We Wait in Joyful Hope [Paperback]

One wants to restore the image of the Church, gain back the community's trust. And as you know, this part of town has long been resistant to social progress. Otherwise Sister Bernadine wouldn't need to work so hard.

Sister Bernie D'Amato doesn't look like a nun. In an oversize Bob Marley T-shirt, she smokes pot, befriends local gangs and passes out condoms to the Ukrainian prostitutes who cruise around their New Jersey slum.

When the women's shelter Bernie runs comes under threat from a property developer, she vows to fight back, and recruits a teenage X-Factor wannabe and an ageing ex-nun to help. But as pressure mounts on the shelter to take their pay-out and close down, tensions start to mount in a community struggling to survive.

We Wait In Joyful Hopeis a funny and touching exploration of religion and capitalism in contemporary USA. Theatre503 Writer in Residence Brian Mullin delivers a sparkling 'state of the nation' debut drama. This edition is published to coincide with the play's world premiere at Theatre503, London, in May 2016.

Brian Mullin, is an American playwright and dramaturg based in London. He is the dramaturg for Babakas Theatre Company whose first productionOur Fatherstoured internationally. Brian's work was developed at the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Ars Nova and Dixon Place in the United States, before re-located to London in 2009 to attend the MA Writing for Performance course at Goldsmiths. In the UK, his playM4Mwas workshopped in High Tide's Genesis LAB and he received a Mauve New World commission from Ovalhouse/Pink Fringe to writeIt Gets Better.He is a former member of the Orange Tree Writers Group and a founding member of international devising company Babakas. As a dramaturg and writing tutor, he has worked at venues including the Arcola, the Tricycle, and the National Theatre's New Views course. He holds degrees in theatre and literature from Yale and Oxford, where he lÃ-