Theater Review: Acts of Faith

ST. PETERSBURG — Thirteen-year-old Faith had always been referred to as a miracle child by her mother. Her devoutly Catholic upbringing in a small village in Zambia centers around the church and, to some degree, the priest who helms it. When a minor fib gives those around her the impression that Faith is a prophet, it sets in motion a chain of events that will rock the foundations of her beliefs before spectacularly redefining them.

Playwright David Yee wrote Acts of Faith as a Zoom piece during COVID-19, a difficult and unforgiving format that has yielded few memorable works to date. However, when American Stage Producing Artistic Director Helen R. Murray saw the piece, she immediately recognized its potential, telling Yee that, were he to rewrite it for the stage, she would ensure it found one.

Murray immediately looked to local talent Patrick Arthur Jackson, an actor/director well known to American Stage audiences, to direct. Once Jackson, who also serves as an ordained clergy leader at Today’s Church Tampa Bay, read the playscript, he was equally enthused, setting the wheels in motion for the production.

As a one-woman play, however, the success of their efforts would ultimately hinge on the casting of Faith, who not only carries the storytelling in its entirety but is required to do so with more physical output than is often the case, a demand that greatly intensifies delivering what is essentially an unthinkably long monologue absent the cues of the lines and actions of other performers.

It is difficult to imagine American Stage doing better than Victoria Omoregie in this regard, as the Boston-based actress delivered a powerful opening-night performance that was as close to perfect as an artistic endeavor can hope to be. Omoregie’s Faith captivated the audience from the very first scene, never relinquishing her grip on our attention for even a moment as she deftly weaved from acting to recounting and back in masterful first-person storytelling form.

I had just one quibble with the story. To avoid spoilers, I’ll just note that it related to the supernatural element in the penultimate scene of the final act. I thought it smacked a bit of deus ex machina and that not only was it unnecessary, but, the intended point perhaps could have been better made had the supernatural not been invoked.

That gripe aside, I found the play relentlessly engaging and the performance of Omoregie good enough to have overcome many more obstacles had they been encountered. Acts of Faith is a master class in single-actor storytelling that will give theatergoers much to chew on after the curtain falls. It runs through Dec. 17 at American Stage’s Raymond James Theatre in downtown St. Pete. Click here for ticket information.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of our weekly podcast. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County government since 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Click here for his bio. His 2016 short story collection, Casting Shadows, was recently reissued and is available here.