Maybe it's a matter of ethnicity -- Irish Catholic vs. Italian Catholic -- or maybe one of attitude. But while it was always patently obvious that Lisa Buscani, the most recent portrayer of Late Nite Catechism'sTeaching Nun, was an actress playing a nun, many audience members the night I attended swore Patti Hannon was, or had once been, what she appeared to be onstage.
More severe than Maripat Donovan's original persona but more serene than Buscani's, Hannon has the frown of a withered apple and the smile of a Cheshire cat and can switch from one to the other as swiftly as she moves from drill sergeant disciplinarian ("What is this, young ladies? Both feet on the floor - NOW!" she barked at two women in the front row sitting with legs crossed who promptly assumed a more decorous position) to wear Christian Soldier, nostalgically reminiscing on the glory days of Catholicism and the uncertainty of its place in these troubled times.
Now in its third year in Chicago, with successful productions running in Boston and, most recently, Australia, Late Nite Catechism provides the occasion for the Faithful to laugh ruefully over shared memories and the, uh, Unfaithful to gain valuable insight into the mysteries of the Saints, what Ed McMahon and St. Francis have in common, who married Cain and Abel, and the other definition of ejaculation.
