Philly Fringe 2016 review: Casabuena Cultural Productions's 'The Church Bells All Were Broken'

Dave Ebersole’s The Church Bells All Were Broken, produced by Casabuena Cultural Productions, addresses this oversight with humor and heart.

Ebersole is a a local comic book writer (his Northwest Press series DASH and other works are available in the lobby) as well as playwright and director. In his play, sister Melissa (Pierlisa Chiodo Steo) and brother Jeff (Tony McNichol), of the fictional West Topeka Baptist Church’s McArthur family, address the audience directly. Sometimes we play their congregation or witnesses to their loud, angry protests, other times we’re their confessors.

Family drama

Melissa’s the rabble-rouser, but also her church’s star lawyer. She’s birthed nine children and lost her husband to a stroke. Her youngest, Becca (Anna Pysher), flees the family church — “Something changed," Becca confesses, "when we started praying for people to die” — and the pain of Melissa's loss and confusion is palpable.

Jeff is over 40 and still single, waiting for the right woman, or somebody. The patriarch, Pastor Frank (Jim Fryer), also appears, often in flashbacks, as does his wife Anna (Adrienne Cascarella). All but Steo and McNichol play multiple roles, clad in khakis and black shirts, the church’s uniform. Melissa and Jeff narrate flashbacks, showing key moments like when Jeff had his superhero comics and his best friend (Brian Weiser) torn away from him because they’re “pornography.” Beauty, he’s taught, exists only to “tempt would-be fornicators.”

Songs from the source

Catherine Pappas’s production features many protest moments, full of shouting and signs, as expected, but also song parodies — incredibly, written and shared online by the Westboro Baptist Church. Imagine “God Bless America” re-purposed as “God Hates America,” or pop songs like “Poker Face,” “Bad,” and “I Will Survive” rewritten to express hatred. They’re hilarious. “They killed music for me,” Jeff confesses.

I haven’t heard the word “fag” yelled so many times since high school (the social price one paid for Drama Club), but the viciousness of their attacks eventually dissolves into silliness. When Melissa rejects Skittles because they’re “fag candy” (the slogan “taste the rainbow” is her damning proof), all we can do is laugh.

Melissa and Jeff’s climactic Bible verse duel — Melissa’s heavily Old Testament, especially Leviticus, while Jeff cites New Testament messages of charity and tolerance — builds to a bittersweet conclusion. Played by these two strong actors as each battling for their sibling’s soul, Ebersole’s well-crafted play proves both funny and heartfelt. While mere mockery would please the Fringe crowd, The Church Bells All Were Broken goes beyond, succeeding in showing that everyone involved, no matter how horrible they seem, means well.

And, yes, the song from which Ebersole's title The Church Bells All Were Broken is taken, Don McLean's "American Pie," is parodied, but also sung as a counter-protest anthem.

To listen to our podcast interview with Casabuena's Mariangela Saavedra, click here.