519 Reviews as of : 03/06/2010

A leafless, lifeless, yet forbiddingly formidable tree stands in the middle of Rachel Hauck's simple set for the new play by Kate Fodor. As a steely and at times shiny symbol, it does not exactly represent the tree of knowledge but more likely the unknowable. In the very well produced 100 Saints You Should Know, the question of God's existence and the search for something spiritual crosses and re-crosses the spectrum of dogmatic absolutes and through all the shades in between. If it's done a little too neatly, Ms. Fodor can be forgiven since she apparently is in the early stages of her playwriting career, and it might behoove more established playwrights to look to her for lessons long forgotten.

Matthew (Jeremy Shamos), a Catholic priest, is on a forced hiatus from the Church because of the discovery of some questionable homo-erotic artwork in his office. His Irish mother Colleen (Lois Smith) believes him to be merely on a vacation and is happy to have him at home. Their familial arguments escalate from word definitions in Scrabble to issues concerning moral certainty and ethical dilemmas. Another mother, Theresa (Janel Moloney), who cleans the offices of the church where Matthew works, has not dissimilar arguments with her daughter, Abby (Zoe Kazan), which escalate from what Abby is or is not doing at school to Theresa's pathetic single motherhood. If Colleen is the absolute for faith in God, then Abby is the absolute for atheism. Matthew and Theresa are the ones who are in between but searching also from the opposite ends of this spectrum. He has led an entirely spiritual life but wants something concrete and physical. She has led a carnal life but now needs something spiritual and inexplicable (her parents were logicians). When Garrett (Will Rogers), a goofy older schoolmate of Abby's and the well-liked delivery boy and son of Colleen's grocer, is introduced into the mix, a situation involving him brings the absolutes to a momentary, flip-flop clash and those searching in between to a momentary calm and serene apotheosis.

Ms. Fodor's strong suit is knowing exactly how family arguments erupt, wax, wane, and rarely get resolved and knowing too exactly how parents and their children handle and speak to each other, as well as knowing how unacquainted teenagers test one another. It is only when reaching for the significant or the poetry, if you will, that Ms. Fodor falters. The phrase "a surge of the heart", which both Matthew and Theresa wish to experience in their different ways, gets repeated once too often. And Matthew's fourth wall breach of a monologue which ends the first act is lovely to listen to but vague in its intentions as well as jolting us out of an established reality. Still, because Ms. Fodor so ably raises age-old questions through the use of ordinary humans, her play feels authentic and therefore more meaningful than it should.

Directed with seeming ease by Ethan McSweeny, most of the performances are wonderful. Only Mr. Rogers is all too aware of playing a geek and going for weirdness for weirdness' sake. Mr. Shamos, who is developing quite the range, and the estimable Ms. Smith perform their scenes together so well that acting students should go to this play for training. Even better, if that's possible, are the performances of Ms. Kazan and Ms. Moloney. With what looks like no effort, the two actresses reveal so much about these characters and their relationship that you almost have to look away.

Thankfully, Ms. Fodor does not offer an answer to any of the questions she raises, letting us to decide for ourselves, just as it should be.

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