B Street Theatre's Mainstage Presents HAND TO GOD

Hand to God premiered at the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City in October 2011 and returned in February 2012. It opened Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on March 14, 2014 and made its Broadway debut at the Boothe Theatre on April 7, 2015. The production would go on to receive 5 Tony nominations, including one for Best New Play. Hand to God made its regional debut at the Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis and since has been produced at large-scale regional theatre companies such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre and the SpeakEasy Theatre Company in Boston.

Hand to God and B Street Theatre

After the success of B Street Theatre's world premiere play, Treatment, written by company members Tara Sissom, Amy Kelly and Stephanie Altholz, B Street is proud to offer its Main Stage Series audience a national, award winning success in Hand to God. Robert Askins' play finds a Fundamentalist Christian congregation reckoning with a hand puppet named Tyrone that's possessed by the devil. While edgier than most Main Stage Series shows, the brilliance of Askin's writing and the theatricality of the story makes the piece irresistible to B Street Theatre and its commitment to produce ground-breaking, funny theatre.

The Playwright:

Robert Askins:Robert was born in Cypress, Texas in 1980. He moved to New York in 2005. In 2009 his play Princes of Waco was produced by the Ensemble Studio Theatre through the Youngblood program and his one act play Matthew and the Pastor's Wife was a part of Marathon 2010 at Ensemble Studio Theatre. The Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef won a Dallas Outer Circle Critics award in 2011. Robert's Obie Award-winning play Hand to God enjoyed three sold-out runs at EST in 2011-12 followed by a 2014 engagement of the play at MCC Theater followed by a successful off-broadway run at the Lucille Lortel Theatre and a critically acclaimed, Tony nominated broadway run at the Boothe Theatre. Hand to God is currently one of the most produced plays in the regional theatre circuit. His play, Permission, recently enjoyed an Off-Broadyway run in 2015. Mr. Askins is proud to be an alumnus of I-73, Youngblood, and a member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre. He has received two E.S.T./Sloan grants, an Arch and Bruce Davis Award and is one of the 2012 recipients of the Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights.

The Director: TBA

The Setting: Church Basement; Cypress, Texas.

Cast:

Jason/Tyrone: TBA

Margery: Elizabeth Nunziato: Elisabeth is a founding B Street Theatre Company Member, appearing most recently in Chessman, A Masterpiece of Comic...Timing, Mud Blue Sky, The Realistic Joneses and 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche. For the B Street Theatre Family Series, she was last seen in Junie B. Jones Is Not A Crook and Snow White and Rose Red. She recently made her feature film directorial debut with Stolen Moments, an NK Media/Iron Mountain Films production. Elisabeth has been performing on stage, in film, commercially and in voice-over for more than two decades. She has been fortunate enough to work with Academy Award winners Danny Glover, Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker and Robert Duvall. Her commercial work has been featured in award-winning projects both national and regional. She is partnered with her husband Jason Kuykendall in NK Media, winner of the 2011 National Addy, the world's largest advertising competition.

Jessica: Stephanie Altholz: Stephanie was last seen on the Main Stage as Roxanne in the world premiere of Treatment, a play she co-wrote with company members Amy Kelly and Tara Sissom. Her other recent B Street Credits include: Robin Hood, Speed-the-Plow, Alice in Wonderland, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Handle With Care, 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche, The Explorers Club, Snow White and Rose Red, and Elemeno Pea. Other B Street credits include Gift of the Magi, Seminar, RX, Aliens with Extraordinary Skills, The Snow Queen, Extraordinary Things: Through the Eyes of Ann Frank, Cinderella, Junie B. Jones, Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, I Am a Camera, The Almost Perfect Party, Swiss Family Robinson and A Christmas Carol. Stephanie has been seen at Capital Stage in Reasons to be Pretty, Erratica and Clybourne Park. She has also performed in online videos with Dutchwest, College Humor and Smosh.

Timmy: Andrew Mazer: Andrew Patrick Mazer graduated the Hartt School in 2014 and is a member of the 2016-2017 B Street Theatre intern company. B Street Theatre credits Include: Fantasy Americana, History Extravaganza III, Fantasy Festival xxI, and Tiny Resurrections. He was featured in the movie Float and PBS Kids' production of Hot Air Balloon. In New York he worked under the direction of Lenny Banovez in Titan Theatre's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is excited to work with such a gifted and ambitious group of people.

Pastor Paul: Dave Pierini: Dave has been working in professional theatre for over 25 years. Dave is a proud B Street Company Member, having performed in many shows. He last appeared in the Mainstage production of Every Brilliant Thing and The Explorers Club and on the B3 Stage in The Realistic Joneses. Dave also writes for the B Street Theatre's Family Series, adapting many books for young audiences, most recently, Going West: The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad. Dave was instrumental in forming the B Street Theatre's Sketch/Improv Company and has hosted a talk show, Sactown Tonight, from the stage of B Street. He has also directed many plays for the Company, most recently, Treatment on the B Street Main Stage. This last summer, Dave made his debut at The Music Circus, playing Officer Krupke in West Side Story.

More about B Street Theatre: B Street Theatre is a non-profit, professional theatre company producing primarily new work for adults, families and children. The two-theatre playhouse on B Street in Midtown Sacramento is home to the Mainstage Series, B3 Series and Family Series, each created to feature intimate, quality theatre for audiences year-round. Recognized as one of the nation's top professional theatres, B Street Theatre has produced more than 160 world premieres written by B Street playwrights and numerous productions which were world, national, West Coast or regional premieres.

B Street Theatre was originally founded in 1986 with the purpose of bringing the excitement of live performance to children through the B Street Theatre School Tour. This educational outreach program still serves over 200,000 students in Northern California annually.

B Street Theatre programs include the Mainstage Series, B Street Theatre Family Series and Family Series Student Matinees (for school field trips), the B3 Series, B Street School Tours, Sketch Comedy, B Street Acting Conservatory and Studio for Young People, and the B Street Theatre Internship program for pre-professional/post-college training.

In 2014, B Street brought its most popular play ever, "Around the World in 80 Days", to India. The original cast performed in three Indian cities, furthering the organization's mission by bringing high quality theatre to an international audience, while also raising money for Indian educational enrichment and schools and partnering with an overseas performing arts center with the hope of future international collaboration. B Street Theatre has produced over 250 professional productions since 1986.

More information at www.bstreettheatre.org.

The mission of B Street Theatre is to promote education and literacy, social interaction, and cultural enrichment by engaging children and adults in the highest quality theatre arts and playwriting.

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