The hilarious and provocative Hand to God centers on shy, inquisitive student Jason, who finds an outlet for his burgeoning creativity at the Christian Puppet Ministry in the devoutly religious, relatively quiet small town of Cypress, Texas. Jason's complicated relationships with the town pastor, the school bully, the girl next door and-most especially-his mother are thrown into further upheaval when Jason's hand puppet Tyrone-once soft-spoken-takes on a shocking and dangerously irreverent personality all its own. As Tyrone's influence over Jason steadily grows, Hand to God explores the startlingly fragile nature of faith, morality, and the ties that bind us.
Hand to God will feature the complete cast of the hit 2014 MCC Theater production: Steven Boyer as Jason/Tyrone; Geneva Carr, in her Broadway debut, as Margery; Tony Award nominee Marc Kudisch as Pastor Greg; Sarah Stiles as Jessica; and Michael Oberholtzer, in his Broadway debut, as Timmy. Boyer reprises the role for which he has been honored with an Obie Award, the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Play, the Actors' Equity Association Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and a citation from the Drama League for Distinguished Performance, among other awards.
It's not a lot more irreverent than The Book of Mormon, but it is a lot dirtier and there are no dance numbers. Askins's script, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, often betrays an adolescent desire to shock and scandalise. Monologues that open and close the show spell out the religious critique too baldly. Some of the motivations are explained away tidily and a lot of the humour is puerile. But the puerile bits are particularly funny. (Though be forewarned: puppet fellatio is something you can't unsee.) Askins is smart and engaged enough that even the play's most outrageous actions seem grounded in character. Speaking of characters and those who play them, if Steven Boyer's name isn't on the best actor ballot come Tony time, then those awards are broken. Boyer, a slight and moon-faced blond who looks at least a decade younger than he is, plays both Jason and Tyrone, most often at the same time.
In a Broadway season dominated by the usual fodder - musicals new and old, and a healthy serving of Important British Dramas - Mr. Askins's black comedy about the divided human soul, previously seen in two separate Off Broadway runs, stands out as a misfit both merry and scary, and very welcome...Mr. Boyer's performance as Jason is tender and touching, his performance as Tyrone outlandish and hilarious; put them together and you have that rarely seen (although often hailed) acting achievement: a true tour de force...What makes the play so sneakily resonant is how Mr. Askins exposes the base impulses, the sexual, self-destructive, potentially violent ones, that just about everyone harbors to some small degree... Pick up a newspaper and you read another grim report about men and women little older than Jason succumbing to far more destructive passions. Maybe if more of the world's troubled youth discharged their demons with the help of sock puppets, things might not look so grim.
2014 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2016 | West End |
Original West End Production West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Robert Askins |
2015 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Award | Geneva Carr |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Moritz von Stuelpnagel |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Steven Boyer |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Sarah Stiles |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Geneva Carr |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Mariano V. Tolentino Jr. |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | MCC Theater |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Ensemble Studio Theatre |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Jam Theatricals |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Ayal Miodovnik |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Lily Fan |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Timothy Laczynski |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Jhett Tolentino |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Joan Raffe |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | DeSimone/Winkler |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | LAMS Productions |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Stephanie Kramer |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Morris Berchard |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | CMC |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Broadway Global Ventures |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Kevin McCollum |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Robert Askins |
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