BWW Reviews: AN ALMOST HOLY PICTURE Is A Gentle and Poignant Quest for Meaning

Two existential questions are at the heart of every person's search for meaning: Why do bad things happen to good people? How can a God allow bad things to befall good people? Try as some philosophers have, the answers are elusive and, if at all answerable, unsatisfyingly so. So they remain in Heather McDonald's An Almost Holy Picture, a one-man two-act play, adapted from Pamela Ward's story, The Hairy Little Girl.

iTheatre Collaborative, which prides itself on electrifying audiences with distinctive and divergent works, has selected Ms. McDonald's play to close its 12th Season ~ and, it's a good thing. A very good thing! Directed by Rosemary Close, and featuring Christopher Haines, the production offers one of those special and all-too-rare moments for critical reflection on matters of importance.

At play's end, you may leave with a sense of unease that something in the story has been left unresolved; that, once again, these questions remain unresolved; that you are on the hook of a dangling proposition ~ but not because you haven't been invited to partake in a poignant and reflective conversation and definitely not because you haven't been treated to a rich performance by a master actor.

Christopher Haines portrays Samuel Gentle, the soulful protagonist and chronicler of his life's quest to comprehend the fickle fingers of fate. Once a man of the cloth, Gentle has resigned himself to the role of groundskeeper for The Church of the Holy Comforter. He speaks of three experiences that have shaped his personal idea of God and is awaiting a fourth to close the deal.

With the cadence of a man on the edge, he recounts the times that he has heard the call to follow God ~ the first with his father on a walk by a cranberry bog; the second, after a tragic bus accident; and the third, the birth of his daughter Ariel.

Proclaiming that he'll give us the images that he knows and that he goes towards the things he loves, the images throughout Samuel's narration are steeped in a gamut of emotions from resignation to anger, but none are so defined and so wrapped in adoration and confusion and guilt as the images of Ariel, born with lanugo, a rare condition that covers her body with the lightest golden down. Ironically, we grieve not for Ariel; her path seems upward bound, armored with self-determination and a will to independence. It is Samuel's struggle to discover what is truly holy. As his bishop has counseled him, grace can enter one's life through a wound.

For a performance that will resonate with the soul within you, An Almost Holy Picture is the show to see. It runs through June 27th at Herberger Theatre's Kax Stage.

Photo credit to iTheatre Collaborative

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