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Habit forming
‘Nunsense 2’ opens at Robidoux Landing Playhouse
by Cathy Woolridge
Friday, May 2, 2008

You know a director is having fun with his latest production when he breaks into song while on his cell phone.

“It’s time to put on makeup, it’s time to light the lights,” Mike Swymeler, director of “Nunsense 2: The Second Coming,” sings, referencing “The Muppet Show” theme. “Nunsense 2” opens tonight at Robidoux Landing Playhouse.

No doubt, Kermit and the Muppets would approve.

But the veteran director’s songbite isn’t meant to honor a beloved old show. It’s a nod to the Little Sisters of Hoboken, who stole audiences’ hearts by ticking their funnybones in the original “Nunsense.” And now, those rollicking, righteous ladies of the habit are back for another song-filled frolic.

“There’s 25 songs in this thing,” Swymeler says.

The Robidoux Resident Theater production of “Nunsense 2: The Second Coming” opens tonight at Robidoux Landing Playhouse and will be performed Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, as well as May 9 through 11 and May 16 through 18. Show time is at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Dinner is served two hours before the play begins. Reservations are required.

The show picks up six weeks after the original “Nunsense” ended, and audiences will get a synopsis of the original story before the beginning of “Nunsense 2,” Swymeler says.

In “Nunsense 2,” the sisters are presenting a “thank-you” show for those who supported them in the past. And audience members can expect to get in on the fun, says Jennifer Reinert, who plays Sister Robert Anne, convent driver and gym teacher.

“We interact with the audience,” she says, “We all come out and talk to the people who are there.”

Sister Robert Anne was the role that Reinert tried out for and won. The nun’s fun and feisty side attracted the actress, who has been performing since high school.

“She really tries to get on the Reverend Mother’s nerves, saying and doing things she wouldn’t approve of,” Reinert says.

The Reverend Mother may want to watch her back when Sister Mary Hubert is around, as well.

“She’s the mistress of novices,” says Janet Snider of her character. “She wants to be the Reverend Mother.”

Snider, an acting veteran of almost 22 years, had played the role of Sister Robert Anne in “Nunsense.” But she says she likes the challenge of fleshing the new character of Sister Mary Hubert.

Both actresses and their director liberally toss in the word “fun” when describing not only the play, but their seven weeks of rehearsal.

And fun, say the actresses and their director, is what the audience will experience by attending the comedy.

“And you don’t have to be Catholic to come,” Snider says.

Lifestyles reporter Cathy Woolridge can be reached at cathyw@npgco.com

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