Early 20th-century playwright Paul Claudel is little known by contemporary theatergoers, but a new production of the devout Catholic dramatist's play "The Tidings Brought to Mary" is enjoying a brief revival off Broadway in New York. Running through April 4, the play, not seen in New York since 1922, is a co-production of the Storm Theatre and the Blackfriars Repertory Theatre, whose artistic director is Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P., the editor of Magnificat, the monthly missal, and a Dominican friar of the Province of St. Joseph. Fr. Cameron, who founded Blackfriars Repertory in 1998 as a revival of the Blackfriars Company (1940-72), stresses love, calling the play "an astounding statement about the possibility of love transforming a person's life. Why should I settle for anything less than the infinite?" Set in 15th-century France, "The Tidings" tells the story of two sisters, the one consecrating her life to God, the other stubbornly wedded to self-seeking.

"In times of great crisis, people ask questions that they might not normally ask; questions that go to the heart of questions like, 'Why are we here?'" says Peter Dobbins the artistic director of Storm, discussing the impetus for the Claudel Project. "This world is just where we work things out. Advertising tells us heaven can be on earth, but it can't be." For Dobbins, Violaine, the virtuous sister in "Tidings," who contracts leprosy through a merciful kiss, is a kind of Christ figure - she shows her materialistic sister and faithless fiancé the meaning of grace. Leprosy doesn't seem like a happy ending, but "it's all about crazy love," he says. Click here for a review of this challenging but satisfying work. For more information and to buy tickets, please click here.