Thanks to a compelling cast at the Cort Theater, Craig Wright’s thoughtful play, Grace,takes a touchy subject, the existence of God, on a comically dark cyclone ride with spurts of humor and moments of horror, including a murder/suicide finale. This finale is also at the beginning, which can present a problem. If these characters, whom you don’t know, are all dead before the play even starts, why should you even care? Still, with Wright’s flashbacks, highlighted with symbolism, the tale unravels with a certain fascination. Is there a God? Does grace exist in organized religion? Are there limits to forgiveness?
Steve (Paul Rudd) and Sara (Kate Arrington) are a young devote evangelical Christian couple. They met in a bible prayer group for singles. Recently, they sold their small business in Minnesota to move to Florida and build a chain of gospel hotels, places for people who ask, “Where would Jesus stay?” Steve was promised funding for the project by a Mr. Himmelman (translate to “Mr. Heaven Man”) in Zurich, but so far the only donations come from Steve’s own pockets and from hustling for backers. The drain of money is quickly reaching a crisis.
Sara passes her time listening to gospel music and trying to be neighborly with Sam (Michael Shannon), a solitary NASA scientist, retired after a car accident that killed his wife and ripped the skin from his face. At first Sam spurns Sara’s friendliness, feeling abandoned by God’s blessings and resistant to evangelizing. Yet he becomes friends with Sara and eventually much closer.
Also resistant to religion is an exterminator, German-born Karl (Ed Asner), who appears with his chemical tank to eliminate insects. It is difficult for him to celebrate God’s graces. He tells of his childhood in Germany, when his family hid Jews from the Nazis. They were good people, Karl reasons, yet when the Allies bombed his city, his parents were killed, and when Nazis came to collect the Jews, 12-year-old Karl betrayed the only other survivor, a young Jewish girl.
Directed by Dexter Bullard (Bug, Mistakes Were Made), the 100-minute play moves spasmodically, feeling disjointed when the action stops for each character’s monologue. Bullard excels in eliciting commendable performances from each of these actors. The audience pleaser is Ed Asner, irresistible as a curmudgeon with a heart who speaks his mind (“You’re a Jesus freak, right?”). His comic timing is right on, and later his own resolution to faith is a sweet, if ironic, coincidence. After 25 years away from Broadway, Asner has lost none of his stage savvy.
The most riveting performer is Shannon, hauntingly on target in his Broadway debut. He delivers a multi-layered performance as Sam, still shocked after his trauma, slightly twisted and emotionally insular until he begins to accept Sara’s friendship, love, and perhaps her beliefs. Arrington, who resembles a young Sela Ward, is a sensitive upbeat believer, a simple, kind, God-loving girl who just wants everyone to be saved. Unfortunately, as Sara takes a turn in her beliefs, it is too late for all of them.
Paul Rudd brings earnest frenetic energy as the hustling believer. When Steve develops a disabling body itch, it further invigorates his intensity and as his financial situation worsens and he realizes his wife’s closeness to Sam, faith pours away, leaving him in a state of quivering fury and violence.
Highlighted with David Weiner’s lighting design, Beowulf Boritt makes no attempt at defining spaces, instead slowly sliding sets into different configurations suggesting one singular space, much like intermingling beliefs. The doors are free-standing with a ceiling fan and Darron L. West's sounds of buzzing insects stamping a Florida setting.
The play premiered at The Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C., in 2004, and was performed at Northlight Theater in Chicago and the Pasadena Playhouse in Los Angeles. Craig Wright has written “Six Feet Under” for television and off-Broadway’s Recent Tragic Events. Grace is his Broadway debut.
While the provocative issue of blind faith versus blind rejection remains unresolved, this crack acting ensemble presents convincing consequences of life’s defining moments.
