Overview
Synopsis
Sister Mary Ignatius has happily been teaching children about the glories of Catholicism and the perils of sin and hellfire for years at her church. She directly addresses the audience, lecturing its members on her strict beliefs (while showing off her newest pupil, obedient young Thomas). Sister Mary’s lecture takes a dark turn when four of her former pupils arrive to perform a religious pageant for her. Sister Mary is horrified to learn that one of her former students has become the happy mother of an illegitimate child, one is a content homosexual, and another has had two abortions. What’s a good shepherd to do when her flock has strayed so far from the path of righteousness? The results may surprise you. Deeply unsettling, yet absolutely hilarious, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You examines sharp truths about human nature and religion.
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Context
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You was inspired by Christopher Durang’s upbringing in the Catholic Church. Durang was raised Catholic, and attended Catholic grammar and high schools. This play satirizes the teachings of the Church from the 1950s to the early 1970s, when religious dogma about such subjects as birth control and homosexuality were treated as incontrovertible facts. After this time period, the Ecumenical Council changed the manner of teaching in Catholic schools, making
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Sister Mary Ignatius enters the lecture hall, beams at the audience, and starts by crossing herself and praying, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.” She begins her lecture to the audience by explaining the various forms of the afterlife (heaven, hell, purgatory, and limbo). Sister Mary’s definitions are absolute: Heaven is where we live in happiness with our Lord Jesus Christ, Hell is where all the sinners go (such sins include sex outside of marriage, hijacking
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