‘Mass Appeal’ a tale of faith challenged, rediscovered and redefined

Father Tim Farley is very good at comforting the afflicted, but he has forgotten that part of a pastor’s job is to afflict the comfortable. Seminarian Mark Dolson bluntly reminds the aging priest of this fact in Bill C. Davis’ two-character play “Mass Appeal,” opening this weekend at the Marsh River Theater in Brooks.

First produced in 1981, the play’s “shocking” sexual revelations seem tame today. The contentious issues the two men argue about in “Mass Appeal,” however, still provoke heated arguments inside and outside the Catholic Church. They include the ordination of women, the role of celibacy in the priesthood, and sexual orientation.

Davis’ characters discuss those topics, but at the heart of this play is a story of faith challenged, rediscovered and redefined. Presented by Northern Lights Theater, a traveling company based in Bangor, this production emphasizes the challenges these two believers fling at each other. In one sense, it is a battle between generations – one man brought up on the Baltimore Catechism, the other raised in the folk Mass era after Vatican II.

While “Mass Appeal” confronts serious subjects, it is a very funny play. Director Carlene Hirsch, the drama and speech teacher at Bangor High School, mines one comic gem after another from the script. She also keeps her actors carefully and delicately balanced on that fine line between farce and tragedy. Thanks to Hirsch’s subtle hand, Kent McKusick and Rich Updegrove never tumble into the dark waters of either.

McKusick as Farley brings a quiet, repressed intensity to the role. He slowly unravels the priest’s past, revealing a scarred and lonely child who found a comfortable and sheltered home in the church. McKusick, who is adept at broad physical comedy, brings a subtlety to the role seldom glimpsed in his previous performances.

The actor reveals the nature of Farley’s inner demons as if he were unraveling a sweater. Only at the end of the play, when the priest’s foibles are laid bare in a jumble of tangled yarn at his feet, does the depth of McKusick’s portrayal becomes clear. All of Farley’s complexities become transparent in this fine actor’s deft portrayal of a man at crossroads in his spiritual journey.

Updegrove captures all of Dolson’s anger, intensity and conviction. Like most young adults, his faith, unlike his elder’s, is unwavering and unshakable. The seminarian never questions his own spirituality but constantly challenges the church to change. In the end, Dolson’s undoing is not sexual ambiguity, but the inability to obey.

A graduate student at the University of Maine, Updegrove’s performance is as blunt and brash as McKusick’s is subtle. With a mop of red hair almost covering his eyes, his disheveled running suit and rumpled shirt, Updegrove looks like the rebel Dolson so desperately wants to be. His performance is equal to his elder’s in every way.

What is missing from this production is as important as what is portrayed. To her credit, at no time does Hirsch hint at any latent romantic feelings between the priest and the seminarian. This production of “Mass Appeal” is about the way these two men challenge and focus each other’s faith in God and commitment to the church.

The questions the playwright asks about that commitment still are relevant 2,000 years after the birth of Jesus. The characters in “Mass Appeal” quest for what many Americans seek today – a spiritual connection with something larger than themselves. Hirsch, McKusick and Updegrove deftly and delightfully illuminate that journey.

“Mass Appeal” will be performed at 8 p.m. Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Marsh River Theater in Brooks. For more information, call 722-4110.