Quick Hit Theater Review: As it is in Heaven

Rachel Cantor, Megan Tusing, Annie McGovern and DeWanda Wise. Photo by Rick Berube

As it is in Heaven (10th anniversary production)
By Arlene Hutton
Directed by Ludovica Villar-Hauser

Summary:
Life is simple in the stark, ordered 1838 Shaker community at Pleasant Hill, KY until three girls new to the order, Fanny (Meg Tusing), Polly (DeWanda Wise) and Izzy (Rachel Cantor) start having the “gift” of seeing angels. Hannah (Margot Avery), the sort of elderess of the women, urges Phebe (Kathleen Bishop) to work them harder, but the visions keep coming and Polly starts claiming to have seen Mother Anne, founder of the Shaker movement, who gives her drawings and pictures for the others. Most affected is Jane (Annie McGovern) who finds the only joy she has known since entering the celibate community with her husband when one of the drawings depicts the five children she’s lost, now in heaven with Mother Anne.

Highlights:
An interesting look at the almost extinct religious community (at the height of the movement there were 6,000 believers; today only three remain in the last community in Maine, according to the program). Shaker songs are woven into the play. Some lines about the pending end of the world got a lot of laughs, as I saw this on Saturday, May 21, the date for the rapture according to one religious group given a lot of media attention. Very nice lighting by Joshua Sherr, whether creating a sunny picnic or visiting angels.

Lowlights:
The pace slows at times and the script can be confusing in places.

Information:
As it is in Heaven is a production of 3 Graces Theater Company. The company is committed to exposing and exploring the power of women’s experiences through theater and to providing a forum for new and experimental works.

The show runs through June 11, 2011 at The Cherry Lane Studio, 38 Commerce St., NYC. Tickets are $18 and are available by calling 212-239-6200.

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• No notes. Enjoy!