Sister Myotis's Bible Camp

Watching "Sister Myotis's Bible Camp," a Southern drag camp on evangelical holier-than-thous, is rather like eating an entire bag of pork rinds for dinner. At first bite, the salty crunch—unusual to Northern palates yet still somewhat familiar—is a puffy treat that could easily become addictive. Halfway through the bag, however, one realizes that there just isn't enough substance to make a meal out of this greasy treat.

Sister Myotis (the alter ego of playwright Steve Swift), a formidable deaconess bedecked with militaristic Christian merit badges, leads a biblical boot camp where theatergoers unwittingly become members of the Honeybee Ladies Auxiliary. The week's activities are outlined in detail, as Sister Myotis, aided by sisters Ima Lone (Jenny Odle Madden) and Velma Needlemeyer (Todd Berry), hopes to create "sleeper cells of Christians" throughout the country. Good Christian housewifery topics covered during the surprise five-day lockdown include parenting techniques (children are "God's little challenges"), unholy underwear (thongs are "Democrat panties"), and marital relations (or "doin' the shame").

Of course, there's the usual drag shtick, here given a Memphis flair by the drawling and malapropism-wielding Sister Myotis. Audience members can expect to be singled out and even brought on stage to help make Honeybee ambrosia salad, and salacious drag-queen puns abound (the weeklong training retreat's program, the Coalition of Ordained Christian Homemakers, is, of course, COOCH for short).

Sadly, these giddy improvisational moments are given short shrift in this bloated play; instead, Sister Myotis' sardonic lectures are unwisely shoved to the fore, becoming long-winded throughout the two-hour show. Luckily, as Myotis' backing church ladies, the rigidly stalwart Madden and comically obtuse Berry inject the production with ecclesiastical zippiness. But by the show's finale, an insipidly white-bread rendition of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise," one realizes that Swift's Southern-fried comedy is a bit stale.


Presented by and at Abington Theatre Company,312 W. 36th St., NYC. June 20–July 4. Wed. and Thu., 7 p.m.; Fri. and Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 2 p.m. (212) 868-2055 or www.abingtontheatre.org. Casting by William Schill.