Stacy Panitch as Mother Maria Theresa with Matt Lewis as Simon Ackerman in “Hell: Paradise Found” Photo © Chip Cooper
Is Hell the thinking man's Heaven?
In "Hell: Paradise Found," at 59E59 Theaters through July 22nd, playwright Seth Panitch envisions an alternative view of Hell and Heaven.
In Panitch's minority report, there's less brimstone and more brainstorm, as it were, in his Hell. Hell is the destination for "the originals," as The Interviewer (Seth Panitch, who directs) puts it while inducting Simon Ackerman (Matt Lewis) into the afterlife.
Simon is reluctant to go to Hell even though Heaven is dull. "Who do you suppose goes to Heaven anyway," The Interviewer asks. "Anyone.... anyone who defers to another explanation, anyone who believes because they are told to believe... or stops questioning," he says, " because they are told to 'have faith.'"
In this witty play with music, Hell is peopled with luminaries from Vlad the Impaler (Chip Persons who also plays Lucifer, a Dapper Devil in the opening dance number, and a judge), Don Juan and Hitler (Lawson Hangartner who also has a turn as Adam and Elvis), Eve and Lizzie Borden (Alexandra Ficken), Mother Maria Theresa (Stacy Panitch) and Einstein, Shakespeare, Sinatra (all Peyton Conley who also portrays a childish and narcissistic archangel Gabriel.)
The Devil and God (Dianne Teague) ultimately have an old-fashioned tousle over Simon's immortal soul, but this "Hell..." is not for humbugs.
For more information about "Hell: Paradise Found" at 59E59 Theaters, go to http://www.59e59.org/
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