Local News

Sharing an adoption story

Documentary features graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville

STEUBENVILLE -- A year of filming for a documentary about music, travel, adoption and divine providence culminated in a birth mother and her biological daughter uniting on stage for a farewell concert at Leonardo's Coffeehouse on Aug. 3.

Kate Stapleton, harpist and vocalist for the musical duo the Stapletons, was joined on stage in the coffeehouse's third-floor ballroom by her biological daughter, Brigid Ambuul, a Franciscan University of Steubenville graduate and singer-songwriter in the trio Acaciawood.

Ambuul's Acaciawood bandmates, vocalist Aislin Hilgeman and violinist Luna Oppus, would return to their homes, coincidentally in the West Coast. The band formed in 2022 while they were students at Franciscan. Since then, they have gained momentum, performing in Pittsburgh, New York and at First Fridays in Steubenville.

Hailing from Pittsburgh, the Stapletons are composed of Kate and her husband Casey Stapleton, who have been married for 14 years and have six children. The concert was the first time the two groups had played music together on stage, Kate Stapleton said.

The ballroom's seating was filled with supporters, flanked by cameras filming for the documentary with the working title "The Inner Seas." The concert was a sort of parting celebration for Ambuul, who would soon return home to California in preparation for her wedding on Oct. 7.

"I feel like it's not a farewell at all," said Kate Stapleton, who had reconnected with Ambuul while the latter was attending Franciscan due to their close proximity. "It's been wonderful, and I'm super excited for her as she moves on to her new life and gets married."

Stapleton said the concert was the "final piece" for "The Inner Seas," which blends stories of The Stapletons' music tour around the Great Lakes -- hence the name -- and Stapleton and Ambuul's adoption story. Stapleton said the documentary is "a story about how beauty arrives when least expected."

The two's story is detailed in a separate documentary called "God Plays a Long Game: Kate and Brigid's Story." That documentary was directed by two-time Emmy Award-winner Ben Kruis and produced by Springs of Love, a Catholic foster care and adoption support nonprofit, as part of their currently five-part documentary series on various adoption and fostering stories.

In the roughly 10-minute documentary, available to watch on YouTube, Kate Stapleton described how she became pregnant with Ambuul at 21 years old.

"I felt like it was the end of the world," Stapleton recalled. "It was the end of the future that I thought I was going to have."

Stapleton said the birth father and her had just broken up, and she made the "gut-wrenching decision" to put Ambuul up for adoption, noting it was important to her that Ambuul had a good home.

Ambuul recalled in the documentary how, growing up with her adoptive family, she would receive small gifts from Stapleton, though it never made her feel conflicted in her identity of family. When Ambuul was around 3 years old, Stapleton visited her for the first time.

"Her openness was amazing," said Stapleton, adding that she would become overwhelmed with grief whenever visits with Ambuul ended.

When Ambuul began attending Franciscan, she would visit Stapleton and spend time with her kids. The two would spend weekends together and Stapleton would bring Ambuul to and from the airport when she needed it. Ambuul said that her adoptive mother was glad Ambuul had family in the area.

The documentary, which captured Stapleton and Ambuul's first time playing music together, showed how music tied the two together from the very beginning.

Stapleton said she began playing the harp while pregnant with Ambuul. The calming vibrations would run through her body, Stapleton said, and the first time she felt her baby kick was while playing the harp.

"I think that if I hadn't gotten pregnant, I never would have started playing music," Stapleton said to Ambuul. "So, all of that music came into the world as a result of the fact that you did."

Kimberly Henkel, founder and executive director of Springs of Love, said she first found out about Stapleton and Ambuul's story and reached out to Stapleton regarding the video series. Henkel, who holds a doctoral degree in moral theology and ethics, said the series is meant to tell "inspiring stories of people who have been touched by fostering and adoption."

"To get to hear their story was so hopeful and redemptive," said Henkel, an adoptive mother. Henkel said Springs of Love's goal is to "encourage, educate and equip Catholics to discern and live out the call to foster and adopt."

Although Springs of Love produced the first documentary, "The Inner Seas" was the idea of the Stapletons, who wanted to tell the adoption story within a full-length documentary.

"It's a compelling story, and it's beautiful," said Casey Stapleton. "(Kate) is in a place where she can articulate her inner turmoil in an inspiring way. But there is hope, there is resolution."

Speaking of Kate Stapleton's decision to put Ambuul up for adoption, Casey Stapleton said, "It was a hard thing, but it was the right thing, and that needs to be told."

On the documentary's production team are Ben Kruis and freelance director Martin Jernberg, known for his documentary series on the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. The Stapletons also invited Springs of Love to assist with the project.

Filming of "The Inner Seas" followed the Stapletons as they toured the Great Lakes in a 40-foot blue school bus that Casey Stapleton gutted and turned into the family's tour bus. Kate Stapleton said the documentary will hopefully be complete by December, and Henkel said it will be available on FORMED, a Catholic media streaming service, and EWTN.

Ambuul said being filmed for the documentary took some getting used to, saying, "You have to basically pretend like the cameras don't exist, which is a challenge."

Now, the Stapletons are planning a cross-country road trip in their bus to visit Brigid for her wedding. Kate Stapleton said they will be playing shows along the way and spreading word about the documentary as they help with the editing. Also, she thanked North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, where Casey Stapleton is a religion teacher, for allowing him to take a sabbatical to work on the project and go on the trip.

The farewell concert itself saw both groups performing meaningful songs. The Stapletons performed "Blue Mountain Girl," a song Casey Stapleton wrote while courting Kate Stapleton.

Acaciawood performed "Bend the Roses," a song Ambuul said was recorded in the Stapletons' attic, and "Burning Bush," a song reflecting about "being called by God," Ambuul said.

After each group performed separately, they joined together to play five historical folk songs and shanties.

After the concert, Ambuul said of leaving Steubenville, "It's all the emotions that you have when leaving home. … I'm saying goodbye to, not just a place, but an entire chapter of my life. It'll be really special to find out what's in store for me next."

Acaciawood was finishing recording for their debut album, Ambuul said.

They will spend the upcoming year finishing production on the album and preparing it for release, and they have plans to tour the West Coast after that.

"It's been fascinating and beautiful, challenging at times, revisiting my story," Ambuul said. "So, having it put in a literal frame ... helps me to understand it in a way that I never really have before. But it's beautiful. I think it's a beautiful story, and I think it's worth telling."