Sin is in …all of us, and erupting on stage Jan. 5-15 in Stephen Riordan’s Psalm of Bernadette or Sloth and Bedbugs or Wrath.
These savvy, modern morality tales distill their themes from one of the world’s earliest memes, The Seven Deadly Sins, and raises questions about what it means to be moral in the world today.
“I hope to open a dialog in each play so the audience walks away asking questions,” said St. Petersburg native and resident Stephen Riordan. â┚¬Å”Who’s the worst offender in the play and how do they interact with each other?”
These are just some of the questions audiences will ponder during Wrath in which Walter, a broken man dealing with the loss of his family, brings home a hustler named Paul Revere.
“Paul is also a damaged soul,” Riordan says. “And he pegs Walter as an easy mark.”
The danger grows on stage, heightened by the intimate setting of Studio@620 in downtown St. Petersburg, and as the night unspools, so does Walter’s anger.
The second installment of Riordan’s “Seven Deadly Plays” opens with Sloth, which isn’t nearly as dark as the evening’s concluding play.
Still applicable to today’s world, Sloth explores how dogmatic religious beliefs interfere with Matthew, an overworked junior partner at a start-up law firm.
“Mathew’s most recent case has him questioning the power of his convictions and the strength of his character,” Riordan said. “He faces his faith, his future and a mysterious visitor as Matthew and his slacker roommate deal with the consequences of letting go of what they thought they wanted,” he said.
Both of the plays are one-act and 50 minutes apiece.
Their intelligence and humor are what attracted Studio@620 Producing Director Bob Devin Jones to bring in the entire series.
“There’s always a surprise in how the sin manifests itself,” said Devin Jones, who met Riordan when he starred in the studio’s 2011 production of The Men.
Audiences will be kept on their toes and the edge of their seats says the actor who plays the hustler in Wrath.
“I guarantee no one will expect what is going to happen,” said actor Andrew Deeb, who went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City with Riordan.
But it was at St. Petersburg Catholic High School where Deeb met the “Seven Deadly Plays” author through drama teacher Joseph Stawski.
Deeb still lives in NYC but managed to find time to rehearse and appear in Wrath as well as Greed earlier in the year.
Riordan’s work prompts questions, but Deeb says the conclusion provides plenty of resolution, too.
“All the questions you have are answered so quickly, it’s really intense,” he said.
Devin Jones added he was excited to be advancing the work of a born-and-bred St. Petersburg playwright.
While spirituality and theology are center stage in Riordan’s plays, the author says he still can’t return to church to practice his latent Catholic faith.
“The Catholic Church has unleashed so much terror on the world, and has been so quick to judge homosexuality,” he said. “It’s not okay and I can’t bring myself to overlook it.”
Like Riordan, the characters in his plays have a strong voice.
And it is their callingâ┚¬â€Âlike ours, he saidâ┚¬â€Âto live a life that is respectful of others and the best one can be.
“That’s whether or not you believe in sin,” Riordan said.
WHAT: Sloth and Wrath
WHERE: Studio at 620, St. Petersburg
WHEN: Jan. 5-15
TICKETS: Studio620.org
