A picture of Jesus' face depicted in syrup, one of Mary's on a grilled cheese --modern miracles or just strangely shaped food?

Ross Harris (junior-theatre) explores the idea of modern God references and miracles such as these in his play Delivery. Harris tells the story of a woman -- a 30-year-old virgin -- who obsessively collects religious paraphernalia, "like the grilled cheese with Mary's face on it." She discovers she's pregnant and begins to wonder if her baby is the next Christ figure.

The reading of the play is part of Cultural Conversations, a weeklong diversity festival hosted by the School of Theatre.

"I didn't even know my play was about diversity," Harris said. "But one of my professors said it is so unique in the way it discusses religion, that it's incredibly religiously diverse and asked me to be a part of the festival."

Lauren Weinberg (sophomore-theatre), who plays a waitress, said Delivery is a terrific play to feature as part of a week celebrating cultural diversity because it deals with a subject that is constantly in question in America society.

With his play, Harris said he is not trying to portray religious diversity or even one particular message, but instead trying to look at how modern society views religion and belief.

"When the world finds out she's pregnant and a virgin, she becomes a celebrity and a religious artifact herself," he said. "People start collecting her. It takes an oddball twist on modern religion."

When dealing with such a touchy subject as religion, Weinberg said the format of a play to address the issues surrounding religion is a great way to provoke people into thinking.

"Plays are allowed to cross boundaries and go beyond what is publicly acceptable in order to open the eyes of those in the audience to subjects that may need to be addressed," she said. "And really I feel the key to acceptance and an interest to this cultural diversity is to just be provoked into thinking about these topics in a new light."