Belly laughs for Jesus

>> Late Nite Catechism's Maripat Donovan on why nuns are not psychopaths

by AMY BARRATT

How much do you know about Saint Lawrence, namesake of both a mighty river and a major thoroughfare in our fair city? What about immaculate conception, or the Assumption? Those of us who were not privileged to attend pre-Vatican II Catholic schools, or for whom such schooling is a distant memory, can bone up on the lives of the saints and much, much more by attending Late Nite Catechism, a one-woman show opening next week as part of the Just for Laughs Festival.

The show stars Maripat Donovan--who co-wrote with Vicki Quade--as a formidable, black-habited nun of the old school known only as Sister--and you'd better address her as such if called on in her class. Catechism, which premiered in Chicago in 1993 and is still running there (with another actress), is an "interactive theatre piece," performed with houselights up.

"The audience doesn't get off easy. You can't hide from Sister," Chicagoan Donovan informed me on the phone from L.A. where she was winding up a run of the show. "You're Canadian, so I'm probably scaring you right now," she added, perceptively. "We did the show in Toronto and it was like pulling teeth to get people to participate." Once the ice is broken, and that can mean something as simple as getting everyone to practice saying "Yes, Sister," all together, people have a great time, Donovan insists.

And so does she, despite the fact that she is in her eighth year, with only an occasional month off of playing Sister. With a good deal of improv involving (at the expense of?) audience members, every show is different. Don't let her catch you looking at your watch, for instance, or she'll threaten to confiscate it and send it to the missions.

"Say I was doing Hamlet," Donovan fairly barks into the phone, conjuring up a hilarious image, "I don't care how good the play is, after you've been doing it for a few months, you're up there saying your lines and you're thinking, 'better change that cat box when I get home.'" With Catechism, so much of the show depends on Donovan's take on the crowd that "I'm never able to go on automatic pilot," she says.

Late Nite Catechism is not to be confused with other "nun" plays, like Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, or Nunsense. Other plays, Donovan says, "portray nuns as either demented psychopaths or as naive women who are incapable of taking care of themselves, both of which are completely wrong. If you look at real sisters, they not only take care of themselves, but of all of us."

And speaking of taking care of yourself, apart from her acting career, Donovan is also a licensed contractor who does home renovations. Cool.

Still drawing a blank on Saint Lawrence? Well, Donovan (or is it Sister?) informs me he was an early Christian martyr whom the Romans tied to an iron grate above a fire. When they asked him, "Now do you renounce your Jesus?" legend has it he replied, "No, and as a matter of fact, I'm done on this side, you should probably turn me over."

"As a child in Catholic school," Donovan says, "I equated the nuns with the Romans and the children with Saint Lawrence." :

Late Nite Catechism previews July 11 and 12, opens Thursday, July 13 at 8pm at Centaur Theatre. Tuesday-Sunday until July 23, $18-32, 288-3161