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TALKIN' BROADWAY/Review: An Act of God

  • communications94279
  • May 9
  • 6 min read

Review by Arthur Dorman


May 9, 2025


If you can fit it in during the next two weeks, take advantage of a very special opportunity, for God is appearing, live and in person, at Six Points Theater. Of course, not the God to whom you may offer prayers and praise, if that is your practice, but God, the dominant character in David Javerbaum's play An Act of God. You may have heard that Sally Wingert stars in the lead role, and the actor on stage certainly looks and sounds like Wingert, one of the best known and most reliable of Twin Cities actors, but at the very start, God lets us know that, being able to take an infinite number of forms, at this show, he (the male pronoun is used, even when this God looks very much like a woman) has chosen to take the form of Sally Wingert. He offhandedly adds, "Nice gal, by the way," then adds "she has no idea she's here."

Sally Wingert as God in "An Act of God."            Sarah Whiting photo
Sally Wingert as God in "An Act of God." Sarah Whiting photo

From there it's anything goes as God rebukes pretty much the entire human race for our failure to follow his Ten Commandments as he intended, even though that list is easily the best-known thing he's ever done. He could clarify and explicate on the original set of ten, but he admits that he's actually very tired of the Ten Commandments. To help us grasp his feelings, he says he's tired of the Ten Commandments the way Don McLean is tired of "American Pie," and everyone in the theater nods with understanding–and howls of laughter. Just to make sure, God declares "I am not a one-list wonder!" and more laughter pours forth. From this juncture, God announces that we are about to receive his all new, improved Ten Commandments. I won't reveal what is on the list, but will leak this much: two of them are holdovers from the old list, while the other eight are brand-spanking new.


As the new commandments are revealed, we are given the low-down on what really happened in some of the stories that we have long taken as the gospel truth. For example, we learn the truth about what really led to the fall in the Garden of Eden, who was really on Noah's Ark, and how Joseph and Mary came to be in a manger the night of Jesus' birth. Mostly these are hilarious reworkings of the old stories, though in one case–Abraham's binding of Isaac–a serious cord runs through that reveals God as having very human feelings. From my vantage point, this story departs less than any of the others from the way we have usually heard it. An Act of God wraps up with a musical number, "I Have Faith in You," performed by God, Michael and Gabriel, before a surprise ending that makes perfect sense in light of everything that comes before it.


An Act of God sprung forth from a Twitter account, @thetweetofGod, run by the show's playwright, David Javerbaum. Javerbaum's career track attests to him knowing what funny is–not just funny, but funny in a way that strikes a nerve in the swirl of our social and political–to use a Yiddish word from the play, mishegas, or in English, craziness. After a stint as a writer for "The Late Show with David Letterman," Javerbaum was hired as a staff writer on "The Daily Show" in 1999, rising up the ladder to become head writer, and by 2006, executive producer. For his work on "The Daily Show," Javerbaum has won eleven Emmy awards and three Peabody awards, among other honors. He has worked on other television shows and projects, and authored several books, all of which have funny names. An Act of God is his first play, produced on Broadway for a limited engagement in 2015 starring Jim Parsons, and returning in 2016 starring Sean Hayes.


Wingert is accompanied on stage by two angels, referred to as his "wingmen." Michael is played by Kevin Brown Jr. and Gabriel is played by Andrew Newman. Michael's job starts off being to circulate around the audience and pretend to field their questions for God (though the questions are clearly embedded in the script), which God fields with no shortage of sarcasm. After a while, Michael stops pretending that the questions are from the audience, revealing that he actually has a lot of doubts and confusion about the ways of God, and what God expects of mankind. God treats those questions with the frayed patience of a parent trying to gently let down their child who should have outgrown belief in the tooth fairy by now, but just won't give it up.


Gabriel's role is primarily to push one of three buttons that elicit sounds, akin to the sound effects on a TV game show that signal "wrong answer" or "we have a winner," or to prompt a rim-shot to punctuate the punchline of one of God's numerous jokes. At God's behest, Gabriel also reads passages from the scriptures for the edification of the audience, before God shreds our usual understanding to let us know what parts are true, what parts are lies, and what takeaways we should glean from it. Though it is not stated, if I were a betting type, I would put money on Gabriel being gay, which is fine as far as Javerbaum's depiction of God goes–he couldn't care less how we pleasure ourselves, though he admits that he would rather not have to watch.


Wingert is divine in this role–pun intended, but the word still applies. Though this is not the first production to feature a woman as God, Six Points had to obtain special permission, and all I can say is "Thank you for going to the trouble." Wingert has the sassy presence and the ability to infuse self-deprecation into her performance without losing the authority requisite of one playing the role of God. She conveys the notion that all of us have taken God far more seriously than he takes himself. And for all the good it does for us to figure out how to worship him, how to please him, and so on, he is a mass of contradictions and as prone to act on a whim as to have everything fit into a master plan. Further, he knows that about himself and his response is along the lines of "Get used to it!"


Both Brown and Newman, the two angels, do terrific work, though both are overshadowed by the dominating presence of God in the form of Wingert–which is how we would imagine it to be, right? Director Craig Johnson orchestrates a companionable interplay among the three actors and keeps the show moving at a brisk clip, never allowing our attention to waver.


A. Emily Heaney has designed costumes that fit the bill as far as we would expect of God, and a pair of winged angels to appear. Michael Hoover's set design if a fairly streamlined tabernacle, with two massive tablets in the rear, upon which each of the new commandment's appears, lights up like one of the answers on the "Family Feud" game board as its turn arrives. C. Andrew Mayer's sound design is crisp and clear–you wouldn't want to miss even a word from the mouth of God–and offers a musical opening that pits the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah against "Miracle of Miracles" (sounding like it is being played on a calliope!) from Fiddler on the Roof. Talk about an auspicious opening!


This may not be everybody's favorite show. If you have read this far, you will know whether your values and belief system will allow you to enjoy this variety of liberty-taking with the old and new testament, and the very notion of divinity. If not, I say, go elsewhere for your next theatre outing. But if this kind of fractured look at the state of religiosity in our nation sounds like a great idea for an entertainment, as well as gaining some new perspectives on the topic, I can assure you that, from Javerbaum's notebooks to Johnson's staging to Wingert's impeccable delivery, you will find An Act of God to be heavenly.


An Act of God runs through May 18, 2025, at Six Points Theater, Highland Park Community Center, 1978 Ford Parkway, Saint Paul MN. For tickets and information, please call 651-647-4315 or visit www.sixpointstheater.org.


Playwright: David Javerbaum; Director: Craig Johnson; Scenic Designer: Michael Hoover; Costume Design: A. Emily Heaney; Lighting Design: Todd M. Reemtsma; Sound Design: C. Andrew Mayer Properties Design: Bobby Smith; Technical Director: Brady Whitcomb; Stage Manager: Becca Kravchenko; Assistant Stage Manager: Asa Gutow.


Cast: Kevin Brown, Jr. (Michael), Andrew Newman (Gabriel), Sally Wingert (God).



 
 
 

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