Review: Highly Anticipated Center Theatre Group's & Playwrights Horizons' THE CHRISTIANS Comes In Tact from New York to the Taper Stage

The Christians/by Lucas Hnath/directed by Les Waters/Mark Taper Forum/through January 10. 2016

Center Theatre Group & Playwrights Horizons presented The Actors Theatre of Louisville's production of The Christians, a new play by Lucas Hnath, this past fall in New York at Playwrights Horizons to great acclaim. The controversial play with contradictory arguments about God and heaven/hell has now docked at the Mark Taper Forum through January 10, 2016. Judging by the opening night audience - you could hear a pin drop - The Christians with its crisp dialogue, stellar cast and taut direction is a surefire winner.

Pastor Paul (Andrew Garman) and his wife Elizabeth (Linda Powell) lead a typical weekly service at their large church. The pastor delivers his sermon, in which, out of nowhere, he expresses radical changes in his thinking about God, the Christian belief system and the existence of hell. His beliefs turn 360 degrees against those of his wife, associate pastor Joshua (Larry Powell), church elder Jay (Philip Kerr) and church congregant Jenny (Emily Donahoe) who is also a member of the choir. Joshua is the first to attack pastor Paul, and as a result of getting no satisfaction, leaves the congregation taking fifty congregants with him. Elder Jay is the next to rise and contradict, stating emphatically that in order to survive, the church cannot afford a schism. When Jenny steps forward from the choir with two pages of notes and expresses her frustration as a Christian mother bringing up a young son and disgust with the pastor's new beliefs, it is the most tender, heartfelt of the accusations, for Jenny represents the parishioners at large, who will eventually leave the church forever.

Let's back up just a bit and find the exact statement from pastor Paul that causes the ensuing contradictions. He tells of a missionary who told a story at a conference about a young boy, a non Christian, who ran into a burning building, which had been bombed, to save his little sister. The boy saved his sister, but perished in the fire. Since he was not a Christian, his soul will not go to heaven, but to the fires of hell, in spite of his good act. Pastor Paul expresses his dissatisfaction stating that the boy should go to heaven. In fact, he dismisses the existence of hell and calls our stay on earth a living hell. "Heaven should be unfathomable. I want a God who doesn't think like a man." His concept of heaven as a paradise where one and all will be equal despite their beliefs or non-beliefs sparks Jenny to ask, " If there's no hell, where does Hitler go?" She also questions the timing of the pastor's radical sermon. It is after a large donation has been received saving the church from closure and ensuring its progression that he speaks out, not before.

Joshua starts his own sect, everyone walks out including wife Elizabeth, whom Paul begs to stay, claiming he still loves her. She in all consciousness cannot stay on and hold workshops in which she expresses beliefs that contradict those of her husband, the pastor. It goes against her integrity... and as she says, "We are not together."

Nothing is resolved in the 90-minute one-act play. No questions are answered. Parishioners want desperately to believe in a moral sense of what is right and wrong. Pastor Paul takes that away, yet it does not appear that it is his ego that has taken over. He seems to be a caring individual who has felt God's intervention in his transformation. So he claims to be on God's side. To the others he is a wishful thinker rather than a true pastor spreading the word of the scriptures. Perhaps it is to playwright Hnath's credit that there are no resolutions. As in John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, he allows the audience to come to their own conclusions.

Director Les Waters keeps the pace brisk, and within the confines of the space representing the church, his actors render totally real, credible work. Garman as Paul seems to be a kind of overly zealous evangelist in the beginning, but as the debates ensue, he does show some humanity especially with his wife and in his line of prayer toward the end. Donahoe's and Powell's scenes of contradiction are the most memorable, allowing audience to leave the theatre with plenty of food for thought. Larry Powell adds fine touches of caring support as Joshua. In the end, he is not the pastor's enemy but rather a long-time friend. Dane Laffrey's scenic design is visually satisfying, and the choir with Scott Anthony directing, many of whom are students at USC, perform the intermittent contemporary hymns quite nicely.

The Christians will not resolve anything but will surely stimulate and make you think about what you choose to believe. Are we true believers, merely wishful thinkers or...?

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