Allan Appel Photo
“What charge do we have against Pastor Procrastinator?” asks Brother Instigator. Replies Sister Experience: Maybe no charge is necessary to get rid of the pastor who’s been flashing money about and giving the church a bad reputation.
Enter Sister Judas (in yellow dress, of course), played by Joyce Pearson-Waller. Her first line: “Kiss me.”
So begins Church Fight, a rollicking revival of a 1926 African-American play by Ruth Gaines-Shelton. It debuted Wednesday afternoon at the Dixwell/Newhalville Senior Center.
It’s the first production of the first theater company ever based at a senior center, according to Pat Wallace, the director of the city’s Elderly Services.
She was in the audience along with another 125 laughing appreciators as the large room of the senior center at Goffe and Orchard was arrayed like a supper club.
Click on the play arrow for a taste of the rousing gospel number “I’m So Glad Jesus Lifted Me Up”. It occurs halfway through the play.
Center Theater Club Director Mekah-el Ben Israel conceived the all-volunteer group. He comes onstage a third of the way through the charming long one-act as Pastor Procrastinator.
As soon as he whips out a magnifying glass to examine the charges against him, all the characters who have been so outspoken and righteous slowly begin to back down. Except one: Sister Two-Face (played by Catherine Lloyd). As soon as Pastor Procrastinator leaves, the group asks a blessing of God to be called down on both the liars and the non-liars in the group. Then they ineffectually begin conspiring again.
Played broadly and as a cross between the Amos ‘N Andy humor of the 1950s and the Everyman plays of the Middle Ages, Church Fight packs in a lot of study of human behavior in a short period of time. And it’s hilarious.
The troupe’s nine members all have modest theatrical experience. Several participated in the 1980s production of Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity with the Vital Element Production company. The group plans to revive that.
They also want to take Church Fight to other venues. Pat Wallace said the city’s other two senior centers might be natural possibilities. So might churches.
The play has been described as pioneering example of African-American dramaturgy from the pre-civil rights era, where the focus is on church politics and not race. With the church being such an anchoring institution, it could well withstand all the satirical barbs the play throws at it.
The only male in the group, beside director Ben Israel, is Joe Hundley, who plays Brother Instigator. He picked up the spirit of the performers when, right before going on, he said he would be pleased “If I can recall most of my lines without vitamins.”
Other performers not mentioned above are: Hattie Turner, Margery Mills, Claudia Ligon, Isis Crawley, and Gloria Richardson. Richardson anchors the cast as Sister Experience with dubiously useful lessons from the many church fights she has previously waged offstage.