By Dale King
Agnes of God is a mystery of biblical proportions. Literally.
When a novice nun and purported virgin sequestered in a convent gives birth to a child — and that child is almost immediately found dead in a wastebasket, the investigation of a possible murder sets off a clash of personalities and ideologies. God is invoked, not just for prayer, but as a suspect.
John Pielmeir’s intriguing yet unsettling play concludes a two-week run this weekend at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. The production is deftly handled by a trio of FAU student actors, Kimberlee Connor as Dr. Martha Livingston, a psychiatrist called in by the court to investigate the case; Shannon Ouellette as Mother Miriam Ruth, the Mother Superior at the upstate New York nunnery and Emily Freeman as Agnes, whose innocence and sweetness muddy the probe of what appears to be a bloody homicide.
The players in this show are immediately intense, hushing the audience to silence within moments of the opening. On stage alone, Livingston comes off as a hard-nosed, hard-smoking, tough-talking shrink who is on the case only because a judge made her do it.
“Dr. Livingston, I presume,” says Mother Miriam as she walks into the doctor’s office. (It’s one of several subtle puns. The title is also a play on words, based on the Latin phrase, Agnus Dei, meaning Lamb of God).
The pair clashes early and often over questions of faith, responsibility, possible divine intervention and the possibility that miracles can happen. Agnes, seen in a pew at the rear of the stage, spends virtually all her time in prayer and singing in ethereal tones, unaware of sex, conception and birth.
Another element confounds communications. Sister Miriam became a nun after a failed marriage, and is the mother of two children. Livingston is neither interested in nuptials nor kids. But do these feelings apply to Agnes?
As the dialogue plays out, it becomes clear that Agnes was abused as a child by her mother, but has lived a benign and seemingly quiet existence in the convent — perhaps to escape the rigors of a harsh home environment. Agnes herself, in a pained recollection, says she has only been alone with one man — the priest.
“Where?” demands Livingstone.
“In the confessional,” Agnes whimpers.
It appears Pielmeier drew the plot from an incident at another New York convent that occurred a few years before he penned Agnes of God. In the real case, a nun was found bleeding in her room, and a dead baby was discovered in a wastebasket, asphyxiated. The case went to trial, but the nun was acquitted by reason of insanity.
Like her real-life counterpart, Agnes’s ability to think rationally has been addled by her abusive upbringing. Her purity also obfuscates her thought process. She contends that God is the only man who has entered her room. Her adoration for the Lord takes on an almost sexual adulation, as if she wants Him as lover, mentor, father-figure and co-parent.
Other confounding plot elements further muck things up. It turns out Livingston had a sister who became a nun, then died in a convent. Also, on two occasions, Agnes’ hands break out in stigmata, bloody holes at the places where spikes were driven into Jesus Christ’s hands at the Crucifixion. If stigmata are seen as a miracle, we are left to ponder, could the miracle of virgin birth also be possible?
Sister Miriam sums up the unfathomable nature of this play when she tells Livingston: “You’ll never find the answers to everything…The wonder of science is not in the answers it provides, but in the questions it uncovers.”
Agnes of God is a play that demands much from its actors. As Livingston, Connor runs the full gamut of emotion, from nurturer to antagonist, from tough court psychiatrist to faith-searching healer.
Ouellette is excellent as the Mother Superior who faces the dilemma of expounding the possibilities of miracles while recognizing the realities of the real world. She is quiet, yet firm, and ever protective of her young and troubled novice who doesn’t know — and can’t realize — that something awful has happened.
Freeman puts every ounce of strength and talent into the Agnes role, and it works so well. Her pitiable situation could draw tears from a stone, and every audience member shares her pain.
Veteran director Kathryn L. Johnson holds the action together and truly makes it count.
Agnes of God plays tonight at 7, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, and concludes with a matinee Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Studio One Theater on the FAU campus on Glades Road. For tickets, visit www.fauevents.com or call 800-564-9539.