading.org 781-944-0205
25 Woburn Street
Reading, MA 01867 www.churchofreading.org www.facebook.com/churchofreading
