A bombshell announcement dropped one Sunday morning by the pastor of a major American megachurch threatens the future of the institution he has spent years building into mega-proportions in Lucas Hnath’s extraordinary 2014 drama The Christians, now getting a superb L.A.-cast production at Actors Co-op.

Pastor Paul (Townsend Coleman) is smart enough to cushion his bombshell with the more pleasant news that following years in the red, the church’s considerable debts are as of today entirely paid off.

Then comes the big surprise.

Having recently been confronted with the question of whether a life-sacrificing non-believer must burn in the fires of eternal damnation for not having accepted (or perhaps not even having been given the chance to accept) Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, Pastor Paul announces a radical change in church policy.

Henceforth, he announces to his assembled flock, “we are no longer a congregation that believes in Hell. We are no longer a congregation that says ‘My way is the only way.’”

Not surprisingly, not everyone approves of Pastor Paul’s decision, most notably the pulpit’s chief zealot, Associate Pastor Joshua (Thomas Chavira), who declares himself as unwilling to rethink his notion of a Biblical Hell as Pastor Paul is to return to the way things were before.

A vote among congregants is taken and to Pastor Paul’s relief, only fifty members opt to follow Assistant Pastor Joshua out the door, but a hole in the dam has been opened, and before long nothing can stop the flow of parishioners to Joshua’s growing flock of Hell-believers.

Exploring this exodus in a series of one-on-ones with Pastor Paul, playwright Hnath introduces us to:

Elder Jay (Phil Crowley), who wonders if given his popularity, Assistant Pastor Joshua can’t be given a second chance;

Congregant Jenny (Nicole Gabriella Scipione), who asks Pastor Paul what purpose there is in believing in Heaven if even Hitler will be up there with her; and

Pastor Paul’s wife Elizabeth (Kay Bess), who finds herself at her own crossroads given a set of beliefs that no longer coincide with her husband’s.

All of this adds up to the most miraculous of plays, one whose chief miracle is its finesse at presenting diverse points of view without taking sides in a production that will engage conservative and progressive believers and non-believers alike.

Not that The Christians is without its flaws, or at the very least its omissions. (Never once, for instance is the question raised of whether a last-minute conversion would have fast-tracked Hitler to Heaven, or whether the kind of life a person has led might have something to do with where they spend the afterlife.)

Still, this is one lollapalooza of a play, one whose 2015 West Coast Premiere at the Mark Taper Forum may have benefited from more megachurch-like proportions but whose Actors Co-op debut not only gives an L.A.-based cast their first crack at some powerful roles but allows audiences an up-close-and-personal experience they’ve not been offered before.

Add to that Thomas James O’Leary’s incisive direction, a commanding lead performance by Coleman, so credible you feel you’re watching a bona fide pastor at work; a devastating featured turn by Scipione as a young woman facing her own crisis of faith; and Bess, Chavira, and Crowley, all three absolutely terrific in roles that defy easy stereotyping, and you’ve got another Actors Co-op must-see.

Nicholas Acciani’s megachurch-in-miniature set and projections, Donny Jackson’s subtly dramatic lighting design, E.B. Brooks’ just-right costumes, David B. Marling’s sound design, and Jazmin Henderson’s church-ready properties are all top-notch, though I can’t help wondering why Pastor Paul’s megachurch won’t fork out for cordless mikes. (Hnath’s script has all five characters speaking into microphones “just the way pastors do, or just the way congregants do when they testify.”)

Last but not least, Dylan Price provides impeccable keyboard accompaniment to his harmonious onstage choir*, musical arrangement by Noriko Olling.

The Christians is produced by Carly Lopez. Josie Austin is stage manager and Henderson is assistant stage manager.

Though a play entitled The Christians would seem a logical programming choice for L.A.’s only Christian membership theater company, it’s a daring one as well. Like 33 Variations, Cat’s Paw, and Rope before it, The Christians is Los Angeles theater at its edgiest and most rewarding best.

*At the performance reviewed: Khara Bigham, Catherine Gray, Tim Hodgin, Laura Kelly, Deborah Marlowe, Maurice McGraw, Ariel Murillo, Amanda Peterson, Andrew Retland, Scipione, and Issac Sprague

Actors Co-op, 1760 N. Gower St., Hollywood. T
www.actorsco-op.org

–Steven Stanley
May 31, 2019
Photos: Matthew Gilmore

Tags: Actors Co-op, Los Angeles Theater Review, Lucas Hnath