A young nun is found in her convent room. She is bleeding, apparently as the result of giving birth. A dead infant is found in a wastebasket. The nun says she does not remember anything about a sexual experience, a pregnancy, the birth, the death. A court calls in a psychiatrist to determine her sanity and fitness to stand trial.
That's where we are, a few minutes into "Agnes of God," John Pielmeier's brilliant, powerful, thught-provoking play that opened over the weekend as a terrific production of the Avalon Theater Company at its performance space in Crestwood Court. It will run throough May 8. John Contini directed with skill and style, giving plenty of room to each of his three fine actresses, allowing each to show plenty of dramatic impact.
Erin Kelley, in a strong performance, is Dr. Livingstone, the psychiatrist. Perhaps she's lost in darkest Africa, waiting for Henry Stanley. Perhaps, given her bright red hair (a shade called "menopause red" in some circles), she's seeking to make sense out of a life that has provided very little. It's a difficult role; Kelley is on stage practically every minute, and she not only drives the train on an emotional roller coaster, she rides it, too. Mother Miriam Ruth (Linda Kennedy) is the Mother Superior at the convent, knowing the truth but aware of her role in it and of the consequent scandal that can fall upon the church. And young Sabra Sellers, demure and poised, is charming and ingenuous in the title role, dedicated to the church, afraid that "getting in trouble" on one level will lead her into other kinds of trouble, as well.
Pielmeier, only 33 when the play opened in 1972 (Elizabeth Ashley as the psychiatrist, Amanda Plummer as Agnes, Geraldine Page as the Mother Superior) asks a lot of tough questions about God, the meaning of God, the actions of God, the relationships of God to people, the whys and wherefores about life and death. The philosophy of the Virgin Birth comes into play. Kelley and Kennedy fight for the heart and soul of Sellers. Their battle is in the great literary tradition perhaps best exemplified by Stephen Vincent Benet in "The Devil and Daniel Webster," when those two debaters battled over the soul of Jabez Stone.
There aren't many answers in "Agnes." Kelley and Kennedy fight fiercely; there are small victories here and there for each, and a good candidate for the seduction and the parentage, but there is no overall "winner." But it's a fine play, gripping and powerful, on a simple set designed by Contini, with effective lighting by John Burkley.
"Agnes of God," by the Avalon Theatre Company, will un through May 8 at the company's space in Crestwood Court.
—Joe