Lampooning religion with 'Sister Mary'

Media Credit: Courtesy of JENNIFER CUMBERWORTH SISTER ACT - Ryan Tanner-Read stars as Sister Mary Ignatius, a subversive, sacreligious nun in Christopher Durang's short play. Durang uses comedy as a means of offering social commentary on today's ultra politically correct society.

Christopher Durang's "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All" is anything but a typical holiday play. The AU Players production pokes fun at Catholics, Jews, gay people and, hey, even you.

The "school day" begins with Sister Mary (Ryan Tanner-Read, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences) and her 7-year-old boy-toy Thomas (Tucker Shelton, a freshman in CAS) explaining concepts of heaven, "fairly unpleasant" purgatory and hell and listing celebrities who are going there. Don't worry, Paris Hilton and the Dalai Lama will get what they deserve.

A troop of former students interrupts the lesson to put on a nativity pageant reminiscent of a Monty Python sketch, in which Mary and Joseph are a disgruntled couple and the angel outside Jesus' tomb is a Jewish man who appears to be from the depths of New York.

Tanner-Read's buxom Sister Mary has enormous presence, from her high-pitched voice to her somewhat disturbing sexual frustration. Tanner-Read throws his Sister Mary around the performance space, primly clasping his hands one moment and feeling up the confused and bewildered Thomas the next. Director Jacqueline Salamack, a sophomore in CAS, says she got the idea to cross-cast Sister Mary at auditions. The resulting comic tension makes Sister Mary's character that much more outrageous.

The rest of the cast shares Tanner-Read's impeccable comedic timing. Shelton's Thomas is a ball of sticky-fingered energy. Onstage the entire show, there were never two consecutive minutes in which Thomas wasn't squirming or gasping.

"I actually have more energy after playing Thomas," Shelton said. Philomena (Brookes May, a freshman in the School of Communication and the School of International Service) is one of the strongest characters. Her reaction to Sister Mary's ridiculousness provides a contrast without diminishing how great it is to watch her character squirm. Aloysius Benheim (Ben Schorr, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs), surprises and delights with his winning comedic choices, from his slack-jawed terror of Sister Mary to his confidence during the pageant.

Continued...

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