Sister is back!

But make no mistake about it. “Sister’s Easter Catechism: Will My Bunny Go to Heaven?” is renting Trinity’s downstairs theatre; it is not a Trinity production.

Following on the heels of “Late Night Catechism,” another Entertainment Events production, “Easter” follows the same pattern and in fact uses some of the same jokes and stories as its predecessor.

Nonie Newton-Riley plays Sister, a role she has done for the past 15 years in the similar one-woman show, “Late Nite Catechism.” The success of both shows depends on audience participation and reaction, which unfortunately was not that good at the Saturday matinee.

We caught “Catechism” last year, where a fuller house and a group of Catholic School alumni women, who had apparently had a few glasses of wine before the show, made for a fun evening.

The set is pretty much the same, made to look like a classroom with the audience as the students, along with the addition of some Easter eggs and bunnies.

Sister gives a lesson in the liturgical calendar, stopping to pose questions to her “class” and giving chocolate bunnies and other prizes for correct answers. Of course, there’s no gum chewing and the class must address the sister properly.

The second act relies on audience members participating in a variety of quizzes, followed by a request to ask any questions they have about the Catholic Church. This portion of the program turned out to be a serious educational session, with questions about annulment, the discontinuation of certain saints, including the popular St. Christopher. (I remember the same question and the Sister’s follow-up story from “Late Nite Catechism.”

With an audience participation show that requires a few fun-loving extroverts in the audience, “Sister’s Easter Catechism” needs a few characters and a larger audience to succeed.

If you like this genre, and if you went to Catholic School, you may enjoy the show more than I did. A collection for Pawtucket’s Little Sisters of the Poor was taken by Sister in the lobby.

Will your bunny go to heaven? God only knows.

The show is at Trinity’s Dowling Theatre through March 19. Call 351-4242 for reservations.