Sister Nancy, a Dominican nun, brings her family's acting talents to the stage at this weekend's IndyFringe festival.
Long before Saturday Night Live, Caddyshack and Ghostbusters, Bill Murray won a lead role in Basement Productions' staging of the Nativity. He starred as Joseph, and as director/co-star Nancy Murray recalls, "he got to wear old bathrobes and towels" for the part.
Bill's parents, who paid a nickel apiece to see their son's debut, gave him rave reviews. It was his first big break. While no one could have imagined how his career would take off, Nancy says, "as a kid he could control the dinner table. He was very funny, Brian was too."
Nancy and Bill are siblings - two of nine in an Irish Catholic family that grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, just north of Chicago.
While Bill and brothers Brian, Joel and John all became actors, Nancy is the only one with an acting degree and, in recent years, she's put it to use as part of her ministry.
Nancy, "Sister Nancy," is a Dominican nun.
She's in Indianapolis this weekend to perform "ROOTED IN LOVE: THE LIFE AND MARTYRDOM OF SISTER DOROTHY STANG" at IndyFringe.
Stang was a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame. She spent more than 30 years in Brazil advocating for the poor and the Amazon rain forest. Threatened by her outspoken activism, some of the area's powerful landowners hired hitmen to kill her. She was gunned down as she walked along a dirt road in February 2005.
Nancy wrote the one-woman play at the request of the Sisters of Notre Dame. They saw her previous one-woman performance on the life of St. Catherine of Siena, a 14th Century Dominican, proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. Nancy also wrote that script, which she performed hundreds of times, at churches, schools and other venues across the country - including Indy Fringe in 2007.
Nancy discovered that Sister Dorothy or "Dot" as she was often called, came from a family of nine children, just like she did. Nancy spent time talking with Sister Dorothy's siblings so the script "wouldn't just be the drama about the end of her life. You know how it ends. It needed other things - what about her still lives, her personality and the relationships she had with people along the way."
Nancy said Dorothy's nieces and nephews had advice as well.
"They said if we don't hear 'Gee whiz!' and 'Yikes!', we won't know it's Aunt Dot," Nancy recalls. They also told her, "There should be a cold beer in there somewhere."
Nancy said the issues Dorothy confronted remain relevant.
"The care of the earth is our responsibility and the decisions we make today will affect generations to come," she said.
Nancy's brothers John and Brian have seen the play. She suspects Bill will, too. She says the Murray siblings remain close and supportive...and no doubt grateful for Nancy's role in getting things going with Basement Productions.
The IndyFringe shows are Friday and Saturday night at 7:30. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students.
Sister Nancy was one of Mary Milz's teachers at Regina Dominican High School. Mary took dance and theology classes with her. After losing touch, they reconnected seven years ago, when Nancy came to perform at IndyFringe.
