Rapture explored in latest BPP play

"Accidental Rapture" opens this weekend at the Bloomington Playwrights Project. The play, written by former Bloomington resident Eric Pfeffinger, comes to life thanks to work by several BPP Ensemble of Artists members as well as several IU students. \nEnsemble member and director Kris Lee was intrigued by "Accidental Rapture" as soon as he read the title.\n"I have to be engaged from the beginning," he said. "I got to the end and I said, 'I love this, I hate this, I have to do this.'"\nThe play concerns two couples: the academically-minded atheists Amy and Paul, played by BPP ensemble member Danielle Bruce and junior Doug Burbank; and conservative Christians Richard and Kim, played by junior Evan Frederick and sophomore Justina Batchelor.\nAmy and Paul visit Richard, their once hard-partying, but now born-again friend and his wife Kim. The present is interspersed with moments from the past, steadily complicating the story. The already tense visit is exacerbated by the presence of Lydia, Richard's ex-girlfriend from his pre-Christian days, played by Renee Reed. Amy and Paul also must deal with their insecurity about the effect Richard and Kim's beliefs may have on their daughter, Greta, played by Lauren Hersch.\nAnd to make things worse, the Rapture happens.\nInside this situation lies much of the play's comic thrust.\n"Pfeffinger is going after subject matter that hasn't happened yet," Lee said in reference to the Rapture. \nMany have some familiarity with the biblical account of the Rapture, but it remains an event -- whether taken as real or not -- that lives more as speculation than a concrete reality.\n"He's twisted universality at every angle," Lee said. "He superimposes the impossible on the possible, on the everyday. He turns clichés in on themselves to find a fresh look at things."\nPfeffinger's script was not an easy piece to realize. The multiplicity of themes in which Pfeffinger engages, whether seriously or pseudo-seriously, and one of the most open endings in the contemporary dramatic canon, brought challenges to Lee.\nHe expressed gratitude for all the help he received to realize his vision.\n"I had a phenomenal creative team," Lee said. \nThe team includes Bruce as the set designer, as well as her sister, ensemble member Nicole Bruce as costume designer. Ensemble member Mike Price handled lighting design, and ensemble member Lori Garraghty assistant directed and stage managed. \n"The play is about two kinds of people: believers and non-believers," Lee said. "In this case, we have Christianity and atheism, but these two groups can be elaborated into so many other things."\nLee hopes that in the tension between these conflicting groups, the audience members can find pieces of themselves.\n"This show offers a great opportunity for Bloomington theater-goers to see a theater piece that is filled with both realism and fantasy," Frederick said. "The story allows the audience to draw their own conclusions, which I feel is something that we don't get to do nearly enough."\n"Accidental Rapture" continues tonight through Dec. 18 at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. All shows are $15 for the general public and $12 for students and seniors. Student rush tickets are $5 five minutes before a show. Call 355-9001 for reservations.\n-- Contact staff writer Patrick Doolin at pdoolin@indiana.edu.