Recommended: Drama Dock serves up shining ‘Sister Act’
Published 1:03 pm Thursday, August 21, 2025
Raise your hand and say “amen” if you need some uplifting, show-stopping entertainment right now.
Raise the other hand if you are specifically craving to see some of your most talented friends and neighbors, joined by a few blessedly gifted pros from the mainland, tear up the stage.
Okay, Vashon, I’m seeing a lot of hands raised toward heaven out there. And I’ve got just the ticket to all that and more: Drama Dock’s production of “Sister Act,” which opens Thursday and will run through the weekend at Vashon Center for the Arts.
I was lucky enough to catch the final dress rehearsal of the show and am here now to testify to its charms.
“Sister Act,” ably directed by Drama Dock’s interim artistic director, Kelly Godell, is both a blast from the past and a road map to a brighter future — reminding us that the glittering gifts of soulful music, slapstick humor and exuberant dancing really can save our souls, at least for a couple of shining hours.
The musical, seen by millions when it first lit up the silver screen in 1992, fuses the rhythms of disco, gospel and Motown to tell the story of a sassy lounge singer who is forced to hide out in a convent after being placed in a witness protection program. It’s a goofy, retro romp in a lot of ways, but there is also something very sneaky about the way “Sister Act” simultaneously stirs very deep waters of the human soul with themes of self-discovery, community and belonging, faith and redemption.
Drama Dock’s production features a 20-member powerhouse cast, led by an incandescent Kiana Kendall — a major rising talent on the Seattle scene.
Kendall, soon to graduate from the musical theater program at Pacific Lutheran University, has the stage presence and voice of an angel — one that calls to mind the sultry range of Donna Summer, the power and precision of Whitney Houston and yes, even the rhythmic riffs and growls of Beyonce. She is perfectly cast in the role of Deloris, first immortalized by Whoopi Goldberg in the film version of the show.
Two other performers in the local production — Vanessa Bassi (Kendall’s talented real-life sister) and Joaquin Mackinster (whose dance moves are among the smoothest on display in a show filled with great dancing) — commuted from the mainland to join the cast. The remaining 17 people in the cast are all from Vashon — a testament to the deep bench of talent that Drama Dock and other local theater companies have developed over the decades.
Still, there are stunning surprises in store: Rowena Hammill, a noted local cellist who tears up the stage in her jaw-dropping acting and singing debut as Mother Superior, and Leonard Su, a newcomer to the island’s theater scene who is deliciously double cast in the contrasting roles of a lovable monseigneur and the homicidal gangster who forces Deloris into hiding.
And who knew, until now, that local actor Michael Wishkoski, cast in “Sister Act” in the major role of a lovestruck policeman, was such a fabulous singer? Of all people, I should have known this facet of his many talents, but I didn’t.
But as an otherwise expert on Vashon’s theater scene, I can provide one very fun fact you might not know, which is that Gabriel Dawson, cast as another of the gangster’s goons in the show, also played the same part in a 2017 Vashon High School production of “Sister Act.” He was fabulous then, and he’s even more fabulous now.
And more Damian Sevilla onstage on Vashon, please! This young islander’s highly comedic performance as another of the gangster’s sidekicks is also a pure delight.
Other standouts in the cast include Alex Drissell and Erika Strandberg, the latter of whom also designed the show’s costumes. Zoey Wilson, as a painfully shy nun who breaks out of her shell to deliver one of “Sister Act’s” most powerful songs, “The Life I Never Led,” is also simply magnificent in the show.
Holly Boaz, the show’s musical director and orchestra conductor, and Sierra Tinhof, its choreographer, also deserve a hallelujah chorus for their work on the show. Big kudos also go to set designer Ryan Ross and property mistress Patti Curtis.
So go see “Sister Act” and lighten your load. To quote a line spoken by the monseigneur in the show: “It soothes the soul. It makes me whole. It’s like a balm in Gilead. I still don’t know what that means!”
Evening performances of “Sister Act” at VCA take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 21-23, with matinees offered at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 23-24. Find out more and get tickets at dramadock.org.
