POW! (Play Of The Week)

100 SAINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
by Kate Fodor

Father Matthew McNally has served his congregation well and faithfully, but he suddenly leaves the parish and returns to his mother’s home without word, without warning, for a “respite”. He is pursued by Theresa, a cleaning woman at his rectory, who seeks some kind of spiritual worth and acknowledgment. Abby, Theresa’s 16-year-old rebellious daughter, confronts him about his professed “calling by God” into the ministry, and about her own guilt at being an evil person. And Garrett, a grocery delivery boy, desperately seeks Father McNally’s advice and guidance in search of his personal and sexual identity.

An unexpected crisis brings all of these characters into confrontation. As faith is shaken and tried, Father McNally must face his own spiritual demons and his greatest fear – living without a connection to God.

Father McNally’s mother Colleen doesn’t comprehend what is happening to her son. When he finally announces that he has lost his faith in God, her own life begins to crumble; “You tell me you don’t love God, you don’t love the Church. You don’t want to do the work that God called you to do and that I raised you to do. And you want me to stand here and pour out love for you? In return for what? What should I love you for?”

Playwright Fodor doesn’t tie the story up in a pristine pink-ribboned package. She elicits profound unanswered questions of faith and of our dependence upon one another for our spiritual worth. 100 Saints is a serious play with brilliant comic buoyancy – all serving beautifully as character revelation and relief.

Cast: 3 W, 2 M

Scenes/Monologues: This beautiful five-character play has marvelous scenes for actors. Each scene has a clear dramatic arc in structure. The language has generational accuracy with phrases that reveal character sub-texts.

Recommended by: Bill