Review: Walking Shadow's 'The Christians' is a thoughtful, gripping take on religious ideology

More than 2.7 million Minnesotans identify as Christian of some stripe. That means 2.7 million Minnesotans need to see "The Christians," Lucas Hnath's intelligent and compassionate play about a congregation in crisis.

Casting the net wider, if you belong to any group driven by ideology — political, economic, social — Hnath (pronounced Nayth) has something to say to you about the erosion of friendship when strongly held beliefs create friction.

If you are intrigued by the evolution of the self — the emotional and intellectual journey of all sentient humans — Hnath's play also has something worthy to say to you.

Lastly, if a thoughtful, nuanced play with characters wrestling for meaning has an appeal, get to Walking Shadow Theatre Company's production, which opened Friday at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.

Hnath places his deceptively small drama within an evangelical megachurch. Striding across an open and elevated praise stage (Eli Schlatter's design), Pastor Paul (Andrew Erskine Wheeler) rejoices that his congregation has retired its debt.

Once the hallelujahs have subsided, he then tells the faithful of his recent epiphany at a church conference. A story told at the gathering by a missionary leads Pastor Paul to believe there is no eternal hell, only heaven (an echo of evangelical preacher Rob Bell's controversial 2011 book, "Love Wins").

Pastor Paul's associate Joshua (Kory LaQuess Pullam) rises to rebuke this radical new notion. With an arrogant and confident charisma, Paul turns the moment into a popularity contest. Those who wish to stick with the orthodox ideology on hell are free to go with Joshua and start a new congregation.

As has happened in many modern churches — with differing issues as the grist — the division grinds away at personal friendships. Actor Brittany Parker plays with pitch-perfect demeanor a congregant who worries that she has no answer when friends challenge the new doctrine. Charles Numrich is a church elder at first supportive but then pained as financial pledges drop off.

And Bonni Allen, dressed in a spot-on pink skirt suit (costumer Sara Wilcox), is the wife who in a beautifully rendered scene tells Pastor Paul she cannot share his belief.

Director Amy Rummenie demonstrates a keen eye for the feelings and reality of an evangelical congregation. Her staging never satirizes, for Hnath writes about ideas and people that clearly mean a great deal to him.

Very honest portrayals result from this approach. Pullam gives himself over to agonizing emotion as Joshua explains why he needs to believe in hell, based on his own experience. Wheeler's Pastor Paul has that perfect mix of confidence and piety (call it egotism) — certain that his new convictions have been spoken to him by God. But as Allen's Elizabeth points out, is it God's voice, or our own wishful thinking?

It is impossible to watch "The Christians" without thinking of the brittle ideological debates in this election season. Do our beliefs define us, to the exclusion of others? Can we learn to disagree and not dissolve? What are we made of?

graydon.royce@startribune.com • 612-673-7299 • Twitter: @graydonroyce