It was hard for this non-believer to get deeply involved in Lucas Hnath’s theological drama, The Christians, which just opened at the Mark Taper Forum after runs at Playwrights Horizons (NY) and at the 2014 Humana Festival (Louisville). All the endless arguments over the existence of heaven and hell, the true meaning of the scriptures, and so forth, left me cold. And when the characters began to bicker over the ramifications of faith, I couldn’t help but think of what H.L. Mencken had said on that score: “Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.”
But then I tried to put my prejudices aside and find something to admire, or at least respect, in the play. That wasn’t too hard, if only because The Christians is about an individual, in this case Pastor Paul (Andrew Garman), battling against overwhelming odds (the church establishment, his parishioners, even his own wife). In other words, man vs power, always a viable theme.
Paul, we learn quickly when the action commences (after a burst of biblical song from the USC Student Choir), is head of a California-based mega-church which he built up from store-front beginnings. Now the church not only has thousands of members but has finally paid off all its debts. All should be hunky-dory with this religious behemoth, this multi-million-dollar enterprise, but then Paul gets up and delivers a sermon which shakes up everyone in the ultra-modern cathedral (impressively rendered by Dane Laffrey). Paul, we learn, has had second thoughts about certain tenets of Christian theology, and when he expresses them in public he is immediately challenged by his associate pastor, Joshua (Larry Powell), a very devout young man. Joshua’s objections are echoed by Jay (Philip Kerr), a church elder and member of its board of directors.
Paul’s unorthodox beliefs are further challenged by his spouse, Elizabeth (Linda Powell), and by Jenny (Emily Donahue), a poor congregant whose faith in traditional Christianity is the one positive force in her life. What will happen to the body and soul of the church if Paul continues to go his own philosophical way? That and other similar questions are explored by the playwright, who was raised in a religious family and was, he says, supposed to become a preacher. Instead he became a playwright. Playwright/Preacher might be more accurate.
