Apr 29, 2005  |  By: PATRICK FOLlIARD  | COMMENTS     

SOMETIMES IN DRUG and alcohol rehab, people who wouldn’t ordinarily meet on the outside, forge unlikely relationships. (Elizabeth Taylor and her eighth husband, construction worker Larry Fortensky, who met at Betty Ford, quickly come to mind.)

This great leveling is dramatized in Vincent J. Cardinal’s “The Colorado Catechism,” when a Midwestern divorced mom and a bisexual Manhattan art star become close and help each other through the rougher spots of addiction treatment.

With Journeymen Theater’s “Catechism,” gay director Jeff Keenan ends a two-year hiatus. A sampling of Keenan’s résumé includes “Naked Boys Singing!” at Actors’ Theatre of Washington where he was also artistic director, and an all-male adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” at Source. That he was chosen to direct the final show of a Christ-based company’s first season was initially surprising.

The Journeymen Theater’s mission, according to its Web site, states that it “is committed to reflecting the freedom of inspired faith in Christ by creating art that challenges individuals to consider the ramifications of personal choices and by providing a nurturing environment for theater artists.”

But once the show begins it’s clear that Journeymen’s production possesses elements easily found in any nearby secular production: the “f” word, a sympathetic bisexual man, and lots of onstage smoking.

WHILE IT WAS white wine and Valium that got the best of Donna, the Indiana mother, and cocaine and hard liquor for Ty, the famous portrait painter, they’ve both landed in the Roger Goodman Clinic in Cripple Creek, Colo.

Ty (Cecil Baldwin) was out of control, so his business managers intervened. For Donna (Deborah Kirby), it’s her third time in rehab and the stakes are high: She may lose custody of her 6-year old son, Devon.

Breaking the rules, each night Ty and Donna slip outside (he sleeplessly star gazes while she smokes Marlboro Reds).

Unacquainted with Ty’s art world status, Donna is more intrigued with his playfully sexy demeanor and seeming inability to love. Initially, Ty finds the slightly older, overweight home economics teacher a nuisance. An inveterate user, he sees little reason to befriend Donna.

They flirt with romance, but ultimately the ostensibly mismatched duo encourages one another in becoming complete within one’s self.

“Catechism” calls for a more intimate space than what Clark Street Playhouse offers, but happily Keenan has drawn strong performances from Kirby and Baldwin, and they ably fill the rambling warehouse, holding the audience’s attention.

Cardinal’s two-person play can be a tad anemic, considering the subject matter, and sometimes goes for the cliché. Still, there are some shining moments of gentle humor and pathos.

Baldwin is most compelling when he addresses the audience as Ty, the sober, omniscient narrator. Kirby’s character evolves: A tough exterior dissolves, revealing a vulnerable but determined woman. It’s most touching when Donna leaves the clinic, dressed in her best, hopeful to be reunited with her son.

Especially enjoyable for those with rehab stories of their own, “The Colorado Catechism” is, mercifully, an absolutely non-preachy portrayal of recovery and the lives it saves.