The Christians

Ensemble cast

Bristol Riverside Theatre Company, located at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, Pa, is presenting Lucas Hnath’s The Christians. Set in a church, the production begins with hymns sung by a 24-member choir, with each voice part comprised of local community members discretely intermingled with professionals. Pastor Paul (Anthony Lawton), after shaking hands with audience members and asking his assistant pastor Brother Joshua (Akeem Davis) to give a financial report, prepares his sermon. “There are three parts to my sermon,” he tells his congregants. as part one is flashed upon a screen. “Where are we today?” Pastor Paul continues to talk about the strength of the congregation which had grown from a very few families to one of thousands in a big beautiful church which had just gotten itself debt-free.  His second point is a powerful urge that had come over him on an airplane when he had first seen his wife .  He had acted upon it by giving a note to a stewardess to deliver to her and they waved to each other from opposite ends of the plane, not letting the distance hinder them. Point three is The fires of Hell... At this point he tells about a young boy he had seen in his travels  who was not of the Christian faith. Huts were burning and the young boy ran right into the fire. No one was around to put out the fire. A few minutes later the boy ran out, cradling his sister in his arms. The sister was protected but the boy's skin just burned right off his body.  A missionary declared how sad it was that he hadn’t had time to “save” the boy before he died. Pastor Paul replied that surely God would have a place in Heaven for a child that did such a righteous act. The missionary replied that he would go to hell. At that point, Pastor Paul had his own private conversation with God and God told Paul that the boy was sitting right beside him.  He said that all were forgiven their sins and that Hell did not  exist. This is the message that Pastor Paul took back to his congregation. For some congregants, a very real question ensued: “What is the point in being good if the bad don’t get punished?”    This is a very interesting piece and some questions which arise are never really resolved.  Anthony Lawton is excellent as Pastor Paul. as is Akeem Davis as Brother Joshua.    K. O’Rourke gives a very convincing performance as a faithful, shy young congregant  and Susan McKey rocks the audience with her tough performance as she argues with her husband while church membership is dwindling and turning to Brother Joshua's new church.

For more information or tickets, call 215-785-0100 or visit online at brtstage.org.