Play review
Agnes of God
Becky Brandenburg
Staff Reporter

Passions ignite as secrets unfold and bind the women of “Agnes of God.”

The cast of three, Leah Carithers-Jeffers, Monique Lara and Jessica McClendon, treated a nearly-full house to an evening of misdirection and revelation in its opening performance Wednesday.

Carithers-Jeffers, a junior theater major, delivers a solid performance as Dr. Martha Livingston, the court-appointed psychiatrist sent to determine the sanity of Sister Agnes. The 21-year-old novice is charged with murder after Mother Miriam finds her bleeding and unconscious in her convent room. Her newborn lies strangled, bundled in bloody sheets and stuffed in a wastepaper basket nearby.

Mother Miriam, played by Lara, a senior fine arts major, gains the audience’s trust right away. Her sympathetic, even manner and calm voice juxtaposed against the hard-nosed, chain-smoking doctor with a Catholic-axe-to-grind provides much of the tension and a great deal of the pleasure throughout. Especially delightful is a scene where they find common ground while discussing the existence of modern-day saints and what they might be smoking.

As Sister Agnes, McClendon, a junior fine arts major, sometimes delivers unevenly and a little too brightly.

But her soliloquies are convincing and her voice is lovely as she portrays a tormented nun in search of peace.

Sadly, the two-hour play is delivered in three-quarter round, which often leaves a third of the audience trying to imagine what these remarkably expressive actresses are saying unsaid. The staging, lighting and costuming are subtle and simple — a counterbalance to the emotional passages and physical delivery.

General admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Hays Theatre Complex in the Walsh Center for Performing Arts building. Matinees begin at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.