Matthew LaBanca lost his jobs as a Catholic school music teacher and church musician in October 2021 after the Diocese of Brooklyn learned he had married his husband, Rowan. Now his one-man show about that experience, Communion, is planned for live performances in Portland in the coming months.
LaBanca wrote and performs Communion himself, a show that the production describes as exploring LGBTQ+ identity, faith, rejection and belonging.
The Portland engagement is presented in partnership with Diversity as Gift, according to BroadwayWorld.
From a Queens Classroom to Off-Broadway
LaBanca spent ten years as a music teacher at St. Joseph's Catholic Academy and as music director at Corpus Christi Church in Queens before he was fired. Per FOX 5 New York, his termination followed his August 2021 marriage to Rowan, with the Diocese of Brooklyn citing a failure to comply with Catholic church moral standards. LaBanca said a committee deliberated for almost six weeks.
OregonLive reports that LaBanca was offered a severance agreement in exchange for his silence, which he declined. The diocese had offered him three months' salary, but the deal came attached to a 10-page nondisclosure agreement that would have barred him from speaking publicly about the firing, according to Religion News Service.
That decision eventually became the seed of Communion. The show grew out of earlier solo workshop presentations before making its official Off-Broadway debut from Nov. 7 through Dec. 8, 2024, at Nancy Manocherian's The Cell Theatre in New York City, according to Call Me Adam. LaBanca has worked as a performer, teacher and church musician.
Faith Intact, Even After Rejection
Despite the firing, LaBanca said the experience changed his relationship with faith. He said he hopes audiences come away with a greater understanding of the pain caused by religious discrimination, and he has been clear that Communion is not meant to attack religion but to open conversations about inclusion within faith communities.
In March, the story reached a different kind of audience when an hour-long feature film adaptation directed by Bill McGarvey held its world premiere inside the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, a Jesuit parish on Manhattan's Upper East Side, according to Religion News Service.
A Story That Resonates Beyond New York
The Catholic LGBTQ advocacy group New Ways Ministry has found that more than 100 LGBTQ employees and allies at Catholic schools and parishes nationwide have lost their jobs since 2007, according to Outreach.faith. The group notes that terminations have been connected to LGBTQ identity and relationships.
Legal recourse in these cases is limited. Under the U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 ruling in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, the ministerial exception can prevent courts from adjudicating claims by employees found to perform important religious functions, according to Oyez. LaBanca later told his story through a stage show.
Communion's planned Portland performances will bring LaBanca's story to a new audience.
