The Soul Gatherer

by Mark-Brian Sonna

On a stormy night a young woman suffering from catatonia begins to emerge from her years of silence with a series of painful screams. That same night her estranged brother is scheduled to arrive. The live-in nurse and maid become overwhelmed with trying to keep the young girl calm and call her Psychiatrist for help. There is a blackout. When the lights emerge a young man is found naked on the floor face down in a bed of feathers in a catatonic state. Is it a mass delusion, a physical embodiment of the girl's mental illness, a visitation of an angel, or is this visitor an imposter? Be prepared to be startled, provoked and intrigued by this most unique play.

This play is rated NC-17 due to male nudity, graphic violence, language and adult subject matter.

'The Soul Gatherer' does his job well in MBS Productions latest show

Handsome Angel Assassin in Enigmatic, Eerie Soul Gatherer - 4 Stars
Christopher Soden - Examiner.com

Currently playing at The Stone Cottage, next door to Water Tower Theatre in Addison, is a strange and intriguing play about death, love and attachment called The Soul Gatherer. Realistic in its execution and surreal at its core, Soul Gatherer explores the nature of earthly bliss by clothing it in the traditional plot of a murder mystery in which sequestered guests are taken out, one by one. The difference here, though, is we know who’s doing the killing, we’re just not sure how or why. Director and writer Mark-Brian Sonna takes a gamble of sorts. The logic that turns the wheel here is intuitive and dream-inspired, so you either go with it or fight the impulse to slam on the brakes. Sonna does his best to take a fanciful, eerie notion and make it accessible in literal terms. And mostly I think it works.

Not very far into the piece, the lights go out and when they’re restored, we find a handsome (if other-worldly) naked young man with long black hair, lying in a heap of dazzling white feathers. His name is “Gideon” but beyond that, he seems to be suffering from a bad case of amnesia. Gideon has fallen into a gathering of family members and caregivers, who have assembled in a remote cabin, prone to isolation when rain makes the river rise. They try to figure out just exactly what to do with him, in the process ascertaining that there is something vaguely miraculous about the fellow. While one of them hears him speak in English, another perceives it in Spanish. And Gideon seems to have intimate knowledge of each character’s past. 

The Soul Gatherer is chilling, in its way. We know that these poor, tortured individuals are dying, one at a time, and Sonna proffers the opportunity to gaze into a somewhat viable (if personal) enigma of his own creating. It’s a riff on the Angel of Death, with additional details, i.e. the particulars of His technique, to make the story absorbing. On the occasional instances when it falters, it’s due to the discrepancy between the metaphoric and the realistic. The idea of a beautiful Angel Assassin, who mixes intimacy with death, sounds compelling on paper, but I’m not sure it always floats. All this being said, The Soul Gatherer certainly has enough going on to keep us involved and entertained. Sonna has a gift for trumping most theatre you see with verve and originality. The content combines spirituality with heartbreak, and leaves you with a yearning, implacable sense of loss.

MBS Productions proudly presents The Soul Gatherer playing March 24th-April 16th, 2011 at The Stone Cottage Theatre, 15650 Addison Road, Addison, Texas, 75001. 214-477-4942.