(OUTview NW) RE-view: With Sound Theater's 'Judas', Everyone Sees the Light!

Satan Stuns Cunningham!              (Holmes)

by MK Scott

A few years back, I reviewed 2 plays back to back about famous people in the after life, and I would assume,  the Mountaintop (staged by Artswest) and Sleep, Marilyn and Dream (staged by SPT) were most likely inspired by Stephen Adly Guirgis' 2005 Play, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, currently staged by Sound Theater.

Judas (played by the incredible, Jose Abaoag, recently from WET's 99 Ways) is catatonic in Hell, while top Attorney, Cunningham (Played by the always FAB, Caitlyn Francis) is in a pugatory courtroom pleading ex-confederate soldier and judge (Keith Dahlgren) to plead Judas' right for an appeal of betraying Jesus. On the prosecution side, we have the very flamboyant Egyptian, Yusef (the super entertaining, Yusef Mahmoud, recently seen in Artswest's American Idiot) and finally as the trial begins, so do the incredible performances of several of the actors.

Jesus proves to Judas that he never left!   (Holmes)

With a mostly diverse cast, this how you cast a multi-diverse show, every actor played the right character and they all were pitch perfect.

Some of the standouts included Judas' Mom (The emotional, Kathy Hsieh, recently reviewed in Chinglish and 99 ways) as a mom who lost her son from suicide.

Saint Monica, as in Santa Monica (the Bawdy, Shermona Mitchell) goes from being campy to maternal as she tries to get through to Judas.

Keith Dahlgren does double duty as the Judge and Caiaphas (the Jewish Elder) and really comes out strong and defeated as he realizes that he could has saved Jesus too. Dahlgren's monologue proved that most of the witnesses of Christ, were a bunch of hypocrites.

Even Mother Theresa (Eloisa Cardona) and Sigmund Freud (Sujay Chattopadhyay) are discredited on the witness stand.

Jesus (the charismatic,  Jesse Smith) said it best when he revealed that he was everywhere from the Orlando to Dallas to Osama's compound with powerful message. Jesus and Judus were in love and you feel it in their scenes.

Finally the Super Standout performance of Ray Tagavilla as Satan, a true rock star presence and powerful presence that even Caitlyn Francis' confident, Cunningham is shaken to her core by the misunderstood evil of Satan.

 STC's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot continues through July 31st at the Seattle Center House Theater. Click HERE for Tix and Info.