Review: Stephen Adly Guirgis' JESUS HOPPED THE 'A' TRAIN Gains New Relevance In The Era of Alternative Facts

The term "alternative facts' wasn't part of the popular lexicon when Stephen Adly Guirgis' superb drama of public morality and personal convictions, JESUS HOPPED THE 'A' TRAIN premiered in 2000, but a major point of play is how, in our legal system, a lie can be regarded as truth when believed from a different angle.

Angel Cruz is a 30-year-old Puerto Rican man incarcerated at Rikers Island while awaiting trial for the attempted murder of the leader of what is largely regarded as a religious cult. He insists that murder was not what he had in mind.

"All I did was shoot him in the ass," he blurts out in a private conference with his court-appointed lawyer, Mary Jane; an admission of guilt that prompts her to say she can no longer represent him, as it could get her disbarred if she put him on the witness stand knowing that what he says is a lie.

But after learning why Angel shot him, and after circumstances beyond his control cause the charge to be upped to murder, Mary Jane decides the challenge of successfully representing Angel is not only irresistible, but honorable.

"This was not first-degree murder," she insists. "The law may not have seen it that way, but the fact is the law is fallible."

Mark Brokaw directs a thoroughly compelling new production for Signature Theatre that graces the playwright's emotionally thick and thought-provoking piece with an excellent company.

Initially seen as a frightened young man trying to remember The Lord's Prayer on his first night of incarceration ("Howard be thy name?"), Sean Carvajal brings a quiet nobility to his performance as Angel. Sure, he shouts out his disapproval at the system, but there is no doubting his belief that he did the right thing.

Stephanie DiMaggio exudes plenty of gutsy, hard-boiled attitude as Mary Kate, who describes herself as a former charity case-slash-financial aid recipient at an elite Manhattan boarding school, and has spent her career proving herself capable of getting hardened repeat offenders acquitted. Despite the facts, she doesn't believe Angel to be a killer and is convinced she can make a jury feel the same way.

The bulk of the play takes place at an outdoor courtyard where inmates are allowed one hour of sunlight a day. Set designer Riccardo Hernandez places two single-occupancy cages on opposite sides of the stage. While Angel contemplates his fate in one, the other holds the current Rikers celebrity, Lucius Jenkins (a spotlight-grabbing, charismatic Edi Gathegi), a serial killer who found religion in prison, and is about to be sent to Florida for his execution.

At first, Lucius is guarded by the easy-going Charlie (Erick Betancourt), who genuinely likes the prisoner and shows him friendliness and compassion. But Charlie is soon replaced by Valdez (Ricardo Chavira), who'll have none of that. While never physically or verbally abusive, Valdez takes pride in being a law-abiding citizen and sees no reason why he should do anything that would offer the least bit of pleasantness to the killers he guards. Chivari's excellent performance never hints that Valdez is ever anything but in full control of his emotions and actions, and the playwright pens his threats of physical punishment as fair warnings that if they do not cooperate, he will do when his employment allows him to do.

"If you do not fuck with me, Mr. Superstar," he advises Lucius, "I can guarantee you a garden-variety miserable existence. But if you do decide to fuck with me, ever, I will show you a world where mere misery is like toasting marshmallows 'round the campfire in your long johns."

Given that the playwright never introduces us to the loved ones of those who were killed, Valdez helps the audience question where their sympathies should lie, making JESUS HOPPED THE 'A' TRAIN all the more fascinating.

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