Publicity material for The God Gaffe (at the New York International Fringe Festival) notes that this John William Schiffbauer two-acter (directed by the playwright) was “inspired by Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s departure from The View.” Schiffbauer’s play deals with the relationship between a conservative and pious daytime-TV show panelist named Patricia McCallister (Hannah Beck) and the show’s gay producer, Jeremy Blocker (Vincent Torres).
Jeremy and his boyfriend, Brett (Tom Giordano), have been chummy with Patricia during the half-dozen years she has been on the program. The three have apparently even vacationed together. Their opposing views of the world have—amazingly—never heretofore generated significant conflict. But when Patricia says something shocking to a 15-year-old gay boy on the show one day, Jeremy is outraged (as are Brett and a lot of other people). Jeremy orders Patricia to apologize on the following day’s program. He also wants her placed on probation.
I guess I have been naïve—or perhaps cynical. My assumption was that producers of shows like The View invite the sort of controversy generated by such headline-making kerfuffles as the one depicted here. But, if Schiffbauer knows better, I stand corrected. The play does raise the question of whether Jeremy would have been quite as alarmed had Patricia’s over-the-top remark not been specifically a homophobic one.
The God Gaffe has its pluses. The extent to which people can and cannot set aside their religious and political differences to forge a friendship is a topic worth exploring. And all three actors do good work. (It’s hard to imagine that f-bomb-dropping Jeremy and gosh-darn-it-I’m-straight-laced Patricia would ever have worked together peaceably, let alone bonded, yet Torres and Beck help make this seem plausible.)
But the play feels like a preliminary draft—one that needs to be whittled down and shaped into a more streamlined and dramatically satisfying drama. Schiffbauer’s characters bicker and fuss in longwinded and repetitive fashion, and the story’s denouement is a disappointing sputtering-out.
I hope there will be further drafts, as Schiffbauer’s characters and situation definitely have possibilities.
