A pair of 30something siblings summoned to their widowed stepfather’s home confront a family crisis involving their adopted teenaged sister in Jon Klein’s absorbing family dramedy Faithless, a laughter-and-discussion-provoking Victory Theatre Center World Premiere.

It’s been several years since confirmed atheist Gus (John Idakitis) lost his wife Carolyn to COVID, the last two of those years spent in remission from the prostate cancer he had already been battling at the time of her death, leaving Gus to share the family home with Rosie (Joseé Gourdine), the now 16-year-old daughter Gus and Carolyn adopted from a Catholic orphanage in an unnamed developing nation.

All Gus will tell unmarried Presbyterian minister Calvin (Jon Sprik) and twice-divorced, childless high school comparative religion teacher Claire (Melissa Ortiz) about the reason he’s asked for today’s visit is that it has something to do with Rosie, and though Calvin guesses drugs and Claire guesses pregnancy, what Rosie is about to tell them is the last thing either of them might have expected.

The teenager’s surprise announcement soon leads to a series of heated family discussions surrounding both religion and death interrupted by a couple of stakes-upping hospital visits as layers of family secrets are peeled away one by one by one.

With three characters on very different points of the religious spectrum and a fourth only beginning to explore her own beliefs, Faithless is bound to provoke plenty of thought amidst a considerable number of laughs and just as many dramatic sparks.

To his credit, playwright Klein adeptly avoids taking sides, resulting in a play that a devout Catholic, an agnostic Protestant, and a diehard atheist can attend side by side by side without feeling that their beliefs have been shortchanged.

Maria Gobetti directs her cast of four with the sure hand of a pro, bringing out the best from three accomplished stage vets and one exciting newcomer.

Idakitis reveals Gus’s wounded heart beneath a decidedly cantankerous exterior, Sprik is terrific as a man confronting his own conflicted feelings about being a so-called “man of God,” Ortiz nails Claire’s sarcasm, her confusion, and her pain, and Gourdine is a real find as the spunky but vulnerable Rosie.

Evan Bartoletti has designed precisely the kind of middle-class home where a couple could raise their children in comfort and ease, and Carol Doehring’s lighting bathes it in familial warmth.

Not only that, but Bartoletti has figured out a way to transform his set from living area to hospital room and back with only the briefest of delays, scene changes expertly underscored by sound designer Noah Andrade.

Add to that Michael Mullen’s just-right costumes and you have yet another topnotch Victory Theatre Center production design.

Faithless is produced by Gobetti and Bartoletti. Erick Marquez is associate producer. Gail Bryson is dramaturg. Margaret Saba is stage manager.

Jon Klein’s Resolving Hedda earned the playwright considerable acclaim when it debuted at the Victory in 2017, and his latest play tackles serious matters with both nuance and depth. That Faithless elicits more than a few laughs along the way is icing on the cake.

The Victory Theatre Center, 3326 West Victory Blvd., Burbank.
www.thevictorytheatrecenter.org

–Steven Stanley
March 15, 2024
Photos: Tim Sullens

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Tags: Jon Klein, Los Angeles Theater Review, The Victory Theatre Center