Way, Way, Way Off Broadway

'Judas’ doctor – Jesuit recounts time center stage off-Broadway
By Mark Pattison8/24/2007
Catholic News Service (http://www.catholicnews.com/)
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Jesuit Father James Martin would never be accused of slumming around the Stage Door Canteen, much less a backstage entrance to New York City's dozens of theaters.

Still, he found himself in a theater role – as script doctor for a play about Judas Iscariot that had a healthy off-Broadway run more than two years ago. Father Martin has recounted the experience in "A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Center Stage With Jesus, Judas, and Life's Big Questions," published by Loyola Press and scheduled for release Sept. 1. In the process, Father Martin said he had one revelation: Actors are people, too. "Sam Rockwell, an actor who I'd already known, was the first person to contact me and (said) that (actor) Philip Seymour Hoffman was going to be the director. So I was excited to be part of that," said Father Martin, an associate editor for America, a weekly magazine published by the Jesuits. As he spent more time with the actors, the priest said, he went "from being tongue-tied to being relaxed and comfortable ... to being friends with them. As a writer, I frequently meet writers who are notable Catholics. You regard them with a sense of awe, but over time you see they're approachable." During rehearsals, Father Martin said in an Aug. 13 telephone interview, Hoffman had to excuse himself several times because he had "a shoot" in Toronto for a movie. "He never bragged about being a movie actor, or talked about the film he was doing," Father Martin said of Hoffman. The movie turned out to be "Capote," which won Hoffman an Oscar for best actor. Read original article (here)