What is the purpose of capital punishment? Does it create healing for victims' families? Does it reflect justice for all? Do criminals give up their humanity when they commit violent crimes?

Actress Marion Scherer tackles these questions in her provocative one-woman play, "A Prison of the Mind," which will be performed Nov. 7 at St. Monica Church in Santa Monica.

Scherer, who spent two years writing the play after interviewing teenage and young adult inmates at the California Youth Authority, says the work was meant to be an impetus for audience discussion and reflection. She performs an entire cast of characters, switching voices and changing body movements, to impersonate prisoners, chaplains, lawyers, victim's family members and relatives of the incarcerated.

"I want people to say, 'It made me start thinking,'" said Scherer, who was encouraged to write a play about the death penalty by a former Catholic priest-chaplain at CYA. Scherer had already penned a play for St. John's Hospital exploring end-of-life issues that allowed audience members to express their thoughts about death and loss.

"I feel people heal each other by talking," said Scherer, a parishioner and lector at Blessed Junípero Serra Church in Camarillo. The actress, who co-starred on several made-for-TV movies and appeared in recurring roles on daytime soap opera dramas including "Days of Our Lives" and "The Young and the Restless," returned to the Catholic Church of her youth five years ago.

"The Catholic Church is just as mystical as anything New Age," declared Scherer. She is happy that church audiences have been animated by her "morality plays," and feels "exhilarated" during the post-performance discussions. She estimates that 800 people have seen the play, which she's performed at over a dozen churches and the Ventura chapter of Amnesty International.

In spite of the seriousness of the death penalty subject matter, Scherer says performing the play has given her a positive feeling about the future of mankind. "I feel we are at the dawn of a new spiritual level, but we're only going to get to this higher place when we take each other by the hand and go together," said Scherer. "Healing yourself is an inside job," she added.

Scherer's performance at St. Monica Church Nov. 7 will take place in the parish auditorium following the 5:30 p.m. Mass. Tickets are $8 each and can be purchased at the door. "A Prison of the Mind" will also be performed at the St. Joseph Center Auditorium in Orange on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. (call 714-633-8121 ex. 7702) for information). In addition, Scherer will present her play at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress on Feb. 19, 2005.