Photo Source: Michael Lamont
Catholic sisters Margaret (Bonnie Bailey-Reed) and Mary (Ann Gee Byrd, in a tour de force performance) share a house in Savannah. Margaret is sweetly devout, while Mary is willful, opinionated, and cantankerous. When pretty Pentecostal evangelical missionary Melissa (Rebecca Mozo) knocks at their door, Mary slams it in her face, threatening to call the police if she sets foot on their property again. But Melissa is resolute and sets out to save the soul of pliable Margaret. They agree to meet for further discussion at noon on the following Sunday, but when Mary discovers this—and learns that Melissa's mission is to convert Catholics—she's outraged. She plans an ambush, inviting Melissa to come to the house on Thursday, the night they regularly have their priest, Father Murphy, over for dinner.
When the four meet, the situation is awkward enough, but as Melissa tries to prove, out of Scripture, that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon and the pope the Antichrist, the feathers start to fly. Soon all are at daggers drawn. Mary is furious at the priest for proving she doesn't really know much about her own church; soon she is convinced that her religion is as silly as Melissa's and demanding to be excommunicated on the spot.
Smith's script cleverly and hilariously demonstrates the folly of trying to bully others into accepting one's beliefs and that when the chips are down, personal relationships and old habits are stronger than dogma. Director Cameron Watson drives the message home with skill and panache on Stephen Gifford's handsomely detailed set.
Byrd deftly shows that mean-spiritedness and bad temper can be both amusing and endearing, while Bailey-Reed neatly captures Margaret's timidity and eagerness to please. Mozo provides enough Southern charm to offset her bossy tactlessness as the missionary whose zeal wilts when she's dumped by her boyfriend—who also is her pastor. Clark is an amiable priest determined not to get caught in the crossfire yet tough enough to stand up for his beliefs.
Presented by and at the Colony Theatre Company, 555 N. Third St., Burbank. June 16–July 8. Thu.–Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. (818) 558-7000 or www.ColonyTheatre.org.
