When is it appropriate to place faith over feelings?
That’s just one of the many questions the characters in the dramatic mystery “Agnes of God” grapple with as the mysterious death of a newborn is investigated.
“This play revolves around two nuns, one, the Mother Superior and one the novitiate, Agnes,” Director Larry Boller said. “And there has been a baby who was born and a baby who’s died. And there is now an investigation as to how this occurred.”
The dramatic mystery runs April 29-May 15 at Steel Beam Theater in St. Charles. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Masks must be worn at all times while at Steel Beam.
The award-winning 1979 play by John Pielmeier stars three faces familiar to Steel Beam audiences. Artistic Director Marge Uhlarik-Boller plays Mother Superior, Crystal Skipworth plays Agnes and Jennifer Reeves-Wilson plays Dr. Martha Livingstone, who is assigned to investigate what happened and who is to blame.
“She goes about investigating and gets to interview and even hypnotize Agnes. And the Mother Superior is obviously protective of the young novitiate, and does not believe she is guilty of murder and wants to shape the doctor’s opinion to suggest that this is a very special girl and this was a very miraculous occurrence,” said Boller, who is married to Uhlarik-Boller.
“And the baby itself and the death of the baby were not crimes that should be punished by throwing someone in prison. So there’s conflict between the Mother Superior and the psychiatrist.
“It’s a fascinating story that revolves around themes of faith, loss, morality, truth. The possibility of miracles is always of interest to people,” he said. “It’s really a dramatic mystery.”
For COVID safety reasons, Steel Beam has been presenting plays featuring small casts all season long. This final show of the season has just the three cast members, all of whom previously worked together on productions at the theater.
“This has been a labor of love for them. They know each other, they’re all very talented and they get along very well. As a director of the show, I’ve benefited from the fact they trust one another, they give each other facial expressions, physical energy and interpretations that are easy to play off of.
“If your scene partner isn’t very good, it’s hard to generate the energy and build the kind of momentum you need as an actor,” Boller said. “But in this case all three actors are very fine, and anything they throw at the other person, they get right back in spades. So it’s wonderful to see their creativity and excitement.”
While Pielmeier adapted his play for the film starring Jane Fonda, Meg Tilly and Anne Bancroft, Boller said he has avoided watching the 1985 movie.
“I’ve made a conscious effort not to watch that movie,” he said. “I wanted it to be ours.”
Boller said it’s been very fun working with the cast “trying to take advantage of the things they do best, trying to avoid melodrama, trying open it up a bit so it’s not just talking heads with three ladies standing on stage talking,” he said. “So it’s been quite an interesting challenge. Very difficult to pull off some of these scenes, the range of emotions is extreme.
“Agnes goes all the way from vulnerable to playful to ‘did she just have a psychotic break here?'” Boller said. “There’s all kinds of things happening here and all three actresses are given plenty of challenges. Plenty of hills to climb.”
Some slight changes were made to the script’s ending of the play, he said, in an effort to avoid melodrama.
“The ending of the play, it seemed a little complicated to me, a little overwrought. We’ve tried our best to simplify it and go with something we were more comfortable with,” Boller said. “You can do some wonderful things with interpretation, so that’s what we’re trying to do. Avoiding the melodrama and trying to simplify this, that’s been our goal here.”
If someone has seen other productions of the play before, they likely won’t notice the changes, he said. The play will still leave audience members asking questions and debating the answers.
“I think it’s thought provoking. I think it challenges and hopefully will have people leaving the theater talking about it and maybe asking questions …” Boller said. “I think they’re going to try to fill in the blanks, they’re going to try to answer things for themselves and if they go to the bar next door and discuss, they may have some differences of opinion.”
‘Agnes of God’
When: April 29-May 15
Where: Steel Beam Theater, 111 W. Main St. Second Floor, St. Charles
Tickets: $28 adults, $25 seniors, $23 students
Information: 630-587-8521; steelbeamtheatre.com
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.
