Directive 47

Sr. Barbara O’Keefe has approved an abortion to save the life of a critically ill patient at the Catholic hospital where she works, an action which Bishop Michael Williams decrees worthy of excommunication. When he offers her a return to full standing in the Church if she repents, everyone has difficult choices to make: should Sr. Barbara sacrifice her beliefs to get back the community she loves? Should fellow...
Sr. Barbara O’Keefe has approved an abortion to save the life of a critically ill patient at the Catholic hospital where she works, an action which Bishop Michael Williams decrees worthy of excommunication. When he offers her a return to full standing in the Church if she repents, everyone has difficult choices to make: should Sr. Barbara sacrifice her beliefs to get back the community she loves? Should fellow nuns Sr. Catherine and Sr. Elizabeth support Sr. Barbara in her time of need or, as Williams desires, seek to remove her from their order? Inspired by a true story, Directive 47 explores faith and doctrine, power and compassion, and what happens when those values collide.
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Directive 47

Recommended by

  • John Minigan:
    29 Jun. 2017
    Directive 47 takes on increasingly complex and compelling questions of 'doctrine' versus 'belief,' confronting questions of how we reconcile things we believe to be true with what outside arbiters of truth tell us. Along the journey, Sisters Barbara, Elizabeth, and Catherine--and even the most seemingly rigid character, Bishop Williams--struggle in deep and revealing ways with not only their duties to an abstract faith when it conflicts with the very real challenges of those around them, but also with their relationships with one another and their own senses of self. A thought-provoking and fully engaging play.

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    Boston Playwrights' Theatre
    ,
    2017
  • Reading
    ,
    Fresh Ink Theatre
    ,
    2014

Awards

Semi-Finalist
,
O'Neill National Playwrights Conference
,
Eugene O'Neill Center
,
2013