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Agnes of God explores the meaning of faith

Production tackles spiritual issues at PAL Studio Theatre
Agnes of God
Paula Spurr, Annie Arbuckle and Tiffany Markwart are featured performers in Alchemy Theatre’s production of Agnes of God at the PAL Studio Theatre.

Agnes of God by John Pielmeier, presented by Alchemy Theatre, Nov. 19-29 (Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.), at Vancouver's PAL Studio Theatre. Tickets ($20/$18), info: alchemytheatre.ca.

North Shore native Annie Arbuckle is joining Alchemy Theatre in kicking off its 2015-2016 season by filling the title role in Agnes of God, a thought-provoking story about faith, love and miracles that opened last night at Vancouver's PAL Studio Theatre.

First introduced to the play as a theatre student, the actor feels, "very fortunate to be able to explore the play in such depth," as part of the current production.

After being cast in a role, a period of excitement, nerves and intrigue is often quick to follow. It's exciting to see what becomes of the play as it moves from the script to the stage. In this case, Agnes of God's intense subject matter only heightened her experience, says Arbuckle.

Alchemy describes the plot as follows: "Summoned to a convent, Dr. Martha Livingstone, a court-appointed psychiatrist, is charged with assessing the sanity of Agnes, a novice nun accused of murdering her newborn child. Further arousing Dr. Livingstone's suspicion, Mother Superior Miriam Ruth tries to keep her young charge away from the doctor's pointed questions. In trying to find out who killed the infant as well as attempting to identify the father of the tiny victim, Livingstone forces all three women to re-examine the meaning of faith, the power of love, and the authenticity of miracles."

Playing the role of Agnes represented a new level of challenge for Arbuckle as an actor.

"I think with any role you have to start by finding the humanity in the character. I think it can be a very risky thing to judge your character before you really learn who they are," she says.

While Arbuckle has very different life experience than her character, it didn't take her long to find some common ground."(Agnes) was abused and is a very fragile human being. But she's always on a quest to find out more information. She was kept at home her entire life so education wasn't readily available to her. She's a very self-aware person I find and she just wants to know more and I think we can all relate to that in a sense - wanting to know the unknown," she says.

Joining Arbuckle on stage is Tiffany Markwart in the role of Dr. Livingstone and Paula Spurr as Mother Superior. This is the first time she's worked with either of them.

"They're fabulous actors. They each bring a very special quality to this play and to their characters," says Arbuckle.

"We've really come together and become a family. It's not one person's responsibility to make this play a success.

Think we all realize that it's a communal effort absolutely and it's been really great working with them," she adds.

Agnes of God, written in 1982 by John Pielmeier, is intended to transcend the boundaries of religion and appeal to those who are both religious and not.

"I think that audiences should come with an open mind to this play. I hope they will take away from it that not everything is as it seems. And although this isn't a play about religion, it's a play about faith and that doesn't really mean faith in a religion per se but faith in yourself and faith in other human beings. I just hope they come and learn something maybe about themselves or about the world," says Arbuckle.

Other themes explored include childhood abuse, innocence, fertility, body image issues and lack of control over one's own body.

Arbuckle, who, in addition to acting, works at a North Shore child care centre, grew up in West Vancouver and graduated from Rockridge secondary. She started doing community theatre as a child and after high school went on to study theatre at the post-secondary level in Los Angeles, Calif., at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy where she received a bachelor of fine arts. Since moving back to the Lower Mainland she has been continuing to pursue acting. For example, she was cast in Classic Chic's production of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at the PAL Studio Theatre in summer 2014. She also recently underwent continuing studies with an Arts Club Actors Intensive.

"I think there's a real need in me to have a creative outlet and I've found something that I really love to do. Whether or not it pays the bills, it's something that I feel that I have to do to feel complete," she says.

This is her first Alchemy Theatre production and she has high hopes for the company's future. Alchemy is a non-profit organization formed in 2014 dedicated to producing alternative theatrical works as well as old classics with a new spin.

"I really hope that this play gets the name of Alchemy out there and kickstarts them because they are a group of very hard-working individuals. It's not an easy thing to start a theatre company and it takes a lot of minds and hands and I just really hope that this gets the word out there so that people will come and see many more wonderful productions to come from Alchemy," says Arbuckle.