FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES

Red Theater’s thoughtful world premiere finds grace
in its characters, even when the drama struggles to deliver

Sara Sadjadi as Mar, Alice Wu as Faith

Backlit by strips of light and surrounded by walls of blond, bland wood, an enormous crucifix is the first thing that greets you in Red Theater’s production of Church Hurt, the new play by Brynne Frauenhoffer making its world premiere at The Edge Off Broadway. The church in question is called The Summit, a nondenominational megachurch in a small Midwestern town. The play opens with the return of a prodigal daughter. Mar (Sara Sadjadi) abandoned the church a few years prior and moved to the big city, but things haven’t worked out well for her since she left. Lacking any other options, she has come back to her hometown and is living in her mother’s basement.

Sara Sadjadi as Mar, Laura Michele Erle as Julie

She is at The Summit to make her testimony: to tell of her repentance, her reacquaintance with her faith, and her determination to lead a celibate life. Mar is a lesbian, but she believes her sexuality conflicts with the church’s teachings. At church, she runs into her two best friends, Faith (Alice Wu) and Julie (Laura Michele Erle), who are both delighted to see her. Faith is thrilled that Mar has found God again, and Julie has discovered something she has in common with Mar and can’t wait to share. But most of all, they missed their dear friend and are glad she has come back to them.

Alice Wu as Faith, Sara Sadjadi as Mar, Laura Michele Erle as Julie

Directed by Jessica Love, Church Hurt—the title refers to the emotional trauma inflicted on believers by a church or its members—is an ambitious project. It is a serious examination of faith that is unusual in its sincerity and lack of condescension. As the three women reconnect, it becomes apparent that their friendship is no longer quite what it was. But each time tensions arise, they smooth things over with shared memories, clinging to the selves they were when life was simpler and the answers were easy.

Sara Sadjadi as Mar, Alice Wu as Faith, Laura Michele Erle as Julie

Church Hurt works best as a character study or as a slice-of-life piece. Frauenhoffer absolutely nails the language of nondenominational evangelism. Mar, Faith, and Julie are beautifully written, complex characters, and the three actors give deeply committed performances. Sadjadi is prickly, defensive perfection. The excessively positive and high-energy Julie would normally be irritating as hell, but Erle somehow manages to make the character charming and sweet. I was particularly impressed with Wu, whose Faith is the most conflicted of the three women and whose dazzling smile never quite hides the panic and misery in her eyes.

Sara Sadjadi as Mar

Where Frauenhoffer falters, and falters badly, is in terms of pacing and plot. That’s not to say there needs to be a plot—I would have been perfectly fine without it—but there is one, and it is extremely predictable, with every turn foreshadowed from miles away. The conversations also begin to hit the same beats, and the play doesn’t really catch fire until the last third of its 90-minute running time.

Alice Wu as Faith

And yet, it lingers. Church Hurt has much to say about organized religion and the damage it inflicts, and it does so with remarkable tact. I cannot overstate how impressed I was by its refusal to castigate its characters for their beliefs. I wish it were better constructed, but as Frauenhoffer’s script skillfully navigated the minefield of its subject matter, I became more and more willing to set aside its significant flaws, including its forced ending. Call it a bit of grade inflation, but the good here outweighs the bad. By a lot.

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photos by Wannabe Studio Photo

Church Hurt
Red Theater
The Edge Off Broadway, 1133 W. Catalpa Ave. in Chicago
90 minutes
Mon, Thu–Sat at 7:30; Sun at 3; Wed, Nov. 11 at 7:30
ends on November 21, 2026
for tickets ($10-$35), visit Red Theater

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

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