Theater

April 16, 08

The Mission

Don’t sign up for this quest

By Dan Hudak

There are new plays that have a bright future and those that should never be staged again. The Mission, now making its world premiere at New Theatre — which boasts “New Voices, New Works” as its motto — is a poorly acted, aimless and contrived disappointment from noted playwright Jules Tasca. The show officially goes dark May 4, and let’s hope it stays that way.

The premise is intriguing: A prison chaplain named James Corcorran has weekly visits with the despondent Joe Conte, who is incarcerated for attempted murder. James believes Joe’s soul can be saved (“Christ’s forgiveness is a fountain that washes us clean,” he preaches), and makes it his personal “mission” to help Joe rediscover all that is good in the world. Joe, predictably, doesn’t give a damn about being saved and despises religion, calling it a “senseless twist of logic” while doing everything he can to chase James away. It’s Joe’s “mission,” it seems, to make James miserable.

But James persists, and as the men converse further, a unique relationship develops, much of it based around the futility of Catholicism, the virtues of Machiavelli and the shame of homosexuality. There are some nice lines of dialogue in Tasca’s script — “The truth is always between the lines of what people say,” Joe says late in the show — but ultimately the play lacks dramatic emphasis. Director Ricky J. Martinez keeps a slow, stagnant pace for much of the 90-minute, intermission-less production, which is almost completely devoid of a narrative thrust to keep us interested.

As James, Ricky Waugh is the more accomplished of the two thespians and uses a jittery nervousness and blanket reliance on the Good Book to inform his character’s thoughts and actions. The dialogue doesn’t do him many favors, but he’s at least tolerable as an uptight crusader out to change the lives of his inmates while utterly incapable of handling his own issues. William Gressman, on the other hand, struggles greatly. Joe is a tricky role because he’s not all devious and evil, but Gressman is never convincing and strains for believability.

In a unique gimmick, the two actors will switch roles for every performance, meaning the show you see may feature Waugh as Joe and Gressman as James. Martinez insists it’s a different play when they switch, especially when it comes to the actors’ interpretations of each role, but after watching them once it’s hard to muster any desire to go back for more punishment (if you are interested, tickets only cost $10 to see it a second time). 

Nicole Quintana’s set design is an oversized interpretation of a prison holding cell, with steely gray walls adorning a faded blue door, a table and two chairs at the center. The light design by Michael Foster is unobtrusive, but Ozzie Quintana’s sound design, which is composed of standard prison sound effects (jail cells slamming, etc.), features a loud clanging noise that’s a bit tough on the ears.

Whatever your “mission” may be in life, for your sake, let’s hope it doesn’t involve seeing this show.

The Mission is showing through May 4 at New Theatre, 4120 Laguna St., Coral Gables; 305-443-5909 or new-theatre.org.