He hopes his painful role in 'Sin' helps bring healing
Patrick Gannon, the vulnerable-looking actor in "Sin: A Cardinal Deposed," has one of the most emotional roles in Boston theater right now: playing Patrick McSorley.
McSorley was one of the most quoted victims of priest sexual abuse and commented frequently about Cardinal Bernard F. Law's deposition testimony during hearings in 2001. McSorley died at the age of 29 in February of a drug overdose.
Both at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, where the show is playing until Sunday, and in Chicago, where the Bailiwick Repertory show originated, Gannon has garnered positive reviews for his understated yet searing portrayal of McSorley. The character is one of several that Gannon plays in "Sin."
To portray such a prominent figure on his home turf has been a bit daunting for the 32-year-old Gannon, who is Irish Catholic.
"It's such a huge responsibility to do justice to his story," says Gannon. "Here even more so, because of the people that know him. He's so important to other survivors. During the rehearsal we had survivors come talk to us. The first thing they said was, who's playing Patrick?"
A few nights ago, he says, McSorley's family came to see the show. "His brother and sister said that Patrick would have been proud," Gannon says. "It was the best compliment I could get. During the talkback, they came up to me and gave me a hug. I pretty much lost it at that point."
Gannon, as McSorley, has the last word in the play. He describes how the Rev. John Geoghan took him, as a 12-year-old, out for ice cream and then fondled him -- as the priest masturbated -- in the car. McSorley gets out of the car, dazed, with ice cream dripping down his hand.
To prepare for the role, Gannon watched a clip on Boston.com of McSorley recounting this memory. All McSorley did, he says, was "very simply tell the story. It's such an honest, heartfelt story."
Because that scene is so wrenching to do, director David Zak did not have Gannon work excessively on it. "He felt that having to do it over and over takes a toll," Gannon says.
"Sin: A Cardinal Deposed" is a courtroom drama by Michael Murphy that is taken from transcripts of the deposition. Actors playing lawyers Mitchell Garabedian and Roderick MacLeish Jr. interrogate Law. There are no recreations of priest abuse, but cast members dramatize accounts of abuse that appear in letters and public records.
The show has drawn a number of survivors of priest sexual abuse, many of whom stay after the show for talk sessions with the actors.
"Mostly what I've heard from the survivors is that the show helps them," Gannon says. "So many have thanked me for telling their story. It's a chance for them to get recognition for their stories and enables them to connect in an emotional way as opposed to reading about it in the newspaper."
The most amazing comment that the cast got was in Chicago, he says. During a talkback, a woman said she was a victim of abuse and was dealing with the archdiocese in Chicago about it. "She said that this show gave her a sense of closure that the archdiocese did not. We were all blown away by that."
Catherine Foster can be reached at foster@globe.com
‘‘Sin: A Cardinal Deposed’’ runs through Sunday at the Regent Theatre in Arlington. Call 781-646-4849 or visit www.regenttheatre.com. Discounted tickets are available at artsboston.org/ bostix.cfm the day of the show. 