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	Top-Notch Acting Keeps 'Agnes' Afloat By Kevin Riordan Courier-Post [New Jersey] May 9, 2006 http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060509/LIVING/605090304/1004/LIVING The conflicts in "Agnes of God" - religion vs. science, faith vs. reason, head vs. heart -- are timeless. But John Pielmeier's 1982 play, now onstage in a stark new production by the Woodbury-based Luna Theater Company, has not aged well. The story of a possibly insane young nun accused of killing her newborn daughter, "Agnes of God" seems more contrived than it did two decades ago. Perhaps the ongoing sexual abuse coverup scandal has demythologized the Catholic Church or the seams in the playwright's strenuously schematic work have begun not only to show, but to give way. Fortunately, the struggle at the heart of "Agnes of God" retains its theatrical charge. The play's three female roles are still rich. And Luna's production, briskly directed by Gregory Scott Campbell at the Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5, features two terrific performances. Agnes's court-appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Livingstone (Christine Mascitti), is a lapsed Catholic and the sister of a young woman who became a nun and died after her appendicitis went untreated in a convent. It seems unlikely someone with this much personal baggage would be assigned to such a sensational case, a narrative improbability made more problematic by Mascitti's one-note performance. The actress focuses almost exclusively on the character's rage; her tightly wound Dr. Livingstone seems as much if not more in need of a psychiatrist than Agnes. It's a choice that threatens to capsize the production. Happily, Luna's "Agnes of God" doesn't sink. As the volatile Agnes, newcomer Melissa Lynch is a haunting mix of sweetness and scariness, a victim turned victimizer who may or may not be touched by divine madness. And as Mother Miriam Ruth, veteran Philadelphia-area performer Hazel Bowers lets us get to know the human being under the black habit, a human being who understands all too well the fragility of faith. Bowers and Lynch, very different actresses at opposite stages of their careers, make "Agnes of God" well worth seeing. Reach Kevin Riordan at (856) 486-2604 or kriordan@courierpost- online.com
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