Skylight Theatre Company’s The Sandwich Ministry time-traveled me right back to the basement of United Methodist Church in Mamaroneck, New York. Taking in the pitch-perfect set by Carolyn Mraz, I was immediately a teenager whose parents were splitting up—in part over religion.
This blast of non-nostalgic memory was brought on by the fake wood half-paneling, the fluorescent lights, linoleum floor and stacking chairs, by the upright piano in the corner and the bulletin board with flyers for bible study. An almost identical church basement is where I drank coffee for the first time, which I have done ever since. (Church, not so much.)
I digress to convey the importance of sets in creating an enveloping theater experience. I see a lot of black box theater, with reconfigured cubes standing in for tables, chairs, beds and more. (For example, see this week’s Hollywood Fringe Festival reviews!) Imagination can fill in the blanks. But a meticulously thought-through set, as this one is, increases an audience’s emotional connection to the characters and their predicaments.
In The Sandwich Ministry, the predicament is a once-in-a-century storm, sadly also relatable. Neighbors have been driven from their homes and are sheltering near the church; a small group of women gather to make sandwiches for them.
Joyce (Jayne Taini) is the jovial elder. She’s been around forever and takes any defection from church—and especially the Sandwich Ministry—personally. When young Hannah (Jordan Hull) returns after an absence to help in the current emergency, she defensively reinforces to Joyce that she only left because she had work obligations that affected her schedule.
Claudia (Maha Chehlaoui) is the last to enter. She’s married to the pastor, making her a key feature in the face of the parish. Yet she seems less engaged than the other two women.
In fact, the storm—and the climate change it represents—has everyone on edge. The women bemoan the loss of “seasonal stability.” Financial stability is also shaky: Joyce notes that the only way to have enough money is to have more than enough. Factor in crises of faith and family, and this threesome covers a lot of bases while making sandwiches.
Unseen characters, especially Claudia’s wife Alice, the church’s pastor, loom large. Claudia relays a parable told by Alice extolling the virtue of giving up money to serve the church. Rather than nodding along, Hannah fights back, questioning the philosophy of constant sacrifice and penance as the price for God’s love. She says she feels like she’s living in “shadow time,” multiple, simultaneous time periods, in her head; Joyce retorts, “I think that’s called being alive.”
The repartee is witty and thought-provoking, as the women look for purpose in a time of uncertainty, and try to provide support to each other, and to those in need. The script, by Miranda Rose Hall, builds expertly, as the storm quiets and returns. Hall sets The Sandwich Ministry in an unnamed American town (and, for the record, a Presbyterian church).
Themes of religion, climate change, mortality, marriage, friendship, and what it means to be part of a community weave together beautifully. Katie Lindsay, who directed Untitled Baby Play for IAMA Theatre Company, choreographs a complicated logistical dance that increases the revelatory nature of the script’s progression.
The Sandwich Ministry is deceptively small, with three actors and a single (perfect) set. From this acorn, a subtle and engrossing statement grows, tackling big subjects with sensitivity through characters fully formed.
The Sandwich Ministry runs through July 7 at Skylight Theatre, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave. Show times are Mondays at 7:30, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 and Sundays at 3:00pm Tickets are $42 and can be purchased here.
