Faith and the Artist in Marbled at Greenhouse

Joseph Anthony Rulli’s new drama Marbled now on at the Greenhouse Theater Center struck me as more of a screenplay than a stage play.  Director Melanie Ann Apel created a very cinematic interpretation of the story about a closeted ecclesiastical artist struggling to find his true self and keep his faith, in the form of organized religion that appears to recognize a narrow definition of propriety.

Main character Michael “Mickey” Lodovico, played by the imposing Keith Emroll, is a popular sculptor who is commissioned and creating work for the archdiocese. His brash, tempestuous, loudly swearing and proudly gay assistant Thomas Cavallo is trying to bring his boss out of the closet. But Mickey has spent his life in the shadow of his old seminary colleague Gus– now the Monsignor Auguste Humbolt who has a repressive iron fist that waves commissions about, while interpreting The Faith in the most right wing manner possible. 

Good and evil sides are determined early on when the Monsignor treats Sister Elena Jackson, played by the actualized and powerful Donna Woods, as a second class citizen.  There’s a pretty horrific little dinner party of clerics and MAGA nun Sister Betty MacDonald (played with fidelity to the repressive right by Jillian E Mueller) drinking vast quantities of wine and gossiping about people. 

Mickey eventually creates a scandalous marble sculpture that destroys his potential for commissions and makes him an easy target for hatred.  The ending is violent and inconclusive and speaks more to the current political malaise than to a hopeful way forward. 

It is quite a week to be taking in this story as the newly minted Catholic vice president challenges the Pope. What does it mean to follow Christ in a Catholic way?  These characters wallow deep in what devotion to faith means. It’s not an easy evening of theatre, but the questions that arise are those we should not turn away from. 

Marbled is playing Thursday through Sunday through April 26th, 2026 at the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. For Tickets and information go to https://ci.ovationtix.com/36644/production/1268093

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