Church drama is silly and serious

There are two types of plays about Catholicism: the ones with silly nuns, and the ones with serious nuns. Montgomery Theater's Hail Mary!, by Tom Dudzick, has much silliness, but wants desperately to fall on the serious side of that divide. Mind you, this isn't Doubt, John Patrick Shanley's exploration of patriarchy and power in the church. Dudzick isn't concerned with contemporary scandals or controversies, and dismisses them with one densely packed sentence referring to Catholicism's troubles with pedophilia, the Holocaust, abortion, you name it. He takes the safer route, asking, via a trio of nuns, one friendly, feisty priest, and a gentleman caller, all gathered in a classroom for this instructive purpose: What Would God Do?

Mary (Sarah Gliko), a novice and teacher at her order's elementary school, butts up against the orthodoxies of her mother superior, Sister Regina Marie (Cynthia Raff's tight-lipped, tightly wound performance anchors this production). Her major offense? Telling a child he can't hurt God's feelings.

Ultimately, Mary discovers that her childhood sweetheart, Joseph (Bob McDonald) is the father of one of her students, and that the priest, Father Stanley (Robert Bauer), thinks she might be a saint. Both are flimsy plot devices, directed with a manic hand by Tom Quinn, that pad Dudzick's real goal, which is lengthy, though only half-explored, theological debate.

This is the women's show, its men little more than cartoonish bursts of color used to brighten the spaces between Mary's and Regina's conflicts. Gliko is cheerful and winning - one opening-night audience member whispered loudly, "She reminds me of Sandra Bullock." And so she does, plucky, cute, powered by conviction. Rebecca Miglionico offers an understated, good-natured Sister Felicia; though a basketball coach, she's soft-spoken and submissive, an anomaly in a play where most points arrive with the subtlety of a carpenter's hammer. (Did I mention that Joseph, coincidentally, has the same profession as Jesus' father?)

Dudzick's is a pleasant enough endeavor, even if, say, a discussion of moral relativism in regard to 9/11 skitters dangerously past its own point, and much of the play's final half hour is taken up with marginally interesting (to me, anyway) discussions about what sort of 21st-century parent God ought to be. As church lite, it's easy on the conscience, stopping short of choosing sides. As theater lite, it serves a similar purpose, attempting to raise questions moderate but provocative enough to grab a general audience's attention without causing offense.

Hail, Mary!

Through May 7. Montgomery Theater, 124 Main St., Souderton. By Tom Dudzick. With Sarah Gliko, Cynthia Raff, Bob McDonald, Robert Bauer, and Rebecca Miglionico. Tickets $26-$35. Information: 215-723-9984, http://www.montgomerytheater.org.