Mass Appeal (play)
| Mass Appeal | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Bill C. Davis |
| Characters | Father Tim Farley Mark Dolson |
| Date premiered | May 11, 1980 |
| Place premiered |
Stage 73 New York City |
| Original language | English |
Mass Appeal is a two-character play by Bill C. Davis. The comedy-drama focuses on the conflict between a complacent Roman Catholic pastor and the idealistic young deacon who is assigned to his affluent, suburban parish.
Father Tim Farley is highly popular with his parishioners due to his charm, wit, easy-going manner, and entertaining (but unchallenging) sermons. One Sunday, seminarian Mark Dolson interrupts Farley's sermon to challenge his stance on the ordination of women. The pastor is outraged yet intrigued by the young man, and asks to have him assigned to work with him.
Dolson is a firebrand eager to change the Church. He enjoys attacking Farley's "song and dance theology" and questioning why he drinks so much. Dolson feels it's his job to shake parishioners out of their complacency. Farley likes Dolson, but sees that he'll never succeed as a priest if all he does is irritate people and make enemies. Each man has something to teach the other about how to perform his priestly duties.
Mass Appeal was first performed in many small theatres, including The No Smoking Playhouse in Manhattan, produced by Pearl Tisman Minsky and Ken Berman, with Berman playing the role of Farley and Bill Davis playing the role of Dolson. At the suggestion of the pastor of The Actors' Church, Minsky brought the play to Geraldine Fitzgerald, with whom she was acquainted. When Fitzgerald agreed to direct the play, she took it to Circle In The Square Theatre in Greenwich Theatre who agreed to workshop it. After the workshop, Circle In The Square did not pursue the play. Geraldine Fitzgerald continued to develop the script with Davis making extensive revisions that greatly improved it. Minsky was about to bring the play to Lynn Meadows at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Fitzgerald suggested that she would bring the play to her as she was better acquainted with her where it was produced to great acclaim. Minsky and Berman met with other producers and put together a package for Broadway. At that point, Davis and Fitzgerald dropped Minsky and Berman, and had the play produced on Broadway. The Broadway playbill for Mass Appeal notes that the play was produced by arrangement with Minsky and Berman.
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