Show Summary

Diversionary presents McNally play “Corpus Christi”

Diversionary Theatre will present the 1998 Terrence McNally play Corpus Christi as the sixth and final show of it’s 2007-2008 season, running May 1-June 1. Named one of the best plays of the year by Time Magazine in 1998, this vivid and moving passion play is a contemporary telling of the life of Jesus as if he were a gay man and grew up in 1950’s Texas.

McNally is the author of such critically acclaimed plays as Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class, The Lisbon Traviata, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and the books for the musicals Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman. The New Yorker described the play this way: “In Corpus Christi McNally gives us his own unique view of the story of Christ, and in doing so provides us with one of the most vivid and moving passion plays written. McNally's play is an affirmation of faith and a drama of such power and scope that it has been hailed by audiences and critics alike as one of his best and most poignant works to date.” McNally won Tony Awards for Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class as well as Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical for Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman. In addition, Love! Valour! Compassion! won the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and New York Drama Critics' Circle awards for Best Play. McNally has received two Guggenheim fellowships, a Rockefeller grant, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Diversionary’s production will be directed by Nic Arnzen, and features a cast of 13, with Trevor Bowles as Joshua and Rich Carrillo as Judas, and Scott Andrew Amiotte, Zachary Bryant, Tom Doyle, Kate Hewitt, Keifla, Brian Mackey, Jesse Allen Moore, Jessica Parsell, Anna Rebek, John Whitley and Rachael Van Wormer.

The play's form is story theatre: 13 barefoot actors perform a play within a play, starting with the birth of Joshua/Jesus in a Texas motel. Soon evils emerge, such as wife-beating, loveless sex, gay-bashing and clerical humiliations. The playwright uses this parallel story of Christ to tell a contemporary, colloquial tale of the fight against cruelty, division, hatred and, above all, hypocrisy. Love and acceptance are the antidotes.

The dramatic early attempts to prevent the play from being produced raised a flood of controversy on both sides - freedom of speech versus religious censorship. The New York Times, in an article headlined “Censoring Terrence McNally,” wrote, “What we are witnessing, once again, is the peculiar combat between freedoms that is repeatedly staged in America. The practitioners and beneficiaries of religious freedom attack the practitioners of artistic freedom - freedom of speech - without seeing that the freedoms they enjoy cannot be defended separately.”

Corpus Christi won the Drama Desk Award for Best Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.

Diversionary is pleased to welcome Los Angeles-based director Nic Arnzen to San Diego, who believes the play, though written ten years ago, still resonates with issues of gay marriage, discrimination and a universal search for something to believe in. “I love this show and am thrilled to be directing it again,” said Arnzen. “I am determined to make this show a comment on diversity, equality and basic love for your fellow man. McNally wrote the show with a respect to the source material and I plan to give it the same respect.” With permission from McNally, Diversionary’s production will include both men and women actors.
Arnzen has directed many productions throughout the U.S. and the United Kingdom. He has studied directing/writing/acting with Groundlings, Second City, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Drake University. He directed a production of Corpus Christi in Los Angeles in 2006, and that production has toured to the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and will tour to the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival this coming May. That production is being filmed as a documentary series focusing on the political and social climate changes since the plays opening nearly ten years ago, and is also the subject of a book by author Steven Susoyev – he has followed and will continue to travel with the show as he completes his accounting of the production/play and the affect it has on the audience and cast members. Currently working on his writing career and being a Dad, Arnzen’s first film script, “Gay of the Dead,” has been purchased and is currently in pre-production.

Diversionary Theatre was started in 1986. The mission of the theatre is to produce plays with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes that portray characters in their complexity and diversity both historically and contemporarily.

Corpus Christi is the sixth and final show of Diversionary Theatre’s 2007-2008 season, and will preview on Thursday and Friday, May 1 and 2, and open on Saturday, May 3, and run through Sunday, June 1. Performance times are: Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday & Saturday at 8:00pm, Sunday at 2:00 & 7:00pm, and a Monday, May 12 performance at 7:30pm.

Single tickets are now on sale. Tickets are $29 for Thursday, Sunday and Monday performances, $31 for Friday nights and $33 for Saturday nights, with a $4 discount for students, seniors 60+ and active military. Tickets for opening night will be $45 and include a post-show cast party.

Groups of 10-29 receive a $4 discount, and groups of 30+ receive an $8 discount. For tickets or information, call the Diversionary box office at 619.220.0097 or log on to www.diversionary.org.

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The City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture provides major support for Diversionary Theatre.

Creative Team

Headshots not available for this cast. Please see "Press Photos" in the tab above.

Press Photos

Pictured clockwise: Anna Rebek, Rich Carrillo and Trevor Bowles. Photo credit: Ken Jacques.	Pictured: The cast of Corpus Christi. Photo credit: Ken Jacques.
Pictured: The cast of Corpus Christi. Photo credit: Ken Jacques.	Pictured: The cast of Corpus Christi. Photo credit: Ken Jacques.
Pictured: Trevor Bowles as Joshua. Photo credit: Ken Jacques.	Pictured l-r: Trevor Bowles and Rachael Van Wormer. Photo credit: Ken Jacques.
Pictured clockwise: Kate Hewitt, Rich Carrillo and Trevor Bowles. Photo credit: Ken Jacques.	Pictured: The cast of Corpus Christi. Photo credit: HenzelDesign.com.

Reviews

Curtain Calls
By Pat Launer
Sdtheatrescene.com
May 9, 2008

Drop-Kick Me, Jesus….

THE SHOW: Corpus Christi, the 1998 passion play by Terrence McNally that has been a source of controversy for the past ten years. This cast includes women, thanks to a special dispensation from the playwright.

THE BACKSTORY: When the Manhattan Theatre Club announced the opening a decade ago, there was hysteria from the religious right, since the play tells the story of Jesus as a gay man from Texas. They stormed the theater and made death-threats on the playwright. In the maelstrom of an inflammatory freedom fight (freedom of speech, freedom of religion), MTC backed down and postponed the opening, but it took a lot of heat for that decision. The play finally opened, to very mixed reviews. But it went on to garner Best Play honors from the York Drama Critics Circle, the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle… And the beat goes on. On January 19, 2008, the Anglican bishop of South Sydney, Australia, condemned Corpus Christi,, which was being produced as part of February’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, as “deliberately, not innocently, offensive.” And last week, the night before the play was to open at Diversionary Theatre, the marquee was defaced. Needless to say, most of those protesting the production have never seen the play.

THE STORY: It’s the story of Jesus, from birth to crucifixion, starting out in Corpus Christi, Texas, the playwright’s home town (he also grew up as an alienated gay man). Joshua (which is, oddly enough, how many orthodox Jews refer to Jesus) is a little ‘different’ from the get-go: he hears hammering in his head (a premonition of the nailing of the cross), and he’s gentler and more forgiving than his peers, which of course makes him fertile fodder for the rednecks around him. In high school, he’s something of a pariah, until he meets the dangerously seductive badboy, Judas. They begin a relationship that is destroyed by Judas’ jealousy. Then Joshua disappears for awhile (as he does in the New Testament; there are a number of years in his life unaccounted for) and when he resurfaces, he’s able to perform miracles. He gathers a bunch of ardent followers, many of them gay (one is HIV positive; Joshua performs a marriage for another two).

The issues raised remain relevant; obviously, religious zealotry, intolerance and homophobia haven’t dissipated in the slightest. And the piece really does preach the same message as Jesus did: acceptance and brotherly love. Forgiving your greatest enemy. And maintaining your faith. The play is surprisingly respectful of its source material, despite the rough language, sexual innuendo and base humor.

THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: What’s most exciting about the production is its sheer theatricality. We are watching the entire effort unfold. At first, we see the actors come onstage and set up the minimal props and scenery (designed by director Nic Arnzen). Then, they are ‘baptized’ with a new name, the character they’ll be playing for the evening. They introduce themselves to the audience, with a contemporary twist (“Andrew, a masseur. Andrew loved Joshua – a lot.” “Simon, a singer, a follower of Joshua. All my life, I wanted to belong... Before, I had to sing to be happy; now I sing because I’m happy.”). At the end of the play, they pack up their gear and depart (no curtain calls; very effective), leaving the theater ghost-light center-stage behind them. Following close on the heels of the crucifixion, it’s a very moving conclusion.

L.A.-based director Arnzen, who’s helmed a number of productions of Corpus Christi, has chosen a flexible, malleable cast and directed them well. Some of the words and actions are silly. But much of it gives a fascinating and provocative spin to the narrative, the principals and the topicality.

Spunky Jessica Parsell is notable for her several roles, including a knuckle-slamming nun and Joshua’s frustrated prom date. Rachael van Wormer is strong as John and others. Anna Rebek’s lovely voice courses through the evening, punctuating the action with appropriate tunes (“Oh Little Town of Bethlehem,” “We Three Kings,” etc.). Everyone has a moment to shine. But it’s the central duo that glues the piece together, and they do so with flair. Eighteen year-old high school senior Trevor Bowles, who did such impressive work as Gaston in the J*Company’s Beauty and the Beast last year, and this year in Hawaii for the Playwrights Project, is aptly angelic but aggrieved as Joshua. He has a grace, charm and fragility that work wonders (so to speak). As his foil, Rich Carillo, fresh from playing another seducer, Marcus Antonius, in Tony and Cleo at 6th @ Penn, has the perfect mix of sensuality and danger. The costumes (uncredited) are khaki clean-cut, but all the little details pale beside the earnestness of the play and its delivery. Excellent job all around, though admittedly, this one’s not for everyone.

BOTTOM LINE: Best Bet

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San Diego Union-Tribune
Diversionary's 'Corpus Christi' more parallel than parable
By James Hebert
THEATER CRITIC
May 5, 2008

It's easy to see why protesters raged over “Corpus Christi” when the play premiered 10 years ago. Who dares make James Dean the devil?

Actually, the furor had more to do with a different young martyr entirely – a character whom Lucifer, doing his best Dean impression in Terrence McNally's play, tries to corrupt in the Texas desert.

His name is Joshua, and he's young and fervent and pure and, as it happens, the son of God. Also, gay.

McNally knew what he was doing when he recast Jesus as a conflicted soul growing up homosexual in 1950s Texas. In 1988, Martin Scorsese's film “The Last Temptation of Christ” drew picketers for suggesting that Jesus had desires of any kind. Protests over “Corpus Christi” were a given, and the cranks accommodated before its 1998 premiere with death threats that temporarily scuttled the New York production.

As usual in these cases, the offended parties might've waited to see the work first. “Corpus Christi,” which just opened in a spirited, funny but sometimes puzzling production at Diversionary Theatre, turns out to be about as reverent as irreverence gets.

Though it has its moments of raw language and what some might consider blasts of blasphemy, the play ultimately pushes a gentle message of tolerance and respect, often invoking Scripture in support.

Honestly, how bomb-throwing can a play be whose 13-member cast is clad in matching khakis and occasionally breaks into joyous song like some Up With Apostles youth troupe?

McNally doesn't turn Jesus into Joshua so much as overlay the two stories, crafting a sometimes wacky passion play of anachronisms. So as Josh and pals party at the Pontius Pilate High prom, Roman centurions loom somewhere outside the school's gates. (Just to further confuse eras, Joshua also appears to keep a Hello Kitty diary.)

As Joshua, Trevor Bowles may be the first actor whose actual prom will take place during the run of the show. A senior at Madison High, Bowles has a presence beyond his years – a little understated in his delivery on occasion, but otherwise gracefully conveying his character's mix of pain and strength.

Rich Carrillo stands out as a strutting, chest-thumping Judas whose bitterness smolders like a lit fuse.

“Y'ever listen to the other side of 'Heartbreak Hotel?'” he asks Joshua when they first meet, his clipped, staccato syllables making it sound as much a threat as an invitation. The two quickly become more than friends, adding a new dimension to the sentiments behind Judas' ultimate betrayal.

Their posse steps up with some tough and funny performances. Jessica Parsell is almost a show all her own as a “South Pacific”-loving nun, a ditzy prom date and a very ticked-off centurion.

Director Nic Arnzen's staging has a loose-limbed, almost improv-y feel that nicely serves the play's wry humor and sense of surprise, but also sets up some jarring clashes in tone. The actors, who mill around chatting and laughing onstage as the audience filters in, are introduced in a casual baptism presided over by the versatile Rachael VanWormer, who plays John (McNally gave Diversionary the go-ahead to use both male and female actors).

Soon they're tossing a fake baby Jesus like a football, while the sound of a cross being hammered together – the one Christ eventually will hang from – can be heard offstage. Not that the gags aren't amusing in their goofy way, but when you're dealing seriously with crucifixion, farce is a tough thing to muster.

And yes, Joshua is persecuted for his sexuality, but he's ultimately crucified for the same reasons the Scriptures tell us Jesus was – telling people he was the son of God, and having the gall to convince them of their divinity, too. McNally leaves us with the sense that if you're facing hatred for the very act of trying to salvage souls, being gay – while a complication when you're surrounded by bullies and bigots – can't raise the stakes that much.

Maybe that's his intention. “Corpus Christi” retells “an old and familiar story,” as the first line of the play goes. And there'll always be a new excuse for people to inflict the old, familiar miseries.

Writer: Terrence McNally. Director, sets, sound: Nic Arnzen. Lighting: Stephen Siercks. Cast: Trevor Bowles, Rich Carrillo, Rachael VanWormer, Brian Mackey, Jesse Allen Moore, Zachary Bryant, Anna Rebek, Kate Hewitt, Jessica Parsell, Scott Andrew Amiotte, Keifla, Tom Doyle, John Whitley.

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SanDiego.com
"Corpus Christi" at Diversionary Theatre
Jesus and Judas go way back
By WeltonJones
Posted on May 04 2008

When a steely polemicist like Terrence McNally decides to fashion a vernacular version of the Jesus Christ story, choosing Corpus Christi, Texas, as a setting must be irresistable. Not only is there the built-in irony of the Latin name but also the ample negative stereotypes of regional barbaric menace. (“Jesus? Sounds like he’s a Mexican!”)

And, just to be sure, the playwright specified the 1950s, currently an evocative period for unenlightened cruelty, readily adaptable, in the popular consciousness, for crucifixions both real and symbolic.

But McNally has more on his mind than “Godspell” without music. His pulpit is the theatre, his text the old familiar gospels but his theology is homosexuality.

Like most great stories, the biography of Jesus Christ can accommodate endless interpretations. (“In my Father’s house are many mansions,” as Christ told John.) A homosexual slant, with Jesus an outcast branded as “different” and Judas as boyhood friend and lover, works better than some concepts. And McNally is a master dramatist, so he usually senses the exact moment to move away from matters of the flesh and into the broader cope of the spirit.

Actually, as Nic Arnzen has staged the play for Diversionary Theatre, the homosex becomes little more than an occasional distraction. Since four women and nine men play all the roles in a merry mix of gender, the whole gay agenda often gets lost in the swelling sweetness of the story and disappears entirely, except for a couple of nudges, in the somber horrors of the conclusion.

(If McNally were an ardent pet-lover, there would be more dogs and cats involved. If he lived for model airplanes or skin-diving, well who knows?)

The story, as a couple of the actors point out in the informal prologue, is always the same. And everybody knows it.

The stage is resolutely bare and the costumes are doggedly bland in Arnzen’s staging for Diversionary. The actors are milling about in something like a frenzy of casuality as the audience enters. There is much hugging, excited fake conversations, coy waves to friends in the audience and general bustle, followed by an organizing ritual in which each actor is assigned an identity.

The story then weaves in giddy abandon through a burlesque of the Nativity, book ended by scraps of overheard cruelties, and into a confusion of childhood tribulations and failures, accompanied by two major countermelodies: God’s voice dispensing distant and distracted encouragement and the carpenter sounds of a cross being built. The sexual innuendos are never far away and the senior prom is a landmark horror.

After a sojourn in the wilderness (and an intermission) the show clicks into the spiral toward the conclusion, which is Christ’s death, period. No time left for the subsequent mysticism, just a quick rumination on the likely impact of all this.

The fiction of such productions is that all actors are created equal, which just isn’t true. Author and director contrive to give each performer a bit in which to shine but the result is depressingly like TV guest shots. There are a few performers – Rich Carrillo, Scott Andrew Amiotte, Brian Mackey – always worth watching. And Rachael Van Wormer is in a class by herself. But even these are caught up in their duties to be part of the whole. And rightly so. The staging, like the story, is more important than its parts. Even the banal, canned music doesn’t really matter.

Probably McNally is satisfied with his success in making the points important to him. I hope Arnzen and his cast are content that they did what was required. And Diversionary Theatre, now in its 22nd season, deserves a salute for continuing to serve its audience.

But personally, I prefer metaphors less encrusted with dogma and ritual.