Rogue Machine presents “A Case for the Existence of God”

One of the conundrums of being a critic is how to review a terrific production of a play that you either have mixed opinions about or just don’t like. You can spend all the time praising performances and direction and technical designs, but once you point out that you didn’t enjoy the play itself, it kind of undercuts all of the previous (and genuine) accolades. There isn’t any way around this, because the entire job of a critic is to tell our subjective opinions, hopefully with knowledge and context. The current L.A. premiere by Rogue Machine Theatre of Samuel D. Hunter’s A Case for the Existence of God is a very strong production of a play that to me felt like a slap to the face.

In the town of Twin Falls, Idaho, Ryan (Carlo Mancasola) is in mortgage broker Keith’s (Nicholas Anthony Reid) office to try and get a loan. He wants to buy some property that used to belong to his family, but he doesn’t really have the financial wherewithal to reasonably get that loan approved. Keith is a single father fostering a daughter, and newly divorced Ryan is trying to retain partial custody of his young daughter, and the two men unexpectedly bond over their troubles. Keith decides to try and help Ryan get the loan, even though the chances of securing it are very slim.

Mancasola gives a very likeable and sympathetic portrayal as Ryan, a person who naïvely hopes that the world will be kinder than it generally is. His delivery of a speech about his character’s depressed father is powerful not just for its content but particularly for the low-key way in which he relates the story – Ryan trying to downplay the tragedy of it. Reid excels as the angrier and more tense Keith, who’s taking on Ryan’s problem as he lives in terror of his own issues. Keith opening up to Ryan and sharing how much being a foster father means to him is delicate and deep stuff, and Reid performs it beautifully. The two actors also tackle some scenes in which their characters become progressively drunk; here they avoid cliché and are entirely credible.

Director John Perrin Flynn gets sterling work from his duo of actors, and the intimacy of the Henry Murray Stage space upstairs pays dividends in conveying the emotional intensity of the piece. I respect and often enjoy playwright Hunter’s work (Grangeville, which is still playing at the Ruskin Group Theatre and is also directed by Flynn, is one of my favorite productions this year), and I appreciated many elements of this play. Its examination of how poverty affects every aspect of a person’s life rings true, especially Ryan’s line about how having no money feels like he has no permission to be alive.

SPOILERS: I cared about these two characters, which is why it bothered me how Hunter finally treats them. Most of the show builds our sympathy towards them and then casually crushes them both at the conclusion. It’s not that I am against plays with unhappy or mixed endings; it’s just that in this play it felt pointless. There is a coda scene, but I didn’t feel that it added much hope. END SPOILERS.

Finally, the title of the play presumes that the piece is going to make its “case,” but in my opinion it made a feeble one. If this play didn’t have that title, no audience member would’ve been led to think about the existence of God, or even Dog.

I can recommend this show for its superb acting, but I was so frustrated by its conclusion that I’d find it hard to recommend overall.

A Case for the Existence of God is presented by and at Rogue Machine Theatre through October 11, 2026. Tickets are available at https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/