Review: AGNES OF GOD at Westport Community Theater

John Pielmeier’s play Agnes of God is playing at the Westport Community Theatre now through April 13. Since the play has been performed many times since its staged reading at the Eugene O’Neil Theater Center in Waterford, you think you already know it. Wait.

But the play is not just about a novice who is charged with the manslaughter of her baby. It’s an intense, compelling tale of three women who bring a lot of baggage into their chosen vocations and what they learn – or don’t – as they explore the case and themselves. Tom Holehan’s expert directing and Priscilla Squiers (Dr. Martha Livingston), Lucy Babbitt (Mother Miriam Ruth), and Céline Montaudy (Sister Agnes) extraordinary performances bring out every facet of the story and give the audience a lot to think about and care for each character.

Dr. Livingston is a court-appointed psychiatrist whose job is to determine if Sister Agnes is fit to stand trial for manslaughter. She is haunted by the death of her sister, Marie, who was sent to a convent, and she left the Catholic Church years before. Mother Miriam Ruth was unhappily married until she became a widow and is estranged from her two daughters. After her marriage, she found her refuge as a nun. Sister Agnes is a very young and simple 21-year-old whose angelic singing inspired Mother Miriam to find meaning in her life in the convent. “I want the opportunity to believe. I want the CHOICE to believe!”

It turns out that Mother Miriam has another reason to shield Agnes from the trial besides Agnes’s vulnerability. Mother Miriam’s younger sister was disturbed and was Agnes’s abusive mother. It is not clear whether Agnes knows that Mother Miriam is her aunt, because her mother kept her inside her house until her death when Agnes was 15. Shortly afterward, Agnes was sent to the convent, still isolated and unworldly. Although Mother Miriam and Dr. Livingston are poles apart in their beliefs, they share their emotional attachment to Sister Agnes and believe that she must be protected and not convicted at the trial.

Since the play was written, the Catholic Church has been rocked by many allegations of sexual abuse, and many other religious organizations are suffering a decline in their worshippers. There is less financial support for a variety of reasons including generational shifts, changing family structures, increasing secularization, and the widening wealth gap. That said, religion is still important to many people and its impact on politics cannot be ignored. Pielmeier’s strong characters struggle with faith, grief, trauma, and resentment, which will always make Agnes of God relevant.

Note: This production was produced in 2023 by the Square One Theatre Company with the same director, cast, and Al Kulcsar’s simple but stunning set. The Square One Theatre Company was a dynamic community theatre which produced 100 superb shows in its 34 seasons. Sadly, the theater closed two months ago, shortly after the death of its managing director and Holehan’s husband, Richard Pheneger. It is continuing theater programs at the Stratford Library and other venues.

Fun fact: John Pielmeier got the idea for Agnes of God from reading an article about a nun who was found not guilty of killing her baby in a parish near Rochester, New York.

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