JAY AND RUBY GET RELIGION Begins 4/28 at The Davenport Theatre

In an age when religious beliefs and fundamentalism seem to control world affairs, a very funny and very timely new comedy skewers the topic. Jay and Ruby Get Religion is written by Joe Hoover and directed by Broadway vet Jim Shankman. Hoover has a unique background as playwright, he is a Jesuit brother, the Roman Catholic order to which Pope Francis belongs. Shankman appeared in the Broadway shows Grease and Once in a Lifetime. He is an accomplished playwright in his own right, winning the 2015 Fringe Best Playwriting Award for The Screenwriter Dies of his Own Free Will.

There are only eight performances: Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m.; Friday, April 29 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, April 30 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Monday, May 2 at 7 p.m.; Tuesday, May 3 at 7 p.m.; Wednesday, May 4 at 7 p.m.; and Thursday, May 5 at 7 p.m. The show will be staged at The Davenport Theatre - Black Box, 354 W. 45th St., New York, NY, 10036, near Eighth Ave. The nearest subway is the A C E 42nd Street stop.

The play has the jokes and the rhythms of a classic madcap comedy with a modern edge. It focuses on Ruby, spiritually impatient and constantly disappointed in her religious quest, as she encounters hot-button issues like abortion, sex abuse and historic corruption in the church.

Hoover is also in the cast, playing Jay. As an actor, he appeared in King Lear in Shakespeare in the Park. As a writer, he has had a number of plays produced in New York and his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. He has also published essays in Best Catholic Writing 2006 and Best Spiritual Writing 2012. Rocio Mendez plays the lead role of Ruby, she has appeared at The Pearl and The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Also in the cast is Flor De Liz Perez, who has a recurring role on CBS-TV's The Good Wife. She recently completed a run in an acclaimed production of the The MotherF*er With The Hat at London's National Theatre and in Bedlam's Sense and Sensibility in New York. Simpson & Longthorne Theatricals is the show's general manager.

Jay and Ruby Get Religion was first staged in September 2015, also in Manhattan's theater district. New York Times best-selling author Father James Martin, S.J. recommended that production to his more than 400,000 Facebook followers.

Tickets are $15.00, available at smarttix.com. For more information, go to jayandruby.com.