Agnes
of God at Dukesbay Theater
By Alec Clayton
Sister Agnes says to
Dr. Martha Livingstone: “Only you think you’re lucky because you didn’t have a
mother who said things to you and did things that maybe weren’t always nice,
but that’s what you think, because you don’t know that my mother was a
wonderful person, and even if you did know that you wouldn’t believe it because
you think she was bad, don’t you.”
 |
| from left: Maria Valenzuela, Cecilia Lewis and Laurie Sifford. Photos by Jason Ganwich of Ganwich Media. |
Agnes of God is a thoughtful and emotionally
draining three-person play written by John Pielmeier and inspired by an actual
event. In 1977, Sister Maureen Murphy, a young nun at a convent in Brighton,
New York, was put on trial for killing her baby. Sister Maureen had been found
bleeding in her room, and her dead infant was found in a trash can. She denied
giving birth and claimed she could not remember being pregnant. She had covered
up her pregnancy by wearing the traditional nun’s habit. The father of the baby
was never found. Sister Maureen was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Pielmeier read about the trial in the newspaper.
In my limited research I was not able to find evidence that the play was in any
way intended as a reenactment of the true events but was instead Pielmeier’s
fiction inspired by the bare-bones story indicated in the opening paragraph.
The title is a pun on the Latin phrase Agnus Dei, meaning Lamb of God.
 |
| from left: Cecilia Lewis and Maria Valenzuela |
In the play, a psychiatrist, Dr.
Livingstone (Maria Valenzuela) is called in to determine if Sister Agnes is sane.
Valenzuela alternately narrates the events speaking directly to the audience
and acts out scenes of her questioning of Agnes (Cecilia Lewis) and flashbacks
from Sister Agnes and Mother Superior Miriam Ruth (Laurie Sifford).
At first, Lewis portrays Sister Agnes as
shy, fearful, and incredibly naïve. She claims to have no knowledge of giving
birth or of being pregnant. She even implies she does not know how pregnancy
happens and says she knows nothing of any baby. Mother Miriam backs up her
story, insisting that Agnes is innocent, that she has never even read a book or
seen a movie, and that she knows nothing of the world outside the convent. Incidentally,
the only man who had access to Sister Agnes is a priest, whom Mother Miriam
insists could not possibly be the father, and there is vague reference to a
field hand.
Under relentless questioning and even hypnosis,
it is revealed that Agnes had the kind of relationship with her mother that
could lead to psychosis. Even stigmata comes into play as Agnes’s hands
spontaneously bleed. And it comes out that Agnes is not the only one with psychological
issues. Mother Miriam was married with children and was a two-pack-a-day smoker
before becoming a nun. Dr. Livingstone is an ex-Catholic who blames the church for
the death of her sister. She is also an obsessive smoker, an indication perhaps
that her supreme self-confidence and control is an act.
The only relief from the extreme
psychological drama comes when Mother Miriam and Dr. Livingstone talk about
smoking and speculate that the saints and the disciples, and even Mary Magdalene
and Jesus might have been smokers if Lucky Strikes had been around in their
time.
Being played out by only three actors,
with a minimal set and practically no special lighting or sound puts a huge
responsibility on the shoulders of the actors, all three of whom do a wonderful
job of acting without seeming to be acting at all. Valenzuela, who has by far
the most lines and is in every scene, is masterful. She depicts Dr. Livingstone
as strong, determined and empathetic. Her smallest gestures, such as the way
she constantly plays with the ever-present cigarette, lend verisimilitude to
the character. In a slightly less imposing manner, Sifford plays Mother Miriam
as equally determined. She is an obstinate warrior, but with a few chinks in
her armor. I can’t say enough about Lewis’s portrayal of Sister Agnes. She
rapidly and believably goes through a myriad of emotions from fear and
confusion to anger.
I have read reviews of earlier
productions with stained glass windows and other church trappings and dramatic
lighting resulting in overblown theatrics, and I am relieved that director Nyree
Martinez chose to keep this one simple. There is little on the stage other than
a small table and two chairs in front of a black curtain upon which hang a crucifix
and a small religious picture. The lighting and sound are kept simple, and the
musical score consists of unobtrusive liturgical music and some quietly melodious
singing by Sister Agnes, whom Mother Miriam says has an angelic voice.
The story verges on the unbelievable and
could easily fall prey to melodrama, but Martinez and the cast and crew keep it
real.
Agnes
of God,
7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through March 17, $15, Dukesbay Theater, above the Grand
Theater, 508 S. 6th Ave., Tacoma https://dukesbay.org/
