2000 years of Christianity.
And we still can’t get it right.

by Christopher Johnson
directed by Jim Slonina
WORLD PREMIERE
at American Theatre Company
June 16 – August 5, 2000

“A manic production by one local company that lives up to its name–Defiant Theatre.”

Chicago Sun-Times

Godbaby’s scholarship alone would be an accomplishment worthy of commendation. That the Defiant company makes it so much fun is an additional blessing.”

Windy City Times

The biggest jokes were the gospel truth in this new work by Jeff Citation-winning playwright Christopher Johnson.

Godbaby was a fast-paced pageant of hysterical Christian history, true tales of the ridiculous works initiated in God’s name. The Crusades, the Inquisition–they were all here. From Popes to Protestants to prostitutes, Godbaby was the second coming of comedy!

Because Jesus wept. But he probably snickered, too.


22 actors, 412 characters, 1 sacrificial lamb puppet. Director Jim Slonina cried actual tears at his day job when he found out he had to direct this mofo by himself. But the cast, crew, design team and staff all pulled together to make this true-history-of-Christianity-in-2-hours a blockbuster success.

Defiant Theatre outgoing phone message.
Dulcet voice over by BF Helman.

Gallery Plugin

The Cast

(in alphabetical order)

Jesus, 1st Roman Christian Congregationalist, 1st Workman building church, Sultan Saladin, Black Death, 3rd Cardinal to Alexander VI, Slave, American Soldier in WWII, Martin Luther King Jr., 2nd Branch Davidian, 2nd Funeral Mourner, Ricky Birdsong …
Re’chard Atwater

King Superbus, 2nd Peasant (Galilee), Luke, Origen, Librarian, Voice, 3rd Saxon Worshipper, Pope Stephen VI, 1st Crusading Soldier with Marquis, 2nd Person of Europe, 2nd Converso Man, Girolamo Savonarola, Emperor Charles V, Guillome Farel, 1st Austrian Mob, Joseph Smith II, Pope Benedict XV, SS Soldier, Head Commissioner, 2nd Reporter, Randall Terry …
Kelly Cooper

Augustus Caesar, Galilean Peasant, Pharisee Gamaliel, Joseph, John, 3rd Christian, 3rd Roman Person, Pope Stephen II, 2nd Papal Soldier, Crusader, 1st Cardinal, Pope Urban VI, 1st Secular Authority, Pope Alexander VI, Thomas Cranmer, King Christian IV, Jean Nicholas Billaud-Varenne, Joseph Stalin, Cardinal Alfredo Attaviani, Ronald Reagan, Flunky Cardinal …
Kurt Ehrmann

2nd Roman Slave, 4th Roman Citizen, Saul/Paul, Roman Soldier, Zombie/Dead Man/Lazarus, Emperor Constantine, 2nd Pippin Chorus, Emperor Guido, 3rd Muslim Soldier, Emperor Alexius, Roman Cardinal/Pope Boniface IX, 1st Condemned Conversion, 1st German Peasant, Pope Paul III, King Philip IV, Slave, Charles Darwin, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Cardinal-Secretary Pacelli/Pope Pius XII, Cardinal Albino Luciani/Pope John Paul, Jerry Falwell, 2nd Jogger …
Justin Fletcher

1st Roman Citizen, Female Mob Vigilante, 1st Jew with Stephen, 2nd Gentile Christian, 2nd Roman Citizen, 2nd Workman, Monica-mother of St. Augustine, Roman Citizen, And Yet Another Voice, 1st Saxon, 2nd Rioting Citizen, Shipbuilder, Peasant, The Giggling Dominican, Hooker, Thomas Muntzer, 1st Witch, French Citizen, Slave, Mary Baker Eddy, 2nd German Citizen, 2nd Jewish Citizen, Bishop Paul Marcinkus, Jimmy Swaggart’s Hooker, Female Branch Davidian, Funeral Mourner, Cop …
Jennifer Gehr

Cartographer … Arlo Bryan Guthrie

Roman Senator, Ciaphus, Phaon, Emperor Diocletian, 1st Clergyman, Pries, Pope Gregory, 1st Jew, Converso Man, Rich Roman, Johann Tetzel, Cotton Mather, 1st Mob, 1st Italian Soldier, Pope Pius XI, 2nd Jew, Premier Krushchev, Robert Calvi, Winfield Mohder …
BF Helman

Marc Antony, Roman Centurian, Stephen, Marcion, Roman Soldier, 2nd Roman Soldier, Garrotte Cardinal, Baldwin, Antipope Clement VII, 2nd Secular Authority, Carpenter, 2nd Jesuit, Miguel de Molinos, Witch’s Familiar, Russian Soldier, William Ellery Channing, British Soldier, Shmuel Zygilbojm, 2nd Hippie, 1st Swiss Guard, Jimmy Swaggart, Benjamin Smith, Alien Life Form …
Michael Mazzara

Cleopatra, Mary of Magdala, Christian Girl, Little Girl of Hippo, 3rd Pippin Chorus, Empress, Jew With Hats, Jew in Black Death, Converso Woman, Hooker to Alexander VI, Anne Boleyn, Puritan Girl, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Catholic Priest, Slave, Lucy Walker, Adolf Hitler, Catholic School Girl, Hippie, Reporter, Little Girl with Lollipop, Female Jogger …
Stefanie Neuhauser

Neanderthal, Ax-wielding Gladiator, James, Herod, Maxentius, 2nd Clergy, Roman Soldier, 1st Citizen of Rome, Marquis Boniface, 2nd Flagellant, Jester, Foreman, Ignatius Loyola, Wallenstein, Puritan Man, 3rd Mob, King Victor Emmanuel, American Soldier, American Tanker, John F. Kennedy, Shooter, FSEC Agent, FBI Agent, ATF Agent …
Ryan Oliver

3rd Roman Citizen, Andrew Athanasius, 1st Roman Person, King Aistulf, 4th Roman Citizen, Pope Boniface VIII, Antipope Benedict XIII, 2nd Condemned Converso, Martin Luther, King Gustavus Adolphus, French Soldier, Slave, 1st Clergyman, 1st Catholic Priest, Harold Tittman, Pope Paul VI, 3rd Reporter, Jim Bakker, Fred Phelps …
Ed Pierce

Brutus, John the Baptist, Tertius, Arius, Roman Nobleman, Another Voice, Charlemagne, Pope Urban II, St. Thomas Aquinas, 3rd Roman Cardinal, Cardinal Della Rovere/Pope Sixtus IV, Cardinal Dedal, Pope Clement VII, Baphomet, Revolutionary, Slave, Vatican Council I Clergyman, 2nd Catholic Priest, Eva Braun, Cop, David Koresh …
Richard Ragsdale

1st Slave, 2nd Mob Vigilante, Mark, White Jesus, 1st Soldier, 4th Clergyman, Romulus Augustalus, Frankish Soldier, Pope Formosus, Bishop of Le Puy, 2nd Cardinal of the 4th Lateran Council, 1st Person of Europe, 2nd Roman Citizen, King Ferdinand, Priest, English Soldier, Emperor Matthias, Pope Innocent X, Maximillien Robespierre, Soviet Secret Police, Cardinal Villot, Matthew Hale …
Christopher Taylor Ranta

Cassius, 3rd Peasant, Poppaea Sabina, Judas Iscariot, Dying Christian, Christian, Peasant of Hippo, 1st Pippin Chorus, 2nd Cardinal, Pope Innocent III, Cardinal, Roman Cardinal, 2nd Cardinal, Paradesman, Cardinal, a Birdie, Michelangelo, John Calvin, Cardinal Richelieu, 2nd Puritan, Joachim Murat, Slave, Serbian Nationalist, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sister Vincenza, Gary Madsen …
Bruch Reed

Roman Slave, Salome, Angel, Roman Congregationalist, Slaughtered Christian, Augustine’s Concubine, 2nd Saxon Worshipper, 2nd Roman Citizen (897 AD & 1308 AD), 1st Muslim Soldier, Marquis Boniface’s 2nd Crusading Soldier, 2nd Black Death Victim, Lucrezia Borgia, 3rd St. Peter’s Church Workman, Jane Seymour, 2nd New England Witch, Emma Hale/Smith, Duchess, 3rd German Citizen, Jewish Holocaust Victim, Assassin of Pope John Paul, Tammy Fay Bakker, Abortion Doctor …
Joy Ronstadt

Showgirl … Juliet Schaefer

Roman (27 BC), Peter, Tertullian, First Peasant of Hippo, Roman under Pope Gregory, Dark Ages Voice #5, Pope Leo III, 1st Citizen of 1000 AD, Cardinal-Treasurer, Pope Clement V, Tomas de Torquemada, King Henry VIII, Frederick V, Pope Pius VII, James Furman, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Gustav Gundlach, Pope John XXIII, Larry Gene Ashbrook …
Will Schutz

Crier … Sean Sinitski

Homo Erectus, Sword-wielding Gladiator, Annas, Nero, Pope Pius I, 3rd Clergy at Niecea, King of Lombards, King Pippin III, Papal Soldier, 3rd Muslim Soldier, King Philip IV of France, French Cardinal, Auto de Fey Parader, Another Papal Soldier, Johann Von Eck, 1st Jesuit, 2nd French Soldier, Puritan Constable, Slave, Isaac Hale, Anti-Mormon Mob, Anti-Evolutionist Mob, 2nd Italian Soldier, 2nd Wermacht Soldier and Tanker, 1st Hippie, 2nd Swiss Guard, Mikhail Gorbachev, Matthew Williams …
David Skvarla

Rufus, 1st Slave, 1st Roman Soldier, Matthew, Augustine, Lombard, Count Raymond, Edward I, 1st Flagellant, Christopher Columbus, 2nd Workman, King James I, Paul Revere, Pope Pius IX, German Soldier, Wermacht Soldier, Pat Robertson, Paul Hill …
Christopher Thometz

Julius Caesar, Mob Vigilante, Pontius Pilate, 2nd Jew, 2nd Gentile Christian, 1st Roman Christian, 2nd Maxentius Soldier, 3rd Peasant of Hippo, Cardinal with Pope Gregory, Yet Another Voice, A Priest with Charlemagne, 3rd Cardinal/Pope Theodore II, A Messenger for Pope Innocent III, 2nd Roman Cardinal/Pope Alexander V, Fruit Vendor, Pope Leo X, Tschernembl, Napoleon, Dying Son, Francis D’arcy Osborne, Cardinal Wojtyla/Pope John Paul II …
Steve Welsh

Mary Mother of Jesus, Christian Woman, 1st Christian, Rich Heiress, 2nd Roman Citizen, 4th Pippin Chorus, 3rd Citizen of Rome, 2nd Jewish Family, Isabella of Spain, Servant to Alexander VI, Katherine of Aragon, 2nd Austrian Mob, Puritan Woman, Slave, Woman, 1st German, Jew, Catholic Woman, Abortion Woman, 1st Jogger …
Barb Wruck Thometz

The Crew

(in alphabetical order)

Poster Illustrator … Harry Bauer

Costume Designer … Michelle Lynette Bush

Pippen Music … Matthew Callahan

Props … Michelle Caplan

Wig Designer … Christina Carlson

Props … Brent Carter

Dresser … Megan Carr

Technical Director … Ryan Prater Durling

Joe Foust … Fight Choreographer

Movement Choreographer … Julie Greenberg

Projection Designer, Signs and Maps Designer, Poster Designer …
Arlo Bryan Guthrie

Movement Choreographer … Jeff Jenkins

Playwright … Christopher William Johnson

Special FX … David Knezz

Flux Capacitor … Steve Kruse

Special FX … Andrew Leman

Dresser … Sarah Losey

Dresser … Angelina Martinez

Scenic Designer … Martin McClendon

Stage Manager … Kjerstine McHugh

Assistant Stage Manager … Tonya Moore

Audio Sculptor/Sound Design … Gregor Mortis

Movement Choreography … Julia Neary

Lighting Designer … Richy Norwood

Costume Designer … Christine Pascual

Costume Designer … Alison Siple

Armorer … David Skvarla

Director … Jim Slonina

Intern … Johanna “Spartacus” Weller-Fahy

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