Theater review: A family seeking in Angels and Ministers of Grace

By Madeline Schulman

Another new production at New Jersey Repertory, Angels and Ministers of Grace, by Elaine Smith, brings another onstage kitchen (ingeniously designed by Jessica Parks). The latest kitchen is in a farmhouse in rural Northeast Florida, and it is not as nice-looking as the cozily retro setup of the previous production, Dinner With the Boys. The appliances look several decades old. The stove would fit in the World War II era kitchen of The Housewives of Mannheim.

(SuzAnne Barabas photo) Siblings Arletta (Maureen Silliman) and Jimmy Ray (David Van Pelt) talk while surrounded by Arletta’s folk art angels in “Angels and Ministers of Grace.”

The farmhouse is home to sisters Miriam (Dana Benningfield) and Arletta (Maureen Silliman). Miriam is first seen rummaging through drawers, searching for an address book Arletta has hidden, muttering “Christ on a bike!”

Defensively, Arletta writes a letter to be opened in case of her death, accusing her sister (the letter gets magnetized to the refrigerator with several similar missives). The family has gone to whatever level lies below dysfunctional.

Outdoors, Queenie the cow constantly lows for the calf which has been separated from her. Queenie’s sorrow is symbolic of the terrible tragedy which struck the family exactly seven years ago, the death of Miriam’s daughter Lizzie.

Sorrow permeates the play like heat and humidity permeate the Florida atmosphere. In addition to the loss of her daughter and subsequent divorce from Franklin Robie (James Earley), Miriam is suffering from an unspecified but possibly fatal disorder. Arletta never leaves the house, preferring to stay inside and fashion angels (which give the play its title) from odd scraps of material.

Several of these angels inhabit the set, from little dolls to a large angel whose wings seem made of antlers. Arletta may be psychic, attuned to imminent death. She believes she is, and the local sheriff has asked her to consult on murder cases, but there is a suggestion that the sheriff is more interested in Arletta herself than in her alleged powers.

The third sibling, younger brother Jimmy Ray (Dave Van Pelt), who lives in a small house on the property, has no job, no prospects, no food in his house, no money for gas, and very little common sense.

Their lives are leavened by loving family camaraderie, but the sadness remains.

All resist improving their lives. Miriam avoids making an appointment to have a specialist test her condition. Arletta will not talk to an art dealer about selling her angels, which the dealer sees as valuable folk art. When Franklin suggests selling their very unprofitable farmland to a developer, Miriam refuses. Miriam’s job as a bookmobile driver sounds fine to me, but Franklin denigrates the job as another way to avoid prolonged contact with others.

The actors do a fine job of bringing the characters to life as they cope with trouble and try to help each other cope.  You feel for them as they try to move forward with their lives while not abandoning their past. Dana Benningfield especially shines at showing Miram’s shell of strength hiding her core of fragility.

Angels and Ministers of Grace runs through Nov. 23 at NJ Rep, 179 Broadway, Long Branch. Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 3 and  8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m., and selected Sundays at 7 p.m. For tickets, call 732-229-3166 or visit www.njrep.org.