"Our Father, who art in Heaven, Howard be thy name . Best of all is Velazcos touching recounting of a youthful near-death incident that satisfyingly clarifies the plays title as religious metaphor. What Does Cameron Call His Style Of Rhythm? It's the reason I keep coming back to Collective Consciousness. This slight flaw in the writing is exacerbated by a few awkward directorial choices, including a Law & Order-like chung-chung sound effect between scenes. Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train. Stephen Adly Guirgis' Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train is an explosive, verbose play set in the maximum security wing of the infamous Rikers' Island prison in New York. GUIRGIS/Jesus Hopped the A Train/2001/Angel/Skiing in Aspen HERZOG/4000 Miles/2012/LEO/Chicken crash monologue . LINK: His replacement, Valdez (Ricardo Chavira), is not likely to show anyone a kindness. When the psychopath is an acute thinker about responsibility and the atheist a tantrum-prone man-child hoping to avoid it, we have trouble deciding how to invest our emotions. "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train" arrives at the 13th Street Theater with all the trappings of a grass-roots Off Broadway hit: a dollop of street credibility in the person of its brooding leading man . Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! -+ Ravi Ghosh . But Mark Brokaws staging on a simple set by Riccardo Hernandez, sensitively lit by Scott Zielinski, is otherwise evenhanded and clean, as if not wanting to leave any fingerprints. Stephen Adly Guirgis got his break in 2000 with "Jesus Hopped the . Visceral Adventure . Jesus Hopped the A Train characters breakdowns including full descriptions with standard casting requirements and expert analysis. Billington quipped that Angel's final sacrificial gesture "smacks more of romantic fiction than spiritual redemption [] I enjoyed the production without fully believing in Guirgis's vision of crime and punishment. Cory Velazco is fascinatingly impulsive, defensive, skeptical and earnest as Angel Cruz, a young man who finds himself in prison after trying to save his best friend from a religious cult. a panoptican effect. Im juss a Black Plague! Scotiabank Rising Teammates, Elysium Theatre deserve much credit for bringing Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train to Manchester for the first time. Valdez - (30s/40s/Ltino) He is the sadistic guard assigned to Lucius at Rikers. Long story, which Guirgis tells well, but a bullet aimed at the cult leaders butt ricochets to later put Angels liberty at risk and puts him in the cell next to Lucius. Angel (Sean Carvajal) is being held pending trial for the shooting of a Reverend Kim, the leader of a religious organization modeled on Sun Myung Moons Unification Church. Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train reveals a young playwright's awkwardness with its overwritten passages and reliance on expository monologues.But it also displays . Sure, it tells a story of addiction and cyclical abuse a narrative we've grown to expect about those who go behind bars. Describe the Night. Publication date 2002 Topics . An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. Relying heavily on the attorney's direct address monologues, the entire subject seems to be one Guirgis feels the need to include, but never finds a way to integrate. . 1 Benet in a sectional final. Angel Cruz, a poor Puerto Rican, isn't . What about my victimization? Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Mark Brokaw directs a cast made up of Edi Gathegi, Sean Carvajal, Ricardo Chavira, Erick Betancourt, and Stephanie DiMaggio. What does it mean? (Kevin Greene) Soulpepper Theatre presents Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, a graphic and distressing story of two prison inmates serving time for murder. At the opening of the play, he is in his second night of incarceration, awaiting trial for shooting the leader of that cult in the "ass." He is on his knees, alone and terrified, trying to say a prayer he no . Pursuant to Equity guidelines, proof of full vaccination no later than two weeks prior to in person work is a required condition of employment. Search all monologues from plays. Director Chari Arespocachaga, who also staged Short North Stages 2020 area premiere of Guirgis The (Expletive) with the Hat, again knits together a well-paced production that scores with edgy insights and dark humor. Angel Cruz is a young Puerto Rican man incarcerated for shooting a cult leader after said person stole his best friend. In 2011, his play The Motherfucker with the Hat was nominated for a handful of Tonys, including Best Play; a few scant weeks after the award . . Explore, Explain, and argue. New York, NY, Linda Ray In one of the plays strongest and most sobering moments, Lucius rails against this saying Was it my free will to be abused and violated from the age a five? . Short North Stages streaming production, which continues through June 27, is well-acted and tightly staged. Pulitzer Prize-winner Stephen Adly Guirgis (Between Riverside and Crazy) begins his Residency at Signature with a new production of his darkly comic meditation on redemption and faith, Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, directed by Obie Award-winner Mark Brokaw.Angel Cruz is a 30-year-old bicycle messenger awaiting trial for the death of the leader of a religious cult. Stephen Adly Guirgis's Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train runs through Dec. 3 on the Irene Diamond Stage at Pershing Square Signature Center (480 W. 42nd St.). Early on in the play, Valdez has a monologue-which may appear to be his only redeeming moment in the play. doors slide back and forth to create the different places, most notably the separated well by Joplin Sibtain) to roam all levels of the auditorium, in turn creating A moment where things come into complete focus is a late monologue by a prison guard whose soft spot for Lucius cost him his job: with perfectly calibrated delivery, Gregory Prest delivers a . The critic wrote that there are "overwritten passages and reliance on expository monologues. "[14], In a review of one of Guirgis's later works, Hilton Als described Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train as "hysterical and irreverent", "an outstanding 2000 piece about imprisonment and moral responsibility. With the criminal-justice system the subject of much scrutiny, Short North Stages production of Jesus Hopped the A Train seems timely. ( Joan Marcus) A prisoner struggles through the Lord's . But in a series of monologues that pull further back from the action, Hanrahans reflections on the case, and on her own investment in it, dissipate the tension. A monologue from Jesus Hopped Jesus Hopped The A Train- Angel on Vimeo There is even something endearing about the crime that put him in prison: He shot a cult leader in the butt while trying to rescue a friend. On his first night at Rikers Island, a terrified inmate named Angel Cruz tries to reconstruct the Lord's Prayer from his broken memories. Marmions Trevon Roots wins battle with Burlington Centrals Drew Scharnowski for sectional title. The burdens of the outside world are crushing, and in the little time these two share outdoors in their separate cages shows the strain. He brings Lucius Oreo cookies and cigarettes; his wife baked Lucius a shepherd's pie; D'Amico and Lucius share a buddylike badinage. Puetro-Rican, Angel, played with refined commitment by Ukweli Roach, shot a religious cult leader in the behind, landing him with potential murder charges.. Singhateh is compelling as evangelising killer Lucius, his performance cleverly toying with the audience's sympathies as he slips between charming bonhomie and cold-bloodedness. Nah, people doan wanna hear bout none a that! Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The performance by Williams was understated but effective and led to one of the most compelling scenes, where D'Amico is describing Lucius' execution. We hear a story of how her The joy of Stephen Adly Guirgis' Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train is in meeting his characters: . Seeking 2 Actor Team for Spring When "Jesus Hopped The A Train" begins, you think it's going to be a story about Angel Cruz, a thirty-year-old Latino who winds up in prison after shooting a cult leader in a botched mission to rescue his brainwashed friend. Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train. Beyond Therapy. [4][5][6] The original cast included Salvatore Inzerillo, John Ortiz, and David Zayas, Ron Cephas Jones, and Elizabeth Canavan.[4]. How But it also displays incendiary passion and insight into its. The two convicts talk about God and redemption, free-will, racism, addiction and the meaning of freedom. Stephen Adly Guirgis' critical and hilarious examination o. The play runs about 15 minutes too long the second act has too much repetitive, screamed arguments and Guirgis has a habit of spelling his theses out a little too neatly. The kind that opens up the scope of a script. He has a great, effective monologue at the end about the death of Lucius that is sublime. Stephen Adly Guirgis's plays include Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, Our Lady of 121st Street, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The Little Flower of East Orange, and The Motherf*cker with the Hat. 0. Angel (John Ortiz) and Lucius (Ron Cephas Jones) are in lock-down, spending all but one hour a day in their cells. Angel Cruz, a poor Puerto Rican, isn't sure why he's in jail after shooting Reverend Kim, the born-again Christian who brainwashed his best friend. . Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Lucius is a serial . Thirty-year-old Angel Cruz (Xavier Lopez) has just been thrown in Riker's Island prison, the notorious institution on New York City's East River. House of Actors is proud to present "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train". Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train is a play written by Stephen Adly Guirgis . by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Rehearsal: May 28 - July 7, 2018. . Dualities galore is the name of the game in Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train! Aside from that hilarious and heartbreaking first sentence, theres not much I can quote from Stephen Adly Guirgiss Jesus Hopped the A Train, which opened on Monday in a riveting revival by the Signature Theater. Spoken in Riggins hoarse yet commanding drawl, modulating his speed and timbre with the dexterity of a blues guitarist, its the kind of moment when a play hits a perfect bulls-eye. Relying heavily on the attorney's direct address monologues, the entire subject seems to be one Guirgis feels the need to include, but never finds a way to integrate. Guirgis tosses a lot of moral questions into the mix here, and while he avoids moralizing (as does Anish Jethmalani's crisp and high-octane production), he also doesn't seem to have fully decided whether he's writing a searing portrait of the dehumanization of the correctional system or a theological deconstruction of the rock of faith in a hard place. glass, to create the sense that characters might be talking to, arguing with, Angel's desperate desire for assurance and forgiveness make him, in a weird way, immediately lovable. The play is essentially a set of monologues stitched together at the edges, and showing signs of fraying. He is the author of the award winning book of poetry "Hip Hop Is Dead - Long Live Hip Hop: The Birth, Death And Resurrection Of Hip Hop Activism" (2017) and is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Alachua County, Florida (2020 - 2022). Jesus Hopped the A . very much confined are fully opened out. Jesus Hopped The A Trainquestions the legal and penal systems in the US and offers a stark reflection on how the law struggles to deal with the complexities of the human . Read 26 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. In one particularly impressive monologue, Adjepong's Lucius exercises whilst addressing his religious beliefs; the actor's energy doesn't falter once as he performs . The legal procedural in the play Jesus Hopped the A Train. "the Black Plague," works out furiously in the cage next to Angel. J esus Hopped the 'A' Train occurs almost entirely within the one-hour-per-day periods when two Rikers Island prisonersAngel Cruz (Anthony Lam) and Lucius Jenkins (Bobby Bermea)get to . Lucius Jenkins - (40s/50s/Black) He is a charismatic, confident convicted serial killer but he has a strong Christian faith since being incarcerated. God Is The Giver, And Sustainer Of Life Verse, Randall Sr. captivates as Lucius "Black Plague" Jenkins, a serial killer on death row who has found God and is trying to lead Angel to Him . (Arthur Williams III), an older man who shows him kindness and seeks to show him the way to Jesus's love. The shooting was part of Angels plan to rescue his best friend, whom the cult had stolen and brainwashed. The play was performed during the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland in August 2001. Our Father, who art in heaven, he stammers, Harold be thy name.. Performances: Wednesday-Saturday 8:00 pm; Please note that Actors Express has committed to five-day work weeks. Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train is a brilliant, visceral examination of morality and justice, questioning the difference between true faith and self-serving religion. By Jesse Green. Oct. 23, 2017. Gender: Male. Another effect may be an accident of timing, but todays viewers may connect most to Guirgis 2000 play when one prisoner says: Were in lockdown no contact whatsoever.. The kind that only happens when the right actor connects with the right role at the right time. . Why is it significant to the play? A monologue from Jesus H. [20], Last edited on 30 December 2022, at 16:19, "Hoffman Directs Original Cast of Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train for June 22 Reading", "Review: Its Law vs. Order in Jesus Hopped the A Train", "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train Extends at Signature Theatre", "Signatures Jesus Hopped the A Train Delayed Two Days Following Departure of Reg E. Cathey", "Australian Stage Online - Jesus Hopped the A Train", "THEATER REVIEW - Locked Up In a Place Far Beyond Redemption", "The Great Work Continues: The 25 Best American Plays Since 'Angels in America', "Jesus Hopped the A Train, Donmar Warehouse, London", "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train review faith and horror on Rikers Island", "Review: Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train brings a poetic and profane playwright to Soulpepper", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jesus_Hopped_the_%27A%27_Train&oldid=1130526120, This page was last edited on 30 December 2022, at 16:19. Angel, who has just shot the leader of a religious cult, gloomily awaits the results of his trial, all the while insisting to himself that the shooting was entirely justified because of the cult's. web pages Synopsis. Inside Rikers Island, a terrified Angel is befriended by a charismatic serial . Collective Consciousness Theatres Jesus Hopped The A Train by Stephen Adly Guirgis runs through November 11 at Erector Square (319 Peck Street, Building 6S) in New Haven, CT. Jesus, directed by Dexter J. Singleton and produced by Jenny Nelson, stars Jhulenty Delossantos (Angel), Rob Giardian (DAmico), Jason Hall (Valdez), Bridget McCarthy (Mary Jane Hanrahan) & Terrence Riggins (Lucius). Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 8 p.m. on Saturday; matinees are at 2 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday. jesus hopped the a train lucius monologuehow long does it take to digest raw broccoli. idea of performance. . Runs to February 23 at The Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto's Historic Distillery District in the Michael Young Theatre, 50 Tank House Lane. (played with methodical control by Dervla Kirwan) takes a liking to him and Still, they're full of rhetorical fireworks. Part investigation of our broken criminal justice system, part examination of the corruptive influence of Judeo-Christian morality, "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train" is a promising HB Studio. It's a tight, well-paced and thoughtful staging . His play Between Riverside and Crazy won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. One has been serving his sentence for years, but his discovery of God helps him find joy in his days. That Lucius (Edi Gathegi) is generally sunny and witty despite having killed eight people plays with our loyalties. No wonder its so profane. The victim? Late in Jesus Hopped the "A" Train, . Riverside Jacksonville News, Angel Cruz and Lucius Jenkins face murder charges. An LA Theater Works production of Stephen Adly Guirgis's play about Angel Cruz, a Puerto Rican who is in jail after a prank turned badly: He shoots Reverend Kim in the, uh, posterior, after Kim, a rich hypocrite preacher, brainwashed his best friend. Jesus Hopped was fairly well received by critics and though it did not pick up any major awards in its US run, it was nominated for an Olivier Award in the UK in the category of Best New Play in 2003. Whilst Angel Cruz (Ukweli Roach) is locked up in prison for a murder accusation after he . Jesus Hopped first opened off-Broadway in November of 2000. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. The latter shot a Korean minister (apparently modeled after the Rev. Guirgis has a gift for mixing the humorous and the horrific, but it doesn't always land in the writing or the production here. But in the next cell to Angel is an articulate serial killer called Lucius who has found God and who tries . In fact . Collective Consciousness Theatre's "Jesus Hopped The A Train" by Stephen Adly Guirgis runs through November 11 at Erector Square (319 Peck Street, Building 6S) in New Haven, CT. "Jesus," directed by Dexter J. Singleton and produced by Jenny Nelson, stars Jhulenty . Collective Consciousness Theatre, the black box theater in Erector Square with a penchant for urban dramas and works by authors of color, is back with its first production of the season: Stephen Adly Guirgis' sobering Jesus Hopped the A Train.First produced in 2000, the play sets up a situation where crime and punishment . Jesus Hopped the A Train. jesus hopped the a train lucius monologue. If you would like to give a public performance of this monologue, please obtain authorization from the appropriate licensor. Jesus Hopped the A Train book. Howie. Making moments memorable are flashbacks some characters share. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! Its an aesthetic which is extremely Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train closes October 15, 2017 Details and tickets -[/ezcol_1third] It's startling to watch Luciusa so-called man of Godinfluence Angel in a way akin to Rev. With Lucius Jenkins' spiritually transformed after killing eight people, Valdez becomes the default villain of the piece, if it has one, but Guirgis suggests that the Valdezes of the world reflect larger failings throughout the justice system. The play takes place in a prison on Rikers Island in New York. Anyone can read what you share. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. JESUS HOPPED THE 'A' TRAIN by Stephen Adly Guirgis . A great deal of Jesus are the conversations between these two. Jesus Hopped the "A" Train. Lucius is also a serial killer, a self-described paranoid schizophrenic who employs his charms on . Inside Rikers Island, a terrified Angel is befriended by a charismatic serial killer named Lucius Jenkins. Angel Cruz is a young Puerto Rican man incarcerated for shooting a cult leader after said person "stole" his best friend. Be the first one to, Advanced embedding details, examples, and help, Prisons -- New York (State) -- New York -- Drama, urn:lcp:jesushoppedatrai0000guir_y8m1:lcpdf:c385346e-d259-4dec-814e-689ba64dc1b7, urn:lcp:jesushoppedatrai0000guir_y8m1:epub:4d85c109-bfbb-49e0-ade3-a74c2a2e37c1, Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). is a lot of reason to like him or at least be impressed by him. There is nothing abstract about them: Mr. Guirgis says that the play began in his own attempt to rescue a friend from the Unification Church. T.Schreiber. . Much of it also seems unneeded and diverting. In 2018, Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train was ranked by The New York Times writers as the 14th best American play of . Results may vary. Add into this world Lucius Jenkins, an incarcerated serial killer with a messianic personality, and two prison guards, Valdez and D'Amico, who have radically different ways of enforcing and breaking the laws of which they are functionaries, and JESUS HOPPED THE 'A' TRAIN unfolds as both riotously funny, and as a searingly dramatic rumination . Its the reason I keep coming back to Collective Consciousness. Set in a US penitentiary - where Magda Willi's stage design could literally squeeze the life out of newly arrived prisoner Puerto Rican Angel Cruz - Kate Hewitt's production of Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train shines a new light on the religious debates that have come to define this critically acclaimed play.Angel is brought to Rikers Island pending a court case for shooting Rev Kim, a . View Jesus_Hopped_the_A_Train from THE 100 at CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College. . The Kean Theatre Conservatory will open its 2016-2017 season this week with Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train by Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Adly Guirgis (October 14 - 22, Zella Fry Theatre). The monologue from which the play takes its name was a low point in an otherwise thrillingly paced drama. Dont be a God-fearing man, Valdez warns Lucius, be a Valdez-fearing man.. , albeit in separate chain-link cages. You might even think that those first two scenes play just a little too broadly. Robert Heinly (D'Amico) in Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train. Stephen Adly Guirgis's plays include Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, Our Lady of 121st Street, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The Little Flower of East Orange, and The Motherf*cker with the Hat. Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train is a play written by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Review | Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train | Young Vic | 5 Stars | Kate Hewitt's production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' 'Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train' is bold and. Free will versus actions determined by the circumstances of our existence. Lucius Jenkins has found God, and Angel's life and the course of his trial will be changed forever. Thats a rare thing to find anywhere, let alone in smaller professional or community groups. He then mercilessly exploits that vulnerability by adding a contrasting pair of guards to the mix: one, named Charlie, a good-natured patsy; the other, Valdez, a by-the-rules sadist. The critic wrote that there are "overwritten passages and reliance on expository monologues. Angel holds out that he was justified and his lawyer's sure that a hearts-and-minds appeal will get him off at trial. Story. Angel is awaiting trial - his first. Plot synopsis. We see Angel meeting with his lawyer, a tightly-wound public defender with personal walls as thick as the ones at Rikers. Soulpepper Theatre presents Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, a graphic and distressing story of two prison inmates serving time for murder. Laura Baronet. Vocal Part: Angel Cruz. [9][10] Previews started two days late, on October 5, due to Reg E. Cathey leaving the company suddenly to be replaced by Mr. The verbally fiery "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train" is a bravura play: The dialogue can be ear-scaldingly profane, and the heaven-or-hell speeches soar like theological arias. It is freighted by an overload of pseudo-profundity; characters upbraiding each other about the Ultimate Questions can make for rather dreary stagecraft. With so many themes to explore some get little more than a cursory nod, but in this Young . More . The kind that seems so raw and dangerous, you almost feel like a creep for listening in but then anxiously wait for his return whenever he leaves the stage. Although he takes responsibility for his actions, he still fears execution. THE HALF-GOD OF RAINFALL at New York Theatre Workshop, THE WALLS HAVE EARS at The Roxy Theatre Group, Gulfshore Playhouse 2023-24 Season at Gulfshore Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey 2023 Season at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE 2023 SEASON at Westport Country Playhouse. Their ongoing debates become the tortured heart of the play, and sometimes put the play itself at risk of becoming didactic. Please prepare one of the sides available at https://actors-express.com/get-involved/ . It's a tight, well-paced and thoughtful staging . "Our Father, who art in . Photograph by Teresa Wood. Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train is skillfully structured so that the audience's sympathies see-saw back and forth between the silver-tongued Lucius and a seemingly sadistic guard named Valdez (the . She makes the switch so effectively between coaching and monologue scenes that at first I thought she was two different actors.