Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You
Encyclopedia
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You is a play by Christopher Durang
first performed on December 14, 1979, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre
in New York City
. It was performed on a bill with one-act plays that included works by David Mamet
, Marsha Norman
, and Tennessee Williams
. Durang, who was raised a Roman Catholic, won an Obie Award
for the play as did Elizabeth Franz
for her role as Sister Mary Ignatius.
The play revolves around a nun
, Sister Mary Ignatius, explaining to the audience the basic tenets of Catholicism
. She is assisted by her favorite student, seven-year-old Thomas. From time to time, she asks him catechism
questions and gives him a cookie for every right answer. Half-way into her speech, some of her former students, now grown up, enter to perform a mock Christmas pageant from their childhood days and reveal to Sister Mary the deep psychological trauma
her teachings left on them. Sister Mary's unwavering dogma
combined with the absurdist
nature of the play add elements of biting comedy.
In 1981, the play was presented again, this time on a double bill with a new Durang one-act, The Actor's Nightmare
. Elizabeth Franz repeated her acclaimed performance as Sister Mary, and in The Actor's Nightmare, she played the glamorous Sarah Siddons
. Jeff Brooks played the accountant in that play who shows up at a theatre and is told he is the understudy and must go on; and in Sister Mary, he played the troubled alcoholic ex-student Aloysius. Others in the cast included Polly Draper
, as the emotionally wounded girl who threatens Sister's life, Mary Catherine Wright as the unwed mother, Timothy Landfield as the polite gay one, and young Mark Stefan as little Thomas. The double bill — featuring Sister Mary — was presented at Playwrights Horizons in New York City and was directed by Jerry Zaks. It was a critical success and moved to off-Broadway where it ran for two and a half years. As the run went on, other actresses took over the role of Sister: Nancy Marchand
, Kathleen Chalfant
, Mary Louise Wilson
, Lynn Redgrave
, and Patricia Gage.
In Los Angeles, Elizabeth Huddle and then Lynn Redgrave
played Sister Mary. Thomas was played alternately by seven-year-old Chad Allen
and 10 year old Shane Butterworth. In San Francisco, Sister Mary was played by Cloris Leachman
, Lynn Redgrave and Peggy Cass
. Thomas was played by eight-year-old Solomon Cheifer. In Los Angeles
, the play was revived in 2004 at the ARK Theatre Company
in a production directed by Susan Lee Johnson.
The play's stark criticism of Catholicism eventually led to controversy. Some conservative Catholics were offended by the play's stereotyping, and in St. Louis
and Boston, major protests against the play occurred. Attempts were made to keep the play from being produced, though they were unsuccessful in stopping it in St. Louis or Boston. In St. Louis, two state senators attempted to pass a law penalizing theatres that did not promise not to present plays people might find offensive, but after much publicity, the bill failed in committee.
Phil Donahue
devoted a full episode of his national talk show
to the controversy, focused on efforts to close the play in St. Louis. Video clips of the Los Angeles production were shown during the program, and box office increased greatly in New York and Los Angeles after the program.
The play's large success in major cities very much stamped Durang as a notable satirist.
In many editions of the play, there is an afterword by Christopher Durang which explains many notes and errata on possible performances of the play.
, in 2001 for the Showtime network. It starred Diane Keaton
, Laura San Giacomo
, Jennifer Tilly
, and Wallace Langham
.
Christopher Durang
Christopher Ferdinand Durang is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s.- Life :...
first performed on December 14, 1979, at the Ensemble Studio Theatre
Ensemble Studio Theatre
The Ensemble Studio Theatre is a membership-based, developmental theatre located in New York City. It has a dual mission of nurturing individual theatre artists and developing new American plays.-Overview:...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It was performed on a bill with one-act plays that included works by David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
, Marsha Norman
Marsha Norman
Marsha Norman is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. She received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play night, Mother...
, and Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
. Durang, who was raised a Roman Catholic, won an Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for the play as did Elizabeth Franz
Elizabeth Franz
Elizabeth Franz is an American stage and television actress.-Life and career:Franz was born Betty Jean Frankovich in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of a factory worker....
for her role as Sister Mary Ignatius.
The play revolves around a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
, Sister Mary Ignatius, explaining to the audience the basic tenets of Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
. She is assisted by her favorite student, seven-year-old Thomas. From time to time, she asks him catechism
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
questions and gives him a cookie for every right answer. Half-way into her speech, some of her former students, now grown up, enter to perform a mock Christmas pageant from their childhood days and reveal to Sister Mary the deep psychological trauma
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...
her teachings left on them. Sister Mary's unwavering dogma
Dogma (Roman Catholic)
In the Roman Catholic Church, a dogma is an article of faith revealed by God, which the magisterium of the Church presents to be believed. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the basic truth from which salvation and life is derived for Christians. Dogmata regulate the language, how the truth of...
combined with the absurdist
Absurdist fiction
Absurdist fiction is a genre of literature, most often employed in novels, plays or poems, that focuses on the experiences of characters in a situation where they cannot find any inherent purpose in life, most often represented by ultimately meaningless actions and events...
nature of the play add elements of biting comedy.
In 1981, the play was presented again, this time on a double bill with a new Durang one-act, The Actor's Nightmare
The Actor's Nightmare
The Actor's Nightmare is a short comic play by Christopher Durang. It involves an accountant named George Spelvin, who is mistaken for an actor's understudy and forced to perform in a play for which he doesn't know any of the lines.-Inspiration:...
. Elizabeth Franz repeated her acclaimed performance as Sister Mary, and in The Actor's Nightmare, she played the glamorous Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character,...
. Jeff Brooks played the accountant in that play who shows up at a theatre and is told he is the understudy and must go on; and in Sister Mary, he played the troubled alcoholic ex-student Aloysius. Others in the cast included Polly Draper
Polly Draper
Polly Carey Draper is an American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director. She is renowned for her ensemble role in ABC's hit series Thirtysomething. In 1998, Draper starred in her screenwriting debut The Tic Code, featuring Gregory Hines which was inspired by her husband Michael...
, as the emotionally wounded girl who threatens Sister's life, Mary Catherine Wright as the unwed mother, Timothy Landfield as the polite gay one, and young Mark Stefan as little Thomas. The double bill — featuring Sister Mary — was presented at Playwrights Horizons in New York City and was directed by Jerry Zaks. It was a critical success and moved to off-Broadway where it ran for two and a half years. As the run went on, other actresses took over the role of Sister: Nancy Marchand
Nancy Marchand
Nancy Marchand was an American actress, whose career encompassed both stage and screen. She appeared in various theatre productions throughout the early 1950s, before being offered roles on film and television....
, Kathleen Chalfant
Kathleen Chalfant
-Life and career:Chalfant was born as in San Francisco, California and raised in her parents' boarding house in Oakland. Her father, William Bishop, was an officer in the Coast Guard...
, Mary Louise Wilson
Mary Louise Wilson
Mary Louise Wilson is an American stage, film and television actress.-Stage:Broadway* Hot Spot — 1963 as Sue Ann* Flora, The Red Menace — 1965 as Comrade Ada* Lovers and Other Strangers — 1968 as Bernice...
, Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
, and Patricia Gage.
In Los Angeles, Elizabeth Huddle and then Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
played Sister Mary. Thomas was played alternately by seven-year-old Chad Allen
Chad Allen (actor)
Chad Allen is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor at the age of seven, Allen is a three-time Young Artist Award winner and GLAAD Media Award honoree, best known for rising to prominence as a teen idol during the late 1980s as David Witherspoon on the NBC family drama,...
and 10 year old Shane Butterworth. In San Francisco, Sister Mary was played by Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
, Lynn Redgrave and Peggy Cass
Peggy Cass
Mary Margaret “Peggy” Cass was an American actress, comedian, game show panelist, and announcer.A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Cass became interested in acting as a member of the drama club at Cambridge Latin School; however, she attended all of high school without a speaking part...
. Thomas was played by eight-year-old Solomon Cheifer. In Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, the play was revived in 2004 at the ARK Theatre Company
ARK Theatre Company
The ARK Theatre Company is an actor-driven repertory theatre ensemble working in Los Angeles, California.-General:Ark Theatre Company is an ensemble of theatre professionals specializing in classical theatre, with an eye to contemporary plays that reflect the depth and interplay of language in...
in a production directed by Susan Lee Johnson.
The play's stark criticism of Catholicism eventually led to controversy. Some conservative Catholics were offended by the play's stereotyping, and in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
and Boston, major protests against the play occurred. Attempts were made to keep the play from being produced, though they were unsuccessful in stopping it in St. Louis or Boston. In St. Louis, two state senators attempted to pass a law penalizing theatres that did not promise not to present plays people might find offensive, but after much publicity, the bill failed in committee.
Phil Donahue
Phil Donahue
Phillip John "Phil" Donahue is an American media personality, writer, and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, also known as Donahue, was the first to use a talk show format. The show had a 26-year run on U.S...
devoted a full episode of his national talk show
The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1967 and 1996.In 2002, Donahue was ranked #29 on TV Guide's...
to the controversy, focused on efforts to close the play in St. Louis. Video clips of the Los Angeles production were shown during the program, and box office increased greatly in New York and Los Angeles after the program.
The play's large success in major cities very much stamped Durang as a notable satirist.
In many editions of the play, there is an afterword by Christopher Durang which explains many notes and errata on possible performances of the play.
Reception
Frank Rich of New York Times wrote "only a writer of real talent can write an angry play that remains funny and controlled even in its most savage moments. 'Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You' confirms that Christopher Durang is just such a writer". Lynn Trenning of Art Savant wrote that "the script is brilliant in its grasp of the ironic inconsistencies between Catholic doctrine and practical reality" while noting in her review of the original off Broadway production by the Off-Tryon Theatre Company, that the lead's "too gentle demeanor failed to convince me she was the Sister Mary Ignatius who terrified children into obedience".Movie adaptation
The play was made into a movie, Sister Mary Explains It AllSister Mary Explains It All
Sister Mary Explains It All is a 2001 satirical dark comedy film written by Christopher Durang and directed by Marshall Brickman. The film, based upon Durang's 1979 play Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, and starring Diane Keaton in the title role, premiered on the Showtime network.-...
, in 2001 for the Showtime network. It starred Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
, Laura San Giacomo
Laura San Giacomo
Laura San Giacomo is an American actress known for playing the role of Maya Gallo on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! and Kit De Luca in the film Pretty Woman, and Cynthia in sex, lies, and videotape as well as other work on television and in films...
, Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is the older sister of actress Meg Tilly.-Early life:...
, and Wallace Langham
Wallace Langham
James Wallace Langham II is an American actor. He currently plays the role of David Hodges in the American crime drama television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.-Film career:...
.