The West Coast premiere of Evan Smith’s “The Savannah Disputation” has several links to La Jolla. Principally, it is staged by Kim Rubinstein, former associate artistic director at Long Wharf Theatre and a member of the acting faculty at University of California, San Diego. Actor James Sutorius, who played a leading role in La Jolla Playhouse’s “The Farnsworth Invention,” portrays Father Murphy, winner of the titular disputation. The comedy about serious matters of faith is highly recommended and concerns two aging Roman Catholic parishioners, Mary and Margaret, who attend Father Murphy’s church. Mary (Nancy Robinette) is especially cantankerous, having had a youthful marriage that failed due to her husband’s infidelity. Her never-married sister, Margaret (Mikel Sarah Lambert), enjoys a simple, uncomplicated life, never questioning the rituals and routines of faith and existence. The play opens with Mary’s speech about mass. She deplores the “sign of the peace” part of the service, in which congregants greet one another with a handshake or a hug. Of late she’s felt obligated to touch indigents who are unwashed, unsanitary and downright smelly, and she doesn’t like it one bit. As a matter of fact, Mary doesn’t like much of anything, unless it’s the arrival of Father Murphy (Sutorius) for his weekly dinner at the Savannah home she shares with Margaret. Goodness, the status quo, the Catholic faith and the complacency of the unquestioned life are thrown into disarray by the arrival of Melissa (Kimberly Parker Green), a budding evangelist charged with going out to save everyone, including Roman Catholics. She declares the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ, and there’s no way Margaret can know that kind of Jesus, being Roman Catholic. Melissa is armed with religious tracts as well as the usual anti-Roman rhetoric, including charges of idolatry, popery, etc. Margaret is appalled but fascinated and tells Mary, who plans the confrontation of the priest and the Pentecostal. Melissa arrives not knowing Father Murphy is a priest and as the disputation wears on, a formidable theologian who matches her Biblical chapter and verse. A long way from “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You,” “The Savannah Disputation” is intelligent, profound and at the same time excruciatingly funny. The playwright refuses to take sides, and life itself is called into question. It’s a terrific play and a marvelous production, sublimely acted. As usual, the Globe production values are tops, with scenic design by Deb O, costumes by Judith Dolan, lighting by Alan Burrett (professor of design at UCSD) and sound by Paul Peterson. Even though the setting is contemporary Savannah, the attitudes, the furnishings and the disputation itself suggest earlier times in long ago places. “Savannah Disputation” continues at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays; 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 1 at the Old Globe Arena Stage at Copley Auditorium, San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park. For tickets ($29-$62), visit www.theoldglobe.org or call (619) 23-GLOBE.
