"100
Saints You Should Know" sets us up to confront issues of faith and spirituality but
with several intriguing twists. The curtain rises on a cleaning woman, Theresa
(K. K. Dodds)
scrubbing the toilet in a rectory bathroom for the current resident priest
Matthew (John Hoogenakker). In a scene lit to suggest penitential calm, Theresa is
found kneeling before her task with patient competence, soon interrupted in her
work by Matthew. The play's initial image and action prepares us for comedy,
for tragedy, for social commentary. All of these notes are hit in the play in
its current form, and this provides both challenge and joy. The moments of the
play that work well are joyous; the moments that are superfluous or repetitive
provide the challenge.
Parent
child dynamics infuse this play, both synthesizing and fracturing it at points.
Theresa is the mother of a smart and angry teenager Abby (Kelly O'Sullivan) - who gives us many expected
"Oh Mother" speeches. You end up wanting a few more dimensions to
Abby's character than currently exist. Garrett (Bryce Pegelow) is a shy adolescent Abby
provokes verbally and otherwise to test the limits of his small town world.
Garrett's own parents are away on a trip and the search for them informs the
final scenes of the play. The relationship that resonate most powerfully in
this piece, in script and in performance, is between the questioning priest
Matthew and his proud yet put-upon Irish American mom Colleen (played to sweet
perfection by Mary Ann Thebus) with whom he has begin an extended visit.
All
of these characters are held together thematically by their current faith,
their vocation related to faith, or their struggles with that faith. There may
be at least two plays here, given the strong personalities pushing to be heard,
and the overall play's power suffers as a result. We have comedy and tragedy
and social commentary. We have teens with too much time on their hands and
generalized adolescent anger; adult parent and child and each party's sometimes
misguided expectations for the other that perhaps could never be fulfilled; and
adult realizations about sexuality and responsibility. While some dynamics with
Garrett prod key motivating plot points along, this character may be one set of
notes too many (or one verse too many in this already richly harmonized song).
The
production qualities achieved for this performance in the Steppenwolf black box
(the Garage Theatre) illustrate one of the best ways to utilize such
streamlined spaces: clear simple lighting effects, powerful shadows through
doors and along set sight lines, and effectively suggestive set pieces.
Playwright
Kate Fodor
has a marvelous command of language and of humor and uses both to great effect.
While this play is still evolving and could indeed be streamlined in its next
iteration, you want to hear what her characters say next.