John Oertling directed his last play at Eastern this weekend -“Incorruptible,” a dark comedy about the dark ages.

The play, about a saint relic that has stopped performing miracles, was presented in the Black Box Theatre.

It involved dishonest priests, chase scenes and someone pretending to be a dead body.

The play is about a church that cannot support itself. The church even starts charging a penny a prayer, after its saint relic stops performing miracles. When a rival church gets ahold of the bones, miracles start happening for the other church.

Things start to go awry when one of the priests promises the pope an incorruptible, or a saint so holy that her body refuses to decay.

The minstrel forces his wife to-be, Marie, to pretend to be the incorruptible by playing dead on the holy alter.

Katy Kruzic, a junior theater arts major who played Marie, said she liked the play because there was a lot of slapstick in the production.

“

I’ve never been a dead body before,” Kruzic said.

She also liked how a lot of lines were ad-libbed and how scenes, such as the chase scenes, were added.

Geoffrey Zokal, a junior history major with teacher certification, played Brother Felix.

“I liked the fact that (the play) was really off-the-wall,” Zokal said.

Oertling said the play is partly based on a true story because a lot of ancient churches had relics.

“There is a monastery that housed the relics of a St. Foy (just like in the play),” Oertling said.

He first read the play three years ago and fell in love with the script.

Oertling said the play is not poking fun only at the Catholic Church, but at faith in general.

At the end of the play, though, the minstrel, who only has one eye, is healed.

“The ending shows that faith is pretty powerful,” Oertling said.

Audience members enjoyed the show.

“The whole thing kept your interest the whole time,” said Lori Rago, an Oak Forest resident.

The play will also be performed at 7 p.m. today and Tuesday in the Black Box Theatre.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or haholm@eiu.edu.