The Post-Standard News
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November 2, 1994
Section: CNY
Edition: Metro
Page: C4
Column: Joan Vadeboncoeur

It takes intestinal fortitude for a community theater troupe to stage "Agnes of God." That or colossal ego.

On the surface, it seems to be an ideal project. Only three actresses and a minimal set are required. The latter keeps
expenses to a minimum. However, John Pielmeier's drama demands three actresses of extraordinary skills, depth and
compassion. Appleseed Productions' version demonstrates neither egomania nor overstretching of the troupe's capabilities.

A psychiatrist has been summoned to determine the sanity and/or guilt of a young nun who gave birth to a child; 
the child was found strangled.

But the struggle finds Sister Agnes a pawn in a struggle between the shrink and the Mother Superior. The former 
espouses a scientific explanation while the latter believes that if it was not a miracle, then God, not a mortal man, 
touched the nun. The verbal battles could grow numbing were it not for the acting, although the playwright flavors his 
work with some haunting tales from a hypnotized Agnes.

There are secrets in the past of the older nun and the crisp psychiatrist that also enliven the tug of war. Yet the performances by Madeleine Boynton and Anne Sermon, crisp and initially unflappable as Mother Superior and shrink, respectively, keep the drama churning for viewers as they reveal their inner selves, then become combatants.

I must register one minor reservation about Sermon's work. She permits her vulnerability to surface a bit too early. A more forceful facade would be better.

Still, unless Agnes rings with credibility, all the acting of the pair of older women goes for naught. Susan Schoolcraft doesn't permit that to occur. She brings to the role an ethereal air and a voice that sounds as if it came from another world.

No small measure of credit goes to Linda Lance, whose direction is straightforward yet replete with sensitivity.

The production at Atonement Lutheran Church Stage will run Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.

Copyright, 1994, The Herald Company

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