Powerful widow Miss Alice and her lawyer offer a generous grant to the church on the condition that the cardinal's naïve secretary be used as a liaison.
[5][3] The play ran at Hartford Stage, Connecticut, in May–June 1998, directed by Mark Lamos and starring Richard Thomas as Brother Julian.
Directed by Mark Lamos, the cast featured Richard Thomas (Brother Julian), Laila Robins (Miss Alice), John Michael Higgins (the Butler), Tom Lacy (the Cardinal), and Stephen Rowe (the Lawyer).
[11] Ben Brantley, in his review of the Hartford Stage 1998 production, called the play "tightly constructed, elegantly written, and (most surprisingly) defiantly funny" and "enigmatic", with a plot that is "definitely off-putting.
Other reviews were mixed, with Newsday’s Linda Winer and Time Out New York’s David Cote strongly recommending the production.