Missionary Positions
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
The Zephyr Theatre
HFF, June 16 and June 24
RECOMMENDED
“Religion isn’t really that bad on its own,” observes Dan Prevette in Missionary Positions, his poignant yet entertaining account of growing up first within — and then away from — the strictures of a worldwide evangelical church.
A large man in his 30s, wearing jeans and a “What would Jesus Do?” emblazoned T-shirt, Prevette stands at the center of the small proscenium at the Zephyr Theatre before an audience of responsive theatergoers. Behind him a scrim displays a series of video images (videography by Kenneth Johnson): those at the top are a collage of celebrity preachers and other figures representative of the fervent Christian nationalism whose precepts have currently seized hold of so many Americans. There’s a small table on the stage, with a glass and a bottle of whiskey, props that serve as metaphors for one of the play’s central themes: the addictive and (for some stricken individuals) destructive, alienating effect of religion on their lives.
The message is born of experience. The son of evangelical missionaries, Prevette spent much of his childhood abroad in places like Romania, Thailand and Cambodia, where he ate breakfast to the sounds of gunfire. Eventually, in Cambodia, there came a violent coup d’etat, and he and his mom were hurriedly evacuated, while his dedicated dad stayed behind to pursue his mission.
Subtitled “A Recovering Christian’s Guide to Getting Lost,” the play is the story of Prevette’s evolution from an impressionable youngster, who absorbed his parents’ instruction, to a young adult who begins to question his fundamentalist background — and to grapple with the guilt and shame that an unswerving religious ideology can demand.
As he tells his story, Prevette sometimes takes on the voice of the tormenting inner demon who, during his childhood, would visit him in the dark. Other times he speaks as the adult Dan to point up the discrepancy between wealthy White Americans who call themselves “Christian” — the sort of folks he met when his family relocated to Colorado Springs — and the historical roots the Christian faith has in the messaging of Jesus, a poor man who came from (and was mostly addressing) his persecuted people.
Before writing Missionary Positions (which is directed and was developed with the input of Jessica Lynn Johnson, an instructor on solo performance), Prevette worked as a standup and improviser. That experience comes across clearly in his delivery, which blends the timing and punch of an adept comic, able to stir his audience, with the breadth and significance of his material, which comments on a way of thinking that, within our nation now, breeds precarious unrest.
The Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Fri., June 16, 7:15 pm & Sat., June 24, 3:45 pm. https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9837?tab=tickets. Running time: 80 minutes with no intermission.
