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Show Sister Mary lays down law on S.L.C. stage by Rick Brough If "Saturday's Voyeur" lambasted the Mormon Church, the Catholic Church gets its lumps from "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All For You." The Salt Lake Acting Company created "Voyeur" and now they're presenting "Sister Mary Ignatius" in a funny, if not perfect, production. The premise by Christopher Durang is that Sister Mary (Anne Stewart Mark) appears before us to present theology in a nutshell and answer written questions from tha audience except for that pesky question about why God allows evil. Sister Mary explains the eternal principles for going to Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, which sound as arbitrary and rigid as Monopoly. It's also clear she prefers the more conservative "eternal principles" set up before liberal Pope John is tenure. She introduces her obedient little pupil Thomas. He has a lovely soprano voice now, she says. But later, God will take away his soprano and give him psychological problems in return. All of this is interrupted by four of her former students, who re-stage a hokey children's Christmas play they learned in her class. (The Christ child is represented by a teddy bear, and a major character is Mary and Joseph's camel, Misty.) As it turns out, the group came back not for nostalgia, but in hopes they could embarrass Sister Mary and bring her to account for the way her repressive teachers screwed up their lives. "Sister Mary" has caused debate about whether the play is anti-Catholic bigotry. That in turn leads to the question of how "fair" satire has to be. Clearly this short play is vicious, but it's more than a guerrilla-theater skit because Durang looks at the dark side of his subject. Sister Mary makes brief references to her own miserable childhood, which explains her perversely complacent belief that God, in His wisdom, sometimes leaves miserable people to rot. Unfortunately, the dark, bitter side of Sister Mary isn't brought out too well by actress Anne Stewart Mark or director Max Robinson (though overall they do a fine job.) Without that dimension, the play becomes a bit thin. Mark plays Sister Mary as a sunny character blithely impregnable to any objections, Another problem is Toni Lynn Bird, as the worst casualty among . Sister Mary's old students. She is superficial in her monologue, when the play takes a brief detour into stark seriousness. However, she handles the humor in fine fashion. And Dave Servatius, Ellen Graham and Tom Green show a good variety of reactions as the other victimized students. The Salt Lake Acting Company also features a prologue of gentler humor. Upon entering the theater, each audience member is given a bingo card, and a couple of games are conducted by the jolly Irish priest Father Phil (Michael McGlone). Father Phil operates a bingo-ball machine that has more glitches than the space shuttle. And he hands out prizes like a little replica of Michaelangelo's Pieta (a "pocket Pieta. ' ' ) The prologue is well-written by McGlone and actor Joe Hutchings. Whether you win a prize, or just discover the proper way to Heaven, an evening with Sister Mary is a fun, unique experience. Holidays! f " Here |