‘Dead Boy’ Resurrects Church Sex Scandal

In 1990, Father Bruce Ritter, the Catholic priest who founded the Covenant House shelters, was accused of sexual improprieties with some homeless young men under his care. Although he was never charged with any crime, the priest resigned, and the scandal nearly caused the collapse of the charitable organization for at-risk teenagers.

Joe Pintauro’s play, “The Dead Boy,” playing at the Laurelgrove Theatre, is about a similar situation, following the fictional Father Sheridan’s (Stephen Nichols) fall from grace. Taking its name from an article that characterized these youths as the walking dead--male prostitutes and drug runners doomed to short lives--the play soon buries this provocative material under ponderous exposition and discordant tonal changes.

None of several good performances can redeem the play, and director Jack Heller seems more intent on delivering a packaged sermon than modulating and imbuing subtle meaning.

Pintauro uses Father Rosetti (Lorry Goldman), the underling of the Cardinal (Travis Michael Holder), as a narrator. Goldman’s performance is lightly comedic, with one somber moment. Yet “The Dead Boy” isn’t dark comedy, and Rosetti is out of step with the other angst-filled and often humorless characters.

As the man at the center of the media storm, Nichols’ priest is both earnestly tortured and dashingly television-ready. He’s photogenic and ready for a media crucifixion.

But Pintauro brings us no closer to understanding the man, the boy (Derek Sitter) and their tragedies. He attempts to draw parallels between his accuser and Father Sheridan during his youth, but this only serves as an opportunity to begin and end with a disturbing visual image.

Here, the Catholic Church and the press both need redemption, according to Pintauro, but the script gives little reason for the resurrection of this scandal.

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“The Dead Boy,” Laurelgrove Theatre, 12265 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. Thursdays-Saturdays,8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m., through August. Then Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Sept. 30. $20. (818) 760-8368. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.