With a tagline of "sex, murder and religion," Mission Drive could easily be mistaken for a ripped-from-the-headlines scandal involving the Catholic Church. However, this drive is aiming higher than mimicking a news story. Ned Cox's script about saving souls has strong potential to become a tense play about power and religion.
“She’s gone.”
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With a tagline of "sex, murder and religion," Mission Drive could easily be mistaken for a ripped-from-the-headlines scandal involving the Catholic Church. However, this drive is aiming higher than mimicking a news story. Ned Cox's script about saving souls has strong potential to become a tense play about power and religion.
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Mission Drive doesn't drive it home
Play about souls could use some saving
Published: Monday, May 10, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 00:05
The play opens on an argument that turns deadly; Episcopalian Reverend Thad (Paul Van Dyck) smashes a telephone against the head of an aggressor in his office, who then tries to retaliate before face-planting onto the floor. The story then flashes backward 15 years where we meet Mallory (Paula Costain), a down-on-her-luck mother of a newborn applying to work as an assistant in Reverend Thad’s parish. Even after changing diapers on a squeamish Thad's desk, she is hired and invited to live at the parish with her daughter Venus (Emily Skahan).
The odd couple continue to cohabitate over the years but never fully understands one another. In his best 'cool beans' persona, Thad keeps Mallory’s advances at bay, only briefly allowing her to see the pain in his past. Costain sincerely portrays Mallory as a true knucklehead; this leads to a couple of funny exchanges, especially one where Reverend Thad tries to explain to her that his daughter is dead.
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