Apostacy Is Stunning World Premiere

By Gary Wien

originally published: 08/02/2006

(LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- From the opening conversation, it's clear "Apostacy" won't be your typical mother/daughter play. After all, how often do you see conversations starting off with the mother doing a hit of medicinal marijuana? And then offering her daughter the pipe while the two discuss her recent dating nightmare?

Rachel Gold (the daughter of Sheila Gold) is taking care of her mother at a hospice. Rachel works at Planned Parenthood and recently had a scare when her name showed up on an anti-abortion website. Her mother was an extremely successful business woman who sold her business when it became clear that Rachel didn’t want to take it over.

“What the hell is in this weed?” exclaims Rachel after her mother unleases the bombshell that forms a major part in the play’s plot - her mother considering converting to Christianity from Judaism. Apparently she found salvation one night when she couldn’t sleep and found an evangelist (Dr. Julius Strong) on television. The mother was taken in by the preacher so much that she is planning to make an extremely large donation to his ministry. The catch was that she wanted to meet him before she would make the donation. Meanwhile, she hasn’t told her daughter about her plans at all.

Sure enough, Dr. Julius Strong pays her a visit and instantly lifts her spirits leading up to a hilarious scene involving a dying cancer patient and an Evangelist dancing and singing to “Mony, Mony”.

Sheila tells the preacher how everybody in the hospice has given up hope. “Some of us just give up slower than others, I guess.”

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The preacher tries to explain how she should put her life in Christ. As he’s talking to her, she looks up to him and says, “You’re always on, aren’t you?” He later proves her right when he presents a brilliantly executed sermon about Chicken McNuggets.

She may be having trouble taking Christ into her heart, but doesn’t have any trouble bringing the preacher into her bed. Ironically, the pair give each other just what they need to survive - so much so, that the preacher asks her to move across country and live with him. Thus begins the conflict between mother and daughter and the daughter versus the preacher with the battle for her spiritual being and millions of dollars caught in between.

There is much more than could be said about this play, but I think you should simply head to the theatre and see how it twists and turns for yourself.

Playwright Gino Dilorio has done an amazing job of presenting religion with a nice blend of faith and cynicism. This production is full of outstanding performances, surprise twists, and will keep you riveted from start to its amazing finish.

You can catch Apostacy from now through August 13th at NJ Repertory Theatre in Long Branch, New Jersey.

About the author:

Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Upstage Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station The Penguin Rocks. His personal website is at lightyscorner.com. He can be contacted at [email protected].