"Late Nite Catechism has given me a sense of purpose. We never know why things happen to us or how our experiences come back to us. This is an opportunity to do theatre as a piece of entertainment that has another level to it. There's a reason for it. It can truly impact on a life.'' Vicki Quade writer, actor and producer

Nuns have been a constant source of inspiration for comedy writers as far back as Chaucer. But the 20th century'mainly the 1950s'seems to have sparked an entire genre of shows with a ruler wielding sister in full habit at its satiric core. They encompass Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, Over the Tavern and Nunsense, etc.

But part this fervent sea of a theatrical sisterhood, and one thoughtful comedy emerges: Late Nite Catechism, Vicki Quade's and Maripat Donovan's homage to the humanity of these women and their dedication to teaching. More than a black-clad sack of dangling rosaries and rigid Catholic dogma, Late Nite Catechism's 'Sister' is a real woman who injects unexpectedly balanced views on birth control, faith and modern feminism as she lectures her 'classroom' audience and answers her 'students'' questions.

The show remains one of the longest-running Chicago hits. It opened in 1993 at Live Bait Theater, moved around town and spent five years at the now-closed Ivanhoe Theatre before settling into its current home, the Royal George Theatre, in 2000. Late Nite Catechism is also running at Quade's new Crossroads Theater in Naperville, and plays every Tuesday night at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights. It has productions all over the world. Quade and Donovan produce the show in specific cities through their production company, Quade/Donovan Entertainment, Inc., and via licensing to an outside producer and a New York-based agent.

Quade'a writer and producer with a journalism background'wrote the script in collaboration with Donovan. Late Nite Catechism marked Quade's first professional production, and it encompassed a major part of her life growing up in a Polish-Germanic-Catholic household on Chicago's southwest side. But the writer is quick to clarify that Late Nite Catechism is not a satire: 'It's the truth. This is not nun bashing. And nuns love Sister because she's a real person.'

This one-woman hit began as something of a fluke. While she was pregnant with her third child in 1991, Quade was having repairs done on her house. Donovan, an actor, happened to be the contractor. Quade recalls that her future business partner 'wasn't very nice or very funny. She wanted me to scrape the walls.' But the women eventually became friends, with a sardonic side'qualities that helped them during their theatre collaboration. Quade calls Late Nite Catechism 'a very loving show, with an edge to it.'

After teaming up to write a 'Star Trek' episode, which got rejected, they moved into more divine territory.

Donovan had suggested creating a solo piece about the lives of the saints to Live Bait Theater. And she asked Quade to help. Quade, who was a long-time correspondent for Newsweek, put on her reporter's hat, got out her tape recorder and asked Donovan all the right why's and how's that would shape Late Nite Catechism. Quade, a writer for the American Bar Association at the time, allotted a number of hours each day to craft a script based on a nun who tells stories to her class. The sister-raconteur could cover everything from altar boy pranks to Vatican II to gay rights.  She and Donovan visited convents and brought in religious experts to define concepts, like limbo and the stigmata, for accuracy and to offer honest commentary about the Sister's character.

Late Nite Catechism grew into a blockbuster show, and Quade attributes its success to Sister herself (played over the years by scores of actresses).

'I really wanted Sister to be the feminist nun,' explains Quade, 50. 'I wanted her character to be reverential, to question and to be open. Nuns find her intelligent, pious, funny and inspiring. She's not wacking people with a ruler. And we don't mince the fact that Sister may not be taken care of when she gets older.'

The troubled state of nuns' retirement prospects'plus the lack of young women joining the convent and the ongoing closings of Catholic schools'are the more serious issues that drive the show. Quade has been following the plight of Catholic nuns for many years. In 1991, she wrote a feature for Newsweek on 'the aging of the sisterhood.' Today, Late Nite Catechism has become one of the largest fundraising sources for various orders of Catholic nuns.

Quade reports that, since 1997, the show has raised over $1 million in funds for nuns across the country. The money has been applied towards their retirement, as well as assisting with health care, burial or purchasing a van. Earlier this year, she was honored with the Spirit of St. Benedict Award by the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago for her work helping to increase public awareness of the retirement needs of nuns.

'Unlike other shows that make money mainly for the people behind it,' says Quade, 'Late Nite Catechism gives money back to these women. It's a different use of a show.'

Quade's admiration for nuns goes back to her childhood. One of five children, she grew up in an unincorporated area that is now Burbank, Ill. The nuns from their parish would borrow her parent's car. But Quade remembers that, as strong and feminist-leaning as these sisters were, they would not come inside the house. Instead, they tapped on the door and waited on the front stoop for the car keys. Quade theorizes, 'They did not want to be tempted by worldly goods.'

She also was shaped by the differences between her parents. She describes her father as 'a no-nonsense Lutheran from Minnesota who didn't practice religion and told us not to be swayed by people in positions of power.' Her mother was the devout Catholic half. She attended church regularly, said the rosary and didn't eat meat on Friday. Yet, laughs Quade, 'she had this heathen husband.' The writer points out that her perspective is not the more iconic Irish-Catholic one. She jokes, 'You know the opening battle scene in Gladiator? The people in the woods were my ancestors. The Vandals were our cousins.'

Her parents, nevertheless, epitomize the balanced viewpoint of Late Nite Catechism. 'My mother gave us this religion,' says Quade, 'and my father gave us the ability to question.'

Quade found her creative outlet in high school, working in theatre productions and writing for the school newspaper (she wanted to be a writer since the age of 10). She attended Queen of Peace High School, then transferred to Reavis High School'both in Burbank. Quade finished at Jones Commercial High School, a business prep school in the South Loop.

'At Jones,' shares Quade, 'we had to wear hats and gloves when everyone else was wearing tie dye. But it was this exciting juxtaposition. The school was near the Pacific Mission and a burlesque house.'

After receiving a journalism degree from Northern Illinois University, she worked for daily newspapers, national magazines, spent 10 years as a correspondent for Newsweek, and was an editor at the American Bar Association.

In the theatrical realm, Quade also worked with Donovan to create the comedy Room for Advancement, which had its world premiere in 1994 in Chicago. One year later, they finished More Late Nite Catechism. But the sequel has yet to be produced. Quade wrote and produced the comedy Mr. Nanny, which had its world premiere in Chicago in 1997 and had a successful nine-month run.

In 1998, she wrote the book to a musical, Lost in Wonderland, which has had local staged readings.

Quade is one of the contributors to the Chicago Sun-Times millennium series, which was later published as the book '20th Century Chicago: 100 Years, 100 Voices.' Her next project was a biography of WGN-Radio legend, Bob Collins, who was killed in a plane crash in 2000. The Bannon Multimedia Group, who published the Sun-Times book, also published her tribute book, 'I Remember Bob Collins.'

When talking about her connection between journalism and theatre, Quade notes, 'My specialty [as a writer] was Q&A's. So I was very aware of the way people speak. It was not much of a leap from working with the human voice [in interviews] to creating the human voice [for the stage].'

In 2001, Quade's bluegrass musical comedy, Here Come the Famous Brothers'which she wrote with Darren Stephens, Will Clinger, and Rick Vamos'had its world premiere at the Royal George and ran for six months. Last year, she produced Christopher Carter Messes With Your Mind, a one-man show by mentalist Christopher Carter at Live Bait.

Later in 2002, she opened Crossroads Theater (with business partner-actor Mary McHale) in downtown Naperville, with a production of Late Nite Catechism. Quade produced the show in Aurora but had trouble attracting audiences. She decided to move it to a neighboring community, like Naperville, but found that the expanding suburb had no theatre.

'We wanted to bring that Chicago storefront style to Naperville,' she says.

So she hired an architect, who transformed a former office space into a mini-theatre complex: a 150-seat mainstage; a 75-seat studio theatre; and a bar/40-seat cabaret space for Crossroads' popular cabaret series. The theatre recently added a local children's troupe to its roster. Quade is also one of the producers of Forever Plaid, which opened this month at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee.

But Late Nite Catechism remains her most popular and fulfilling endeavor. Quade couldn't be happier: 'If Late Nite Catechism is my legacy, then that's just great. It has all the right ingredients'an improv element, it's a comedy but it's serious, it's nostalgic but very current, and it has a real character people can relate to.'

When auditioning women for the role of Sister, Quade looks for 'good improv actresses'who have an aura of power about them.' She doesn't want actors to do a voice or an affectation. 'We don't want the actresses to put the character on,' she says, 'we want Sister to come out of them.'

After all, Late Nite Catechism doesn't just aim for easy laughs about Purgatory or ask if nuns were bald under their veils. It connects people to their memories and raises money for aging nuns.

'Late Nite Catechism has given me a sense of purpose,' reflects Quade. 'We never know why things happen to us or how our experiences come back to us. This is an opportunity to do theatre as a piece of entertainment that has another level to it. There's a reason for it. It can truly impact on a life.'

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