Nunsense

"Nunsense" is the other Jesuit High School-produced play we saw this week. Mike took Kieran last night, and I went to see it with my mom this afternoon. (Chris had a band retreat this weekend, so he missed out on the second play.) Kieran preferred "Altar Boyz"--he liked the jokes in "Nunsense," but poked holes in the madcap, nonsensical plot.

In a nutshell, a group of nuns is beset by a bout of food poisoning and 52 of their order die suddenly. After starting a successful greeting card business, they raise enough money to bury 48 of them...but the mother superior spends the last remaining dollars on an X-Box 360, and they still have four nuns to bury. They are now in the walk-in refrigerator, and the sisters decide to stage a variety show (on the stage of "Grease," which is being performed by the 8th graders) to raise the remaining funds.

Similar to "Altar Boyz," it's a bit irreverent, which I loved. The mother superior accidentally gets high, for example. Many of the sisters long for the spotlight, even though they are trying to be humble.

Mike slightly preferred "Altar Boyz," but I think I liked "Nunsense" better. Perhaps it's a gender thing. But I think part of the reason is my fascination with nuns. I am lucky that I have never met an unpleasant, stereotypically strict nun. The nuns I know are either American and hip, intelligent, and progressive...or Mike's Aunty Gena, who I adore.

Aunty Gena still wears a habit, has a strong Scottish accent, and is a member of "Little Sisters of the Poor," an order that takes care of the elderly. Apparently, though family grapevine, Aunty Gena (short for "Genevieve"--her real name is Mary) is failing recently. Her memory is not what it used to be.

What I will always remember about her best years is how she loves to drive fast (or so she told us), how she loves a good roast beef, and how she told me that she liked women who visited her to dress up (and wear skirts)...because she wasn't able to wear fancy clothes herself. She also enjoyed buying "her old ladies" perfume and other such pleasantries. She has a wonderful sense of humor, and I've never felt that she thought anything less of me because I'm not a Catholic.

And I think she would LOVE this show, especially the jokes. "How do you make holy water?" "You boil the hell out of it!"

1-year-old Kieran, me, Aunty Gena, and my sister-in-law Shemara
(at Aunty Gena's 50th anniversary jubilee)--2004

Me, Kieran, Aunty Gena, Mike, Mike's late Aunty Helen, and Chris (2004)