Stage Review: Sister Myotis lacks contemporary bite
In latest 'Church Retreat,' deaconess is oddly silent in era of liberal resurgence
Six years have passed since actor and funnyman Steve Swift first donned a beehive wig, put on a dress stitched from a tablecloth and declared thong panties to be ungodly.
Sister Myotis (Steve Swift) is trying out a new "Church Retreat" that is headed for New York in June.
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Sister Myotis, whose oversized stature and personality are barely contained by the (fictional) Southern megachurch at which she presides over the Honey Bees ladies' auxiliary, started out as a character in a Voices of the South Christmas show. After gaining a local cult following, Swift penned a few full-length evenings with Myotis and her two helpers, Sister Velma Needlemeyer (Todd Berry) and Sister Ima Lone (Jenny Odle Madden).
The last one was called "Sister Myotis' Church Retreat," and it began with the deaconess holding the audience captive in the church bomb shelter for what even liberals could agree to call "indoctrination."
The path to becoming a holy Honey Bee requires much instruction, from clipping toenails to dressing our porch geese. Who knew these were essential Pentecostal pastimes?
Voices of the South plans to take a version of "Church Retreat" to New York City's Abingdon Theatre in June for 22 shows, and the current production in the basement of First Congregational Church, newly renamed TheatreSouth, is a tryout for the tour.
Not much has changed since the last version of "Church Retreat," and while the punch lines and visual gags still have people laughing so hard they need tissues for the tears, the lulls are also still firmly in place. "Church Retreat" was supposed to tie the world of Myotis together into a broadly appealing package, but it also blunted her satirical sting.
The show, and Swift in particular, needs to stay contemporary. In the era of George W. Bush, Myotis brilliantly parodied fundamentalist Christian dogma that became repackaged as patriotism during the war. She embodied all that liberals feared, while simultaneously being all that a pastor of a big church would fear: an imposing woman with way too much time on her hands.
But in the era of President Obama, Myotis is strangely silent, as if she has nothing to say about where the world is headed. She's in the bomb shelter not because Armageddon is on the way, but because the church bowling alley is already occupied. "Church Retreat" may give New Yorkers a taste of Southern religion, but Swift and director Jerre Dye shouldn't be afraid to veer into uncomfortable territory.
At a time when conservatives are circling the wagons, where are Myotis' asides about the government death panels that soon will be coming after grandma?
A Myotis during the liberal resurgence can be just as relevant as when she clowned on the establishment. Voices of the South shouldn't allow the ink to dry on "Church Retreat."
'Church Retreat'
The play continues at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 3 in the basement theater of First Congregational Church, 1000 South Cooper. Tickets are $20. Call 726-0800.
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