Explore all that is held scared in the modern day with Emma Ackerman’s one-woman show, “The Complete and Authoritative Tour of Holy Stuff,” in its world premiere, March 2-12, Touchstone Theatre, 321 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem.

“‘The Complete and Authoritative Tour of Holy Stuff’ is a non-linear pilgrimage of someone trying out different things that you could consider holy things like religion or nature-based spirituality or football or television. Basically, all of the things that we sort of devote ourselves to in life.” says Ackerman.

She reworked the piece after its inception as a masters in performance studies graduate project. Touchstone artistic director James P. Jordan witnessed the initial production and saw potential in her work. He directs Ackerman and helms the set design for “Holy Stuff.”

“As part of our dissertation, we had to take some element of our research and dramatize it into some sort of performance. We’d been doing a lot of traveling and I was really struck by this interesting relationship between holiness and travel, the places we go to in pursuit of our devotions or the way we go places for things that we care about.

“So, I sort of took a look at all of the stuff I had gathered over the course of this trip, all of the brochures and journal entries and pictures and selfies and thoughts and I was like, ‘What can I put this together into?’ And what I put it together into was about a 10-minute performance that was me going on an audio tour. It was a sort of weird little artsy thing,” Ackerman says.

The performance has been expanded upon and includes stops at the San Diego Comic-Con, the Taj Mahal, a football field and more.

“I ran with this idea of going on pilgrimage and it used to be this great tradition that as an act of devotion you go on a journey. What are the pilgrimages we do now? We go to conventions. We go to football games,” says Ackerman.

“When we were traveling for grad school we went to Liverpool for a couple days and Paul McCartney was performing and Jp [James P. Jordan], a big Beatles fan, was like, ‘I have to go see this. This is meant to be.’ What are these things that we transport ourselves to as an act of holiness?”

Ackerman’s work of devising “Holy Stuff” included revisiting her travel journals and creating audio-visual elements. Dan Maher is video designer and Ackerman is light and sound designer.

“While we were traveling, I had done a lot of journaling so a big part of the process was sifting through my own thoughts from that and trying to distill them into something. There’s also a certain amount of playing around up on your feet.

“There’s a ton of audio and video elements so there’s a lot that was just, ‘Well, I’m going to put on this audio track and throw something up on the projector and just play around with it, see what comes out of it.’

“And then Jp, as director, comes in as the outside eye and says, ‘OK, let’s build this into a cohesive whole. These are the things that are feeling like they’re out of line and need to be brought back into the fold.” Ackerman says.

The creation of a one-woman show is challenging yet rewarding. The physical and mental stamina required for each performance is taxing.

“The empty space is very exciting and very scary at the same time. I think the hardest thing has just been keeping the momentum moving forward. Having someone else to bounce ideas off of was something that I hadn’t realized I relied upon. So, it’s definitely been interesting having this early development process being more independent. But it’s also really good because it means that I’m building that muscle and learning those skills,” says Ackerman.

“I think my favorite thing about doing it, which is a little silly, is that I love feeling like I’ve exhausted myself at the end. I love the idea of being onstage for an hour and just throwing myself into it as much as I can and with as much energy and enthusiasm and joy as I can. I like that part of it a lot.”

Tickets: touchstone.org; 610-867-1689