THOMASTON — The Thomaston Opera House will be holding open auditions for its fall Arts Center production of “Mass Appeal” by Bill C. Davis. The auditions are Monday, Sept. 15 and Tuesday, Sept. 16 at the Thomaston Opera House, 158 Main St. in Thomaston from 7 to 9 p.m. Callbacks will be held on Thursday, Sept. 18, if needed. The production will be presented beginning Friday, Nov. 7 and will run through Sunday, Nov. 16th for six performances.
All roles are open to audition. The show needs two adult men for this production. Auditioners will be asked to read from the script. The production is directed by Amber-Lynn Dunphy. A complete cast breakdown is available at the Opera House website under casting calls at www.thomastonoperahouse.org. For additional information, please call (860) 283-6250.
ABOUT THE SHOW: Father Tim Farley, a lover of the good things in life, is comfortably ensconced as priest of a prosperous Catholic congregation. Without realizing it, he has resorted to flattering his parishioners and entertaining them with sermons that skirt any disturbing issues, in order to protect his Mercedes, his trips abroad and the generous supply of fine wines which grace his table (and his desk drawer). His well-ordered world is disrupted by the arrival of Mark Dolson, an intense and idealistic young seminarian who Father Farley reluctantly agrees to take under his wing. There is immediate conflict between the two as the younger man challenges the older priest’s sybaritic ways, while Father Farley is appalled by Mark’s confession that he had led a life of bisexual promiscuity before entering the priesthood. In the final essence their confrontation is a touching yet very funny examination of the nature of friendship, courage and the infinite variety of love, as the older man is reminded of the firebrand he once was, and the younger comes to realize that forbearance is as vital to the Christian ethic as righteousness.
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Ah, don’t you just love when the theater turns it’s attention on the Catholic Church? We have had so many uplifting dramas lately. Doesn’t it sound exactly like Bing Crosby in Going my way? Well it does have a older and younger priest that initially don’t get along, but Bing would of had to swing to be in this one.
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3 comments
My church is putting on an original musical production entitled Three Marys, about Jesus, the two thieves on Calvary, and the mothers who loved them. The dialogue is fantastic, the story is heart-rending, the music is out of this world, and not one part of it deviates from the Magisterium. It is a FAITHFUL Catholic play. The last two nights are this Friday and Saturday at Winters Mill HS in Westminster, MD. If any readers are in the area, this is a must-see.
Here’s a link to a story on the play that ran in the Baltimore Sun.
“Mass Appeal” was made into a movie in the mid-80s, with Jack Lemmon as Fr. Farley and an unknown as Deacon Dolson. The article you quote is not really a fair depiction. You have a zealous deacon on his pastoral year and a soft pastor who’s more concerned about how BINGO is going, and some conflict about what is really the best way to be a priest today. In a moment of brutal honesty, the deacon tells the seminary rector that he had, before going to seminary, had sexual encounters with men as well as women. He told the pastor, too. This was not bragging, nor rebelling against Church teaching, but a time of brutal honesty with himself and with others. He had been pretty harsh in his sermons, but had to face the fact that he had worse things in his own past, which he had been forgiven. He did not see celibacy as something to fear, but which he embraced with open arms, because he saw the emptiness of his prior life. But because of his honesty about his past, he is expelled from the seminary. Fr. Farley, however, goes to bat for him, and defends him.
So … what’s the problem?
As you describe the Movie, I see no problem. The same writer wrote the screenplay also wrote the play and I don’t know what he might have changed in the play to make it more palatable as a movie, he has recently updated the play again to make it more relevant (his words).
So I stand corrected and thanks for the information.
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