#MiniTheaterReview: AN ACT OF GOD

Tinsel & Tine Highlight’s – One Woman – Two Angels Play

By Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

On Thursday (Sept 19th) I got a chance to venture out to the Bristol Riverside theater to see AN ACT OF GOD (A New Comedy) by David Javerbaum, starring KIM WAYANS as GOD.

The stage play is adapted from Javerbaum’s “The Last Testament: A Memoir By God”, which started as a series of tweets.

Although “God” has two angels Archangel Michael (Benjamin Brown) and Archangel Gabriel (Peter DeLaurier) to play off during the piece, it’s essentially a One Person play. Both Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) and Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) have played the leading role, so you can imagine some rewrites were put in place for Kim Wayans to take on playing The Almighty. (director Susan D. Atkinson)

What are the main things we all want to ask God? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why was there slavery, or rather, people “being enslaved” or the Holocaust? Does God love homosexuals? Or how did Adam and Eve populate other areas outside of Eden?

Well, this show addresses those burning existential questions. You may not like all the answers and “God” may not like being questioned, but these things and so much more is discussed, pondered, explored, ruminated, blasphemed and joked about in this essay brought to stage.

Wayans who most of us remember from “In Living Color” as part of the creative Wayans family, hasn’t aged more than 2 days since the show ended. Since then, she’s been writing, producing, directed her brother’s show “My Wife and Kids” She’s been working in theater, most recently Robert O’Hara’s critically acclaimed play “Barbecue” and is featured in Alan Rudolph’s film “Ray Meets Helen”.

Kim Wayans in An Act of GodPhotos by Mark Garvin

DeLaurier in An Act of GodPhotos by Mark Garvin

Kim Wayans in An Act of GodPhotos by Le Anne Lindsay

Kim Wayans in An Act of Godphotos by Kory AversaPic of Le Anne Lindsay with Kim Wayans

Kim Wayans in An Act of Godphotos by Le Anne Lindsay

What is Wayans like as “God”? She’s funny and sassy of course. But also incredibly impressive as the play calls for not only being able to memorize gargantuan amounts of dialogue that must be said with exact precision, as there’s quite a bit of Biblical word play; but also, the angels only interject, the rest is all on the person playing “The Lord” so God help you if you lose pacing; which was not a problem for Kim.

Bottom Line: it’s not a knee slapping kind of funny play, it’s light with clever wording, but it’s also thought provoking and for anyone moving away from religion and into “the god in you” philosophy, the show feels truthful.

AN ACT OF GOD is playing Bristol Riverside Theatre until October 13, 2019.

And oh, by the way, if you’re wondering why I reviewed this one, it’s because I was not in attendance as a Barrymore Nominator, I was invited by Kory Aversa.