The newbie to this life after life, he sits back to see a screening of the Adam and Eve fiasco and is abandoned by a chatty man who holds his file and isn’t keen on letting him run off to Heaven.

This seemingly ‘Joe Schmoe’ lawyer Simon Ackerman (played by Matt Lewis) finds himself amidst a motley group of characters, both tempting and frightening as they go about living eternity in Hell over liquor and snide remarks about Heaven’s untalented singers. Clearly an outcast amongst the secret virgin Don Juan, a sexy Mother Theresa with a Princess Diana pet- peeve, the crazy Lizzie Borden and an alcoholic Vlad the Impaler, Ackerman debates whether he belongs in Heaven, as he always thought, or in this intriguing Hell.

Written and directed by Seth Panitch, who also plays the energetic Interviewer at Hell’s gates, the play is both comical and witty exploring a philosophical realm of what the afterlife could be: a luring, even enjoyable Hell swarming with interesting people who made distinguishing decisions in their life – good or bad – or a Heaven, surely pleasant, though full of conformists who spent their lives obedient and safe.

In particular, Dianne Teague shines as “God” with her endearing performance as gentle yet omnipotent whether in a golden gown or argyle golf-wear, even showing sadness at her own decision to banish Lucifer to Hell.

As the performance nears its end at 59E59, Ackerman learns he was jipped of his God-given right to a ‘defining moment’ (much to God’s bashful dismay). As he is ripped from the underworld to finish out what should have been his last day on Earth, he ignores the ‘rules’ to do the right thing in the date rape trial he’s working, finding he may not be all that different from Hell’s forward- thinkers.
EYE ON THE ARTS, NY – Jennifer Thompson