The Rain Said Samsara

As veins of lightning discharge through the twilight sky, the classical music Marissa had been listening to on the radio is replaced by the chaotic sounds of many channels bleeding through static. The mingling voices from the radio fill her with a longing for something she cannot identify. As she navigates her way home through the dangerous storm, quarter sized raindrops begin to splatter on her windshield. There is thunder overhead, bringing with it a sudden cloudburst. The rain comes down in a deluge. As she concentrates on the road, the windshield wipers rapidly switch back and forth from a blinding veil of rain, to brief moments of clarity. In this concentrated state her level of receptivity is heightened. The rain takes on a frequency of its own. Out of its ambient sound a word is formed. The rain said “SAMSARA”. Marissa knows this word. It means reincarnation and the resolution of karma. The electrical charge of the lightning ignites memories imprinted upon her soul. Like an intricate karmic tapestry woven in the light, vivid images of past incarnations flood her senses. Incarnations with Michael, the man she loves. A man she first met three hundred years ago.

The fantastical, magic, debut novel from Mary Reynard Liss. Mary has lived a life dedicated to the arts. She has travelled the United States as a dancer, living on a show train, a free spirit hitchhiking through Mexico, South America, Canada and the USA, and as an actress, director, singer and vocal coach living in Chicago, Colorado and California. She has travelled through Europe and the Middle East. She has studied, performed, directed and taught opera, acting, Shakespeare, dance, yoga and film. She now lives in California writing her novel, as well as several screenplays and television treatments while performing in films.

Mary Reynard Liss began her career, at the age of 16, as a dancer with The Claire Powell Debutants. She travelled the United States on a “show train” where she

lived in a state room while performing at State Fairs.

After graduating from Elk Grove High school, where she earned the Outstanding Senior Award for Dance, she studied opera at Northwestern University with

Norman Gulbrenson. She left Northwestern to hitch-hike through the United States, Mexico, South America, and Canada with her boyfriend, settling in Boulder

Colorado where they lived on a commune in the Rocky Mountains. While in Boulder Mary performed at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The Nomad

Players, and other performing venues, including a dancing stint with Martin Mull at the legendary nightclub: Tulagi’s. She studied Yoga with Swami Satchitananda

and became a founding member of the Integral Yoga Institute of Boulder, where she taught yoga classes and hosted Swami Satchitananda’s visits to the United States. She also studied pantomime with famous French pantomime artist Samuel Avital, and taught dance at the Boulder Free University and at Spring School, an alternative high school.

After leaving Boulder Mary continued her operatic training at The American Conservatory of Music with Gisela Goettling. There she was named one of their top ten students and went on to teach musical comedy workshops for them, as well as directing operettas. While studying there she was cast in a musical version of Lysistrata, directed by Chicago legend Ted Liss, whom she married. Soon they were team teaching his renowned acting workshops. During this time, she also studied with and then began team teaching improvisation with Second City legend, Del Close.

Mary travelled to London, England to study Shakespeare at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. There she befriended instructors David Parry, and Geoffrey

Connors, the vocal coach to the National Theatre of Great Britain and The Covent Garden Opera. She organized and produced trans-Atlantic seminars for them in Chicago affording local actors the opportunity to study with them. At their request she helped David Parry and June Kemp to launch the successful London

Shakespeare Studio.Mary received her SAG/AFTRA card from Hollywood icon Joanne Woodward in Ms. Woodward’s directorial debut: Come Along With Me, for PBS. She has worked in various projects with Sharon Stone, Michelle Phillips, Micky Rooney, Mel Brooks, Steven Railsback, Robert Davi, Teri Polo, and Frank DiFilita.

Currently she can be seen on Amazon Prime, Hulu and other streaming platforms as Anita Russo, costarring in Four Cousins and a Christmas for Cappricielli Productions with Maria Capp directing. She performed the role of Winnie Thompson, costarring in four episodes of Family Values for J&R Productions, written by and starring Jayson Bernard, which streamed on Amazon Studios and other venues. She was featured in All I’ve Got and Then Some, directed by and starring Rasheed Stephens, which premiered at The Slamdance Theater Festival

and went on to win awards on the festival circuit before finding distribution at theaters around the United States. At their request, the script has been archived

at The Academy of Moton Pictures Arts and Sciences. She also appeared in the award-winning short film, Patrick for ffsfilmsllc, and the award winning comedy

series Kombucha Cure, directed by Cecilia Choi, streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Tubi.

As a director Mary has directed the award-winning short film RPG, written by and starring Joseph Gandurski, which has been shown worldwide, as well as directing documentaries on Allen Ginsburg, Jerry Brown, The Homeless of Chicago and many other subjects. Onstage her favorite roles include, Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) Billie Dawn (Born Yesterday) Abigail Williams (The Crucible) Medea (Medea) Irma Cronkite (Picnic) Miss Wonderland (Dylan) and Cinderella (Cinderella).

As a stage director she has directed acclaimed and controversial productions of A Body of Water, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, Hamlet and many others. Some of her favorite projects include developing and directing Dear Murderess, with Emmy Award winner Elaine Madsen and producing and directing A Christmas Carol for CHRIS Radio at The Chicago Lighthouse for The Blind, with the Chicago Civic Orchestra providing the soundtrack.

During the pandemic Mary put her time to use writing her novel: The Rain Said “Samsara”, as well as several screenplays, television treatments and limited series,which she is working to get produced in Los Angeles, where she now resides, while performing in films.