2005 Year in Review

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Late Nite Catechism 2

Sister is full of advice for the audiences of Late Nite Catechism 2. “Girls are good, Boy are bad.” “Penance is a way of getting to heaven and getting out of going to hell.” And just like any nun she doesn’t take any nonsense from her class.

As her 2005 Adult Catechism Class Sister treats the audience much as a Catholic nun would teach her students. If you go to the last production of the year at Timber Lake Playhouse here’s a little advice: arrive on time (especially if you are sitting in the front rows), don’t talk while sister is talking, and don’t wear revealing clothes (again, especially if you are in the front row). After asking a young girl in the front row if she ran out of fabric she grabbed the Kleenex box and covered her up with tissues. Then she told two women, “Who’s talking, I’ll separate you”.

The set is a Catholic classroom including green tiled floors, chalkboard with the alphabet above, and an original filmstrip. Everyone will recognize a traditional classroom but only the Catholics audience members will really relate to the catechism.

Amanda Hebert, who had been performing Late Nite Catechism since 1998, walked out on stage in the full nuns habit and began explaining how the game Chutes and Ladders is similar to the Catholic beliefs. The ladder to heaven being martyrdom and sins are the chute to hell. Then of course there’s Limbo and Purgatory

After watching a filmstrip on penance she gives a homework assignment during intermission to read the 10 Commandments inserted in our programs and come up with questions her. One audience member asked, “Since telling dirty jokes is a sin, could she give us an example of one?” She also had her own list of millennium sins: road rage, rooting for Tony Soprano, wearing underwear as clothing, along with many more.

When Sister stuck close to the script parts were very funny but when she improvised it was hit and miss. Sometimes it seemed more of an infomercial about the Catholic religion with intersperses of amusing pieces of wit and humor. From time to time she tried too hard to be funny. The audience expected zingers that sometimes came and sometimes didn’t.

Late Nite Catechism is good but not great. I expected it to be a lot funnier and the second act fell flat. Since there’s a lot of improvising, every night’s performance will be different so hopefully it improves with time.

Timber Lake's season ends August 20 and season tickets for next year are discounted through that date.

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
August 13, 2005