THEATER REVIEW
“Storefront Church”
Grade: A
7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays (no show on April 30); 2:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays (also on Thursday, April 16). Through May 3. $20-$35. Theatrical Outfit, Balzer Theater at Herren's. 84 Luckie St. N.W., Atlanta. 678-528-1500, theatricaloutfit.org.
Bottom line: Spiritual bankruptcy, richly portrayed.
In John Patrick Shanley’s “Storefront Church,” hardworking Jessie Cortez is fighting to save her Bronx home from foreclosure. But hanging in the balance of Shanley’s beautifully affecting dark comedy is much more than an overdue bank note.
What’s at stake is nothing less than the souls of the characters themselves.
Humble Jessie and her overwrought husband. The ambitious politician and the greedy banker. The broken loan officer and the Pentecostal minister who sets up shop in Jessie’s basement: Black and white, rich and poor, Christian and Jewish, these are the lost pilgrims who collide in the come-to-Jesus meeting that will clinch this tale of spiritual and financial crisis.
As directed by David de Vries for Theatrical Outfit, "Storefront Church" is a powerhouse evening of theater. While Shanley's better-known "Doubt" (which won him a Pulitzer Prize and was made into a major motion picture) used a sinister episode at a Catholic school to ponder the meaning of faith, "Storefront Church" whips up a rich stew of religion, politics, finance, corruption, greed and redemption.
What constitutes a bribe? Is it the chocolate cake that Jessie’s husband, Ethan Goldklang (Clayton Landey), shoves across the desk of fumbling bank employee Reed Van Druyten (Joe Knezevich)? (That cake, be it a symbol of innocence or temptation, will show up again later, as will a gingerbread house that is frosted with meaning.) Is it the bribe that smug banker Tom Raidenberg (Tom Key) cooks up to curry the favor of Bronx Borough President Donaldo Calderon (Anthony P. Rodriguez)?
And what constitutes spiritual vacancy? Is it what happens to Pentecostal minister Chester Kimmich (E. Roger Mitchell), who persuades Jessie (Donna Biscoe) to take out a second mortgage so he can turn her basement into a church, after which he becomes too soul sick to preach? Is it what’s eating Reed, who is almost allergic to church but has something like a moment of grace before the night is over? Or is it what’s bothering Donaldo, who thinks of his own minister-father as nothing but a penniless failure and leech?
These are a few of the questions that Shanley poses in a play that carries something of the moral authority of August Wilson and the sobering dark sadness of Martin McDonagh.
In nearly every instance, de Vries seems to challenge his performers to go deep — to astonishing results.
Though this is essentially an ensemble piece, the character that holds the story together is Donaldo. Here Rodriguez gives a smartly nuanced performance (the best work I’ve seen from this outsize actor), portraying a politician who is caught in a precarious position. While Key makes for an appropriately arrogant banker and Landey makes for a deliciously irreverent “secular Jew,” Mitchell’s take on Chester is so subtle that his character almost disappears. (Chester’s reticence reminds me a bit of Citizen Barlow, from Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean,” whom Mitchell once played at the Alliance Theatre.)
The most fascinating personality here is Reed, and Knezevich’s account is a miracle of acting. To give Reed’s story away would be to spoil the story. But let it be said that Knezevich is heartbreaking, and Biscoe’s Jessie is at her best when she consoles this sad shambles of a man.
I admire nearly everything about this production, including Sydney Roberts’ costumes and, especially, Jim Maloof’s sets, which capture shifts in place and status, from lowly storefronts to opulent banks, with elegance and economy. All in all, an excellent effort.
