One wants to restore the image of the Church, gain back the community's trust. And as you know, this part of town has long been resistant to social progress. Otherwise Sister Bernadine wouldn't need to work so hard.

Sister Bernie D'Amato doesn't look like a nun. In an oversize Bob Marley T-shirt, she smokes pot, befriends local gangs and passes out condoms to the Ukrainian prostitutes who cruise around their New Jersey slum.

When the women's shelter Bernie runs comes under threat from a property developer, she vows to fight back, and recruits a teenage X-Factor wannabe and an ageing ex-nun to help. But as pressure mounts on the shelter to take their pay-out and close down, tensions start to mount in a community struggling to survive.

We Wait In Joyful Hope is a funny and touching exploration of religion and capitalism in contemporary USA. Theatre503 Writer in Residence Brian Mullin delivers a sparkling 'state of the nation' debut drama. This edition is published to coincide with the play's world premiere at Theatre503, London, in May 2016.