Comedy, drama balanced well in ‘Faithiest’
An ill wind blew some excellent theater into the laps of spectators at the world premiere of “Faithiest” on Friday in Oklahoma City.
Balancing drama with comedy very well, the play by Melanie Wilderman was performed by a New Stage cast at The Venue, 1757 NW 16.
Rachel Morgan gave a steady, balanced yet provocative performance when it needed to be, as Abagail, an elementary teacher in a small Oklahoma town.
Problems arise after Abagail becomes a hero by saving her students when she recalls an old wine cellar that can serve as a shelter during a large tornado.
The biggest is people’s reaction after she is goaded into revealing she’s an atheist by a pushy newscaster, played with a fine sense of satire by Courtney Hahne.
Not-so-social media is deftly satirized next, when Abagail becomes an internet sensation, the target of hashtags, tweets and direct attacks in her hometown.
Giving these harassers a richly humorous human face were Marianne Edwards and Kris Schinske-Wolfe, as members of a gossip-prone knitting-book club.
But it was the impact on Abagail’s boyfriend, best friends and a sympathetic local pastor that turned the play into a true meditation on religious
conundrums.
Paige Garrison was low-key yet deeply moving as her oldest female friend, recalling youthful high jinks, before falling out over religion, then touchingly rebonding with Abagail.
Tyler Clark was sweet, and almost Paul Bunyan-esque, as the boyfriend, who avoids social and other media like Abagail but finds her lack of religious belief a “deal-breaker.”
Scotty Taylor had some great moments as her gay friend Nathan, who loathes local religious condescension but has found a private, personal god that works for him.
Todd Clark had a superb scene as the pastor, who knows Abagail will help rebuild his ruined church and shares with her his own far from direct road to his calling.
The new play also made good use of a debris-covered set to evoke the tornado’s power, plus large, abstract, red-and-white drapes, to suggest Oklahoma’s religious-political schisms.
Briskly directed by Rodney Brazil, it is highly recommended and shouldn’t be missed in its remaining performances at 7:30 p.m. July 26 and at 2 p.m. July 29.