Late Nite Catechism Brings Old-School Hilarity to the Lincoln February 23
Posted: January 17, 2018
Late Nite Catechism is an uproarious piece of theater that takes audience members back— sometimes nostalgically, sometimes fearfully—to the children they once were. The irrepressible Sister teaches an adult catechism class to a roomful of “students” (the audience). Over the course of the play, Sister goes from benevolent instructor, rewarding the “students” for correct answers with glow-in-the-dark rosaries and laminated saint cards, to authoritative drill sergeant. These abrupt mood swings are bound to strike a resonant chord with everyone who survived the ups and downs of going to a school with an omniscient authoritarian at the helm.
CAPA presents Late Nite Catechism at the Lincoln Theatre (769 E. Long St.) on Friday, February 23, at 8 pm. Tickets are $36.50 at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000.
Late Nite Catechism, written by Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan, made its debut May 28, 1993, at the Live Bait Theatre in Chicago, and has since grossed more than $100 million in box office receipts. It has been presented in more than 410 cities in six countries to more than 3.5 million people, and raised more than $4 million for retired Sisters and Catholic organizations.
The Catholic Register (Toronto) said, “The show appeals to Catholics and non-Catholics alike since ‘Sister’ clearly explains religious references in lighthearted ways while maintaining a serious tone that isn’t too preachy and far from being saccharine.” The New York Times in 1996 declared “Late Nite Catechism speaks to an audience much broader than the membership of any one church.”
Late Nite Catechism, which was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award in New York and won the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Lead Performance for Maripat Donovan, is the longest-running, one-woman show in Off-Broadway history, and had had more than 100 “Sisters” presenting the eight shows in the Late Nite Catechism series.