The Cornerstone Theater Company, known for a unique casting approach that includes both community members and professional actors, couldn't have picked a better venue for the latest installment of its three-year cycle of faith-based projects. The 120-year-old St. Vibiana's Cathedral, in downtown Los Angeles, echoes with plenty of history and mystery--two elements that figure largely in this ambitious collaboration featuring Cornerstone regulars and a diverse group of parishioners from several Catholic churches throughout Southern California. Now decommissioned, the earthquake-damaged St. Vibiana's also embodies another important theme of this staging: perseverance in the face of hardship. Just like the old cathedral, which will be preserved despite its defunct status, the Catholic immigrants depicted here face challenges that test their endurance.
Comprising six mini-plays that take place in various locations on the cathedral grounds, the production features modern adaptations of familiar Biblical parables. As the audience travels from parking lot to roof, basement, courtyard, sanctuary, and back again, individual stories of the immigrant Catholic experience are woven together to create a larger picture of how faith can both divide and unite a community. It's an innovative, sincerely enacted storytelling adventure that doesn't shy away from controversy and invites us to examine our own thoughts on faith and religion. These are heavy subjects, and in the hands of director Steve Kent and his talented ensemble they're given a uniquely provocative yet reverential spin.
Alison Carey's "Replenish the Earth," based on the Tower of Babel story, opens the show and sets the stage for the production's illustration of the divisiveness of cultural and religious differences. In the Biblical story, God initiates the division among man; here the division is represented by the melting-pot diversity of L.A. Playing a modern-day Isaiah, Cornerstone member Shishir Kurup lights up this vignette with his laid-back demeanor. Credited as co-director, his comic influence is evident here.
Next, the production focuses on four stories of persecution and perseverance. These stories describe the exodus of immigrants from Cambodia, Zaire, Mexico, and the Middle East. The best offering here is "Esther and the Exodus," which features the engaging Maria Sanchez in a tale about Mexican immigrants struggling to make a new life in America.
Ultimately the immigrants gather in a finale that's both controversial and uplifting. Based on the Pentecost story, Bernardo Solano's "The Upper Room" touches off sparks with its discussion of hot topics such as sexual abuse in the Church and the motives of suicide bombers in the Middle East. Again, Kurup offers an amusing and commanding presence as Izy, the wisecracking narrator-cum-ringleader, who seems to be surreptitiously guiding the action. With dialogue that encourages a bit of audience participation, this final scene turns into a thought-provoking exchange of ideas and beliefs--one that turns into a moving affirmation of each immigrant's faith, as well as a clever tribute to the venerable St. Vibiana's.