Off-B'way Review: The Saviors

Julius Rinzel and Ivan Howe in
The Saviors. Credit: Ahron R. Foster

Bubba Weiler emerges as a major playwriting talent with The Saviors, his second major Off-Broadway production, now at the Atlantic Theater Company. Apart from joining the American company of the Harry Potter play on Broadway, Weiner has appeared on the New York scene as an actor in Rebecca Gilman’s Swing State, portraying an ex-con barely holding on to a grinding truck delivery job. His sensitive performance of a desperate young man earned him nominations for Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Lortel Awards. He made his NY debut as a dramatist with last season’s multi-leveled and moving Well, I’ll Let You Go, a compassionate chronicle of a recent widow coming to terms with her loss and the varying reactions of her community. Weiler demonstrates he is no one-track pony with this new play, an equally probing examination of the painful search for faith in a confusing world.

Ivan Howe and Julius Rinzel in The Saviours.
Credit: Ahron R. Foster

The setting is a Catholic church in a suburban neighborhood, possibly in the Midwest where middle schoolers and best pals Michael and Paul serve as altar boys. Devout Michael eagerly prepares for his upcoming confirmation while Paul is doubting the very existence of God. Their friendship and Christian belief is tested when homeless drifter Julian enters seeking shelter during a snowstorm. Conventional Michael bristles at allowing Julian to stay, but Paul secretly grants him access after hours by leaving the side door unlocked. Meanwhile, Michael seeks advice from Judy, the adult advisor of the church’s youth group. Unfortunately, Michael is the only kid that shows up for the first meeting and Judy is experiencing hidden struggles of her own involving her son whom she says is heading a mission in Africa.

Ivan Howe, Stanley Simmons, and
Julius Rinzel in The Saviors.
Credit: Ahron R. Foster

Complications arise among this quartet of comfort seekers as it’s revealed Michael’s feelings for Paul may extend beyond friendship and Julian’s true identity becomes apparent. Weiler and his Well, I’ll Let You Go director Jack Serio skillfully delineate the shifting expectations and motivations of the characters in their quest for faith and security. Weiler has a way with cryptic naturalistic dialogue that reveals as much by what is not said as by what is. The concept of the church’s traditional views on sin and homosexuality are so deeply ingrained that the word “gay” is never even spoken, yet we know Michael and Paul’s overwhelming fear of even the possibility of being guilty of such deviance from religious doctrine. 

Weiler also has a strong sense of plotting and structure. He plants small details early in the play which later prove to be vitally important in revelation of character and storyline. A discarded bag of Cheetos, school attendance records, and a gift of $700 are seeming insignificant items which later prove vital to the story.

Ivan Howe and Crystal Finn in The Saviors.
Credit: Ahron R. Foster

The cast admirably fills in the unspoken places in Weiler’s script. As Michael and Paul, Ivan Howe and Julius Rinzel are remarkably adept for such young performers. Both convey the churning uncertainties bubbling beneath their boyish, innocent exteriors. Howe is particularly wrenching as Michael’s worst fears about himself surface and he confronts them with hysterical panic. Stanley Simons also limns hidden depths as the tortured Julian. His anguished posture and battlefield of a face express Julian’s long search for a loving, understanding deity without going into specific plot points. Weiner gives him a beautiful monologue about encountering the divine in an Oregon campsite. It’s a fragment of Julian’s story, yet Simons eloquently hints at the entire narrative. Crystal Finn gives Judy a sharp edge as well as a compassionate motherly side. When the two clash, Finn delivers the whole, uncomfortable struggle.

Serio’s naturalistic direction, along with David Zinn’s realistic church setting, Avery Reed’s everyday costumes and Stacey Derosier’s sensitive lighting (she makes the darkness as important as the light) create the perfect production for this insightful roadmap of four spiritual journeys.

July 27—Aug. 15. Atlantic Theater Company at the Linda Gross Theater, 336 W. 20th St., NYC. Running time: 90 mins. with no intermission.