Chicago Street Theatre will present “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You” and “The Actor’s Nightmare” Aug. 17-Sept. 1 in Valparaiso.
Both written by Christopher Durang, the plays were originally presented in New York City as companion pieces, according to Aaron Breford, who will direct the dual works for the Valparaiso troupe.
The saga of Sister Mary Ignatius will be presented first, with an intermission between the two one-act comedies.
“Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You” is about a teaching nun who rails against sin in all its forms, while “The Actor’s Nightmare” follows an ill-prepared bystander who is suddenly thrust on stage to replace an indisposed actor.
“They don’t relate to each other,” Breford said. “The stories don’t align at all.”
However, there is commonality in that they both deal with “the playwright’s absurd takes on Catholicism and the world of theater,” according to a Chicago Street Theatre press release.
The same release states that the “Sister Mary Ignatius” production stands as a “funny satire that aims its barbs at organized religion.”
Portraying Sister Mary Ignatius in the Valparaiso run is Portage’s LuAnne Pezel.
“I was born into a Catholic family,” Pezel said.
The 57-year-old actress said she remembers the “staunch” essence of a Catholic upbringing.
“All those things start coming back to you when you’re reading a script like that,” Pezel said. “When I read her character, I immediately saw the character of the Mother Superior from the movie ‘The Song of Bernadette,’ which is a very hard, truly devoted nun, very Catholic, very set in her ways.”
The 1943 movie, which starred Jennifer Jones, provided a guidepost of sorts for Pezel, who noted she has played a nun in numerous other productions.
This time, Pezel finds her herself in an edgy theatrical piece.
A synopsis from Chicago Street Theatre states that “things heat up for the nun when some of her former pupils return to exact their revenge.
“People will be taken a little aback by the actual directness of it, but it is how it was,” Pezel said. “It’s a pretty strict Catholic character.”
While called a comedy, “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You” is not a vehicle for fluffy laughs.
“I would say it’s a dark humor,” Pezel said. “Nothing is supposed to be humorous that leaves my lips, even though people will take it that way.”
The plot involves the return of four ex-students to Sister Mary Ignatius’ world.
They “come back to perform a pageant play,” Breford said.
“But, really, they want to confront Sister Mary because they feel like the answers they got from the Church when they were young were not really adequate to prepare them for life,” the director added. “And so they faced real-life challenges, and they didn’t feel really prepared.”
As for “The Actor’s Nightmare,” “It’s just a straight-up comedy,” said Breford, a 49-year-old Crown Point resident whose directorial skills in a musical were recognized with an award last year from the Northwest Indiana Excellence in Theatre Foundation.
The harried protagonist of “The Actor’s Nightmare” finds himself living the unsettling dream that many in the theatrical community have had — forced to perform in a play they have in no way prepared for, and in no way know the lines they are supposed to recite.
George Spelvin, portrayed by Schererville’s Justin Treasure, is placed in that predicament by a stage manager after mindlessly wandering on stage.
“He’s not in the cast, he’s never attended a rehearsal; he’s just some accountant who showed up at the theater and they put him in the play, and so he goes through a series of experiences, doing scenes from ‘Private Lives’ and ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Waiting for Godot’ and ‘A Man For All Seasons,’” Breford said.
“The Actor’s Nightmare” utilizes a cast of five, while six performers are used in “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You.”
Breford said five actors pull double duty by appearing in both “The Actor’s Nightmare” and “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You.”
‘Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You / The Actor’s Nightmare’
When: Aug. 17-Sept. 1; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Aug. 19 and 26, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 30
Where: Chicago Street Theatre, 154 W. Chicago St., Valparaiso
Tickets: $17, $20, $30
Information: 219-464-1636, ext. 1; www.chicagostreet.org
