Jesuit Father James Martin wears many hats — editor, essayist, raconteur, priest — and is probably most familiar to American Catholics as the author of the instant classic “My Life With The Saints” (coming in paperback in October.) Now he’s donned another hat, play doctor, and has written about his experience in the world of off-Broadway:

Jesuit Father James Martin would never be accused of slumming around the Stage Door Canteen, much less a backstage entrance to New York City’s dozens of theaters.

Still, he found himself in a theater role – as script doctor for a play about Judas Iscariot that had a healthy off-Broadway run more than two years ago.

Father Martin has recounted the experience in “A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Center Stage With Jesus, Judas, and Life’s Big Questions,” published by Loyola Press and scheduled for release Sept. 1.

In the process, Father Martin said he had one revelation: Actors are people, too.

“Sam Rockwell, an actor who I’d already known, was the first person to contact me and (said) that (actor) Philip Seymour Hoffman was going to be the director. So I was excited to be part of that,” said Father Martin, an associate editor for America, a weekly magazine published by the Jesuits.

As he spent more time with the actors, the priest said, he went “from being tongue-tied to being relaxed and comfortable … to being friends with them. As a writer, I frequently meet writers who are notable Catholics. You regard them with a sense of awe, but over time you see they’re approachable.”

During rehearsals, Father Martin said in an Aug. 13 telephone interview, Hoffman had to excuse himself several times because he had “a shoot” in Toronto for a movie.

“He never bragged about being a movie actor, or talked about the film he was doing,” Father Martin said of Hoffman. The movie turned out to be “Capote,” which won Hoffman an Oscar for best actor.

To the cast and crew in New York, the play was the thing: “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” examined the motives behind Judas’ betrayal of Jesus and the anguish that led Judas to suicide.

“I was very surprised at how quickly, at the table readings, the conversations turned into incredibly deep subject matter. The questions – Can we really believe the Bible? Did Jesus really resurrect from the dead? Can we really believe in God’s forgiveness? – were the stories we were reflecting … the same kinds of things people meditate on in their personal prayer, no matter what walk of life they’re in,” Father Martin said.

“The cast and the creative team I was involved with really represented a microcosm of spirituality in America,” he added. “You had lapsed Catholics, you had a Buddhist or two, you had a few atheists, you had a person or two who was not sure where they were, you had a woman who was in a cult for a while, you had a fellow who was Armenian Orthodox. To me, this group represented the state of affairs in Christianity. It just seemed very real to me.”

For another view of Jim Martin, take a look at the video I posted here. And enjoy.