Photo Credit: Ross Zentner
“If you want to see God—says the Book—look at your family.” The “Book” in question is the Bible, and narrator-turned-Jesuit priest and writer Bill sets out to do that in How to Write a New Book for the Bible, which opened last weekend at Next Act Theatre.
Bill points to the original “first family”—Mary, Joseph, Jesus and God—as he recounts the last year of his dying mother’s life, wasting away from cancer. In the Cain family, there’s also the father, Peter, the cockeyed optimist, and brother, Paul, the distant, unfavored one. Written by Bill Cain, the play is highly autobiographical, as the playwright is also a priest who cared for his dying mother. In this tragicomedy, Bible is as much an attempt to deal with the grieving process and move on as it is a family drama about the internal squabbles and remembered grievances unresolved.
And what family doesn’t have its share of inner strife and turmoil? The audience can often relate to the universal family dynamics, even while the play wanders aimlessly like a person going into room after room trying to remember “why” in the first place.
One of those meanderings does provide a beautifully rendered scene between the two brothers as they travel and stop off at the Vietnam memorial. Paul, the emotionally scarred vet, tries to face the wall with the never-ending names of the dead, one of the few striking rear-screen projection visuals in Rick Graham’s otherwise bare, minimalist set. The effect is so mesmerizing, the mood so reverential that, as Act One ended, the audience remained silent, moved by the moment.
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Despite the lack of Bible’s fully formed character development, the four actors turn in strong performances with NAT Director David Cecsarini at the helm. As mother Mary, Carrie Hitchcock shines, even as she approaches the end, resigned yet determined, sad yet smiling, ever commanding the stage and our attention. With her stage (and real life) husband, Pete (Norman Moses), the two create a realistic, playful intimacy within their give-and-take relationship. Jonathan Wainwright brings a complexity to Paul—cool, aloof, wanting to care yet hurt by the favoritism shown to Bill, who is played with a remarkable degree of range as the caregiver son.
Life, loss, love and death. Universal themes regardless of “the book,” but hey! It makes for fascinating family drama.
Through April 28 at Next Act Theatre, 255 S. Water St. For tickets call 414-278-0765 or visit nextact.org.
