MY VILLAGER: Theology as theater
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April 22, 2025Points looks to heaven for direction in upcoming comedy, ‘An Act
An Act of God, the forthcoming play at Six Points Theater, is a divine comedy with heavenly messages, according to Sally Wingert, who appears as the Almighty.
“God decides to come down corporally,” she said, “and Sally Wingert is the vessel he plops into. This isn’t me playing God. This is God in my body making me say and do things. In the play, God is a He—it’s kind of old school in that way—and He has grown weary of the Ten Commandments and how things are going.
“He has brought in a new set (of commandments),” Wingert said. “And I’m there with my two archangels—my wingmen, if thou wilt—Gabriel and Michael. The three of us navigate God presenting the new Ten Commandments to the audience.”
An Act of God premiered on Broadway in 2015. Written by Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee David Javerbaum, the play has been performed on 22 stages in 12 countries. Six Points will present it from May 3-18 in the auditorium of the Highland Park Community Center, 1978 Ford Pkwy.
Laugh-out-loud funny
Wingert said that when she read the script, her response was immediate. “I laughed out loud, multiple times, regularly throughout,” said the Merriam Park actor. “I was alone in my house and laughing. That’s a good sign of a comedy for me.
“These days, I’m not doing it if I don’t love it,” Wingert added. “I’ve kind of hit that point in my career where I have to really enjoy what I’m doing. I love to work, and I particularly love to work when the work is something I love.”
Of An Act of God, “I most love how funny and sort of irreverent it is,” Wingert said. “It’s snarky. It’s delightful. Comedy is always delightful to play. But right now it feels like we can use a little levity. So it feels really good to me to be doing.
"Secondly, I love what God ends up saying, which is fairly profound. The questions the play brings up, the themes that it talks about, are things I’ve also questioned as part of my faith community. There are things my pragmatic brain or my logic brain questions, and this play explores some of those.”
Of the new Ten Commandments, Wingert said that if she were to reveal any one, it would be Honor Thy Children. “In the play, God equates it pretty particularly with Jesus, His Child,” she said. “But there’s the question of whether we’re keeping children at the forefront of our thoughts. We need to make sure that we keep them there. They are our future. They didn’t ask to be put into this stew. So we need to make it the best for them.
Drama is meant to stimulate discussion
“I think (Six Points’ producing artistic director) Barbara Brooks is so smart for programming this,” Wingert said. “This is a Jewish theater and there’s a lot of Old Testament talk, but there’s a lot of Jesus talk. Barbara wants to discuss the Ten Commandments. She wants that discussion with her patrons. She wants this show to not just entertain or make you laugh but to stimulate some discussion.”
“Underneath all of the wacky comedy … there are some very thoughtful things about how we as human beings manage to live together in the world.” — Director Craig Johnson
Craig Johnson, who is directing An Act of God, believes that Wingert will ensure the audience is engaged in that discussion. “Sally has such a warm, graceful presence when she’s performing directly to an audience,” he said. “She likes to be able to make friends with the audience right away. So there’s that sort of quality that will invite people into the storytelling and the different rants and diatribes and perspectives that God has in the play.
“The play is really savvy,” said Johnson, who grew up in Highland Park as a member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. “Although it was written by a Jewish playwright, it might lean a little bit toward Christianity. We want everyone to be able to come in and think about the questions posed. How do we as human beings in our faulty ways conceive of who God is? And how does this play speak to people who are not part of an organized religion, who are agnostic or atheist?
“Underneath all of the wacky comedy, and it’s just loaded with that, there are some very thoughtful things about how we as human beings manage to live together in the world,” Johnson said. (The play explores) “who we are, what is our relationship to the cosmos, and how do we find that and express that so it includes everyone, respects everyone and invites everyone in to consider those questions.”
On Six Points’ stage, the set will be rather abstract, according to Johnson. It will have “a vaguely Biblical look with a little whimsical sheen,” he said. “There’ll be a stairway to paradise that God will descend and climb. God as Sally will be dressed in something that might remind us of a god from Mount Olympus—something sort of gorgeous and formal and drapey. And her two sidekick angels (played by Andrew Newman and Kevin Brown Jr.) will have wings for flapping around on stage.”
“This show is a little less than 90 minutes with no intermission,” Wingert said. “It’s just boom: You’re going to get on the ride, the ride’s going to go and when the ride is done you can get off and go home. So take a chance and come on out.”
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays, and 1 p.m. Tuesdays. Tickets are $28-$40 with a $15 student and artist rush. For reservations, visit sixpointstheater.org.
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