Miami Herald - December 10, 2004
Eileen Spiegler, espiegler@herald.com

Nascent theater company The Baby Factor takes on Terrence McNally's personal interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew, Corpus Christi, in its Broward debut. When it premiered in 1998, threats compelled the Manhattan Theatre Club to install metal detectors. The day before, a young gay man named Matthew Shepard had been found beaten to death in Laramie, Wyo., tied to a fence with arms extended, and the play's final scene is eerily prescient.

McNally, himself a gay man who grew up in Corpus Christi, is at the door of something transformational. There are many powerful moments, but the play's a tangle of big themes: Christianity, growing up gay in America -- and none ever quite come to fruition.

The young troupe, led by Tom Lacey and director Telys Marti, does its best to mold the material into an interesting whole, relying on its cohesive ensemble. The Baby Factor's objective, says Lacey, 25, is to do challenging work that will spark a new generation of theatergoers. Their name, he says, acknowledges where they are not only in the learning process and theater hierarchy, but in the desire to offer a fresh perspective.

"It pertains to our age and the way we see art -- coming at it as a child," says Lacey, who also plays the lead role of Joshua/Jesus. "What can I learn, where am I going with this? We may be babies, but we have a lot going."

Their first steps are anything but tentative. The fact that it's all uphill in this flawed work makes their determination more admirable. Still, you want to echo Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar: Why'd you make it such an impossible task? Being provocative isn't enough; you have to capture the audience.

The play begins with each of the 12 actors christened into his character by John the Baptist (Tobin Strader). In their present-day incarnations, they're doctors, lawyers, hairdressers, fishermen (some things apparently don't change), each offering testimony on his memory of the Jesus figure, Joshua.

While the play-within-a-play layer is still being absorbed, the Nativity takes place in a Texas motel. Mary, like all the female characters, is played by a man (here Nigel Revenge, who also plays Thomas). With no costume changes, the gender switches get confusing, even before traveling between the 21st century and the days of centurions. And although it has a sort of Elizabethan comedic effect, particularly when Lazarus is raised from the dead as his nonplussed wife and daughters look on, why in this plea for tolerance are the women all caricatures?

There are clever parallels -- the artistic Joshua is tormented by school bullies who morph into Roman soldiers, the taunting scoutmaster becomes the priest who drops 30 pieces of silver in Judas' lap. And when Joshua is tempted to stray from his destiny, Judas (played by standout Anthony Abraira) curls around him like the proverbial snake in Eden. It's moving when Joshua heals hustler Phillip (Cesar Carvalho) of HIV, conjuring images of lepers. But, finally, the inclusion of Jesus is gimmicky. Why not let us feel the force of possibility in meeting the messiah in the road?

McNally has tackled gay issues to better effect in his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Teeth Apart, Lips Together. For all that suffering, there is no redemption here.

Luckily, there's life after Corpus Christi for The Baby Factor, which has found a permanent space -- a big, welcoming room with an accessible stage -- and holds great promise for local actors coming up. That's a blessing.

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