Originally commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. in 1971, Mass was composed by Leonard Bernstein based on the Tridentine mass of the Roman Catholic Church. Featuring an eclectic mix of genres that includes rock, jazz, Broadway, blues, opera and hymns, Mass uses this large-scale musical canvas to examine one celebrant's crisis of faith. Jeff Award-winning director Dominic Missimi first staged the production on Northwestern's campus in 1991, describing the piece as "a work that defies categorization." Presented for one weekend only with new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz in consultation with Jamie Bernstein and featuring the Red Rose Children's Choir of Lake County, MASS remains as artistically and socially relevant today as when it first premiered almost 40 years ago.