Strong cast works hard to redeem ‘Rapture’

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Erin Myers (from left), Rob Fagin, Laura Shatkus and Niall McGinty are young married people caught up in "Accidental Rapture."

Updated: January 24, 2012 8:58PM

Playwright Eric Pfeffinger takes on a lot in his end-of-the-world drama, “Accidental Rapture.”

Perhaps too much: The 16th Street Theater production starts out in a realistic (if slightly sit-commish) mode, putting a pair of academic, ultra-secular liberals and a Born Again, creationist couple in close quarters for the weekend and letting them have at each other.

Predictably, Christians Kim (Erin Myers) and Richard (Rob Fagin) are easy targets, spouting anti-dinosaur nonsense and smugly insisting that only those who accept Christ as their Lord and Savior have a prayer of avoiding hell. The secularists Amy (Laura Shatkus) and Paul (Niall McGinty), also predictably, get in one zinger after another as they attempt to get along — and eventually give up that attempt — with their evangelical hosts.

But with the of end the first act, Pfeffinger abruptly changes the rules on what has been a fairly standard domestic dramedy of clashing belief systems. Just before intermission is when the world ends, not with a bang or a whimper but with an display of lighting and sound effects and the appearance of an otherworldly character who looks like a cross between Jesus as he’s depicted in children’s Bibles and a terrorist as they’re depicted in bad movies.

It’s a supremely WTF moment, and also kind of a dead-end since the Robed One doesn’t show up again. Pfeffinger then proceeds to lay out who is saved, who is not and who gets into eternal bliss through a loophole that apparently the (all knowing?) God overlooked.

The existence of heaven, hell, eternity, God as well as the validity of Christianity – all are massive topics that get first comically, then with increasing absurdity dealt with in “Accidental Rapture.”

The problem here (in addition to the inevitable anticlimax that comes when the end of the world is depicted within the limited confines of a black box theater) is that despite uniformly fine performances and Kevin Christopher Fox’s smart direction, “Accidental Rapture” never really develops much momentum. It tentatively broaches a tremendous amount of provocative subject material, and then skitters over the really difficult questions rather than truly delving them.

Moreoever, his end game scenes feel kind of like a compromise, as belief systems shift and unlikely common ground is found among people who previously couldn’t abide each other. Kim and Amy bond despite their deep spiritual differences, the men experience their own conversion inversions. The most powerful and endlessly startling scene in “Accidental Rapture” comes in its final moments, with Christian Kim slyly smiling at Amy and offering her a piece of fruit. And not just any fruit, but a piece that throws Kim’s whole identity into question. It’s a wonderful scene in that it forces you to look at the whole character of Kim in a different light.

But the most intriguing thing about “Accidental Rapture” is tied to the assumption everyone makes post-world end. Kim and Richard, Amy and Paul all conclude they’re either in or en route to Heaven. But that’s not something that is ever really confirmed one way or the other. Pfeffinger leaves open the possibility that just maybe’s everybody’s in Hell, but nobody’s caught on yet. The Angel who shows up to shepherd people off in the final countdown is just ambiguous enough in her wording so that it’s hard to say for sure that Heaven is in the direction she’s directing traffic.

Those provocative after-musings and the strength of the cast make “Accidental Rapture” worth a visit. As the devout Kim, Erin Myers brings enough compassion and complexity to save the role from being a one-note easy target. Niall McGinty’s Paul is airtight science and pragmatism until the End arrives, at which point he makes a believable U-turn in the face of new evidence. Fagin is the most rigid of the group, and thus the most maddening, but he brings just enough compassion to his air of condescension to keep the character from falling into stereotype.

And as Lydia, the wild card wild child who romanced Richard back when all were in grad school, Stephanie Diaz makes the most of a somewhat underwritten role. We hear a lot about Lydia’s ostensibly wild ways — her piercings, her work as an actor, her (twist pearls in dismay here) abortion — and how she’s probably not going to be seeing any of her old friends again once the final tally has been made.

It’s a shame Pfeffinger doesn’t bring Lydia in for more of the action, rather than simply giving her a few disjointed scenes before double casting her as Traffic Angel. This is a character who would bring a new level of richness to the debate. And perhaps a sense of cohesiveness that “Accidental Ratpture” currently lacks.