Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train

Last updated
Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train
Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Date premieredNovember 2000
Place premiered Off-Broadway, New York City
Original language English
Subject Prison
Genre Drama

Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train is a play written by Stephen Adly Guirgis.

Contents

Plot synopsis

The play takes place in a prison on Rikers Island in New York. Angel Cruz and Lucius Jenkins face murder charges. [1]

Productions

The play premiered Off-Broadway at the East 13th Street Theatre in a production by LAByrinth Theater Company on November 29, 2000, and ran to December 31, 2000. [2] [3] The play was directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. [4] [5] [6] The original cast included Salvatore Inzerillo, John Ortiz, and David Zayas, Ron Cephas Jones, and Elizabeth Canavan. [4]

The play was performed during the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland in August 2001.

The play was produced in London at the Donmar Warehouse in 2002. [7] It was nominated for the Olivier Award, Best New Play for 2003. [8]

It then returned to New York City as writer Stephen Adly Guirgis began his residency at Signature Theatre Company. It starred Edi Gathegi, Sean Carvajal, Ricardo Chavira, Stephanie DiMaggio, and Erick Betancourt. It opened on the Pershing Square Signature Center's Irene Diamond Stage on October 23, 2017, and ran until November 26th, 2017. [9] [10] Previews started two days late, on October 5, due to Reg E. Cathey leaving the company suddenly to be replaced by Mr. Gathegi. [11] The production team included director Mark Brokaw, Riccardo Hernández as set designer, Dede M. Ayite as costume designer, Scott Zielinski as lighting designer, and M.L. Dogg as sound designer.

Reception

The production received considerable acclaim from critics such as Ben Brantley of the New York Times and Michael Feingold of The Village Voice . [12] [13] However, Pamela Renner reviewed the premiere unfavorably in Variety, with most praise reserved for Ron Cephas Jones. Renner criticized the characters of Hanraham and Valdez as heavy-handed, and also considered the play to contain "awkward exposition. It is freighted by an overload of pseudo-profundity; characters upbraiding each other about the Ultimate Questions can make for rather dreary stagecraft." [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." [15] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter reviewed a 2017 revival favorably, praising the "incisive characterizations and riveting dialogue". The critic wrote that there are "overwritten passages and reliance on expository monologues. But it also displays incendiary passion and insight into its troubled characters". [16] In 2018, Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train was ranked by The New York Times writers as the 14th best American play of the previous 25 years. [17]

Michael Billington of The Guardian , who had given the play three out of five stars in 2002, [18] gave the same rating after a 2019 performance and said that "for all the vividness of the dialogue, the play still strikes me as baffling in its exploration of guilt, faith and redemption." 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." [19] J. Kelly Nestruck of The Globe and Mail awarded it three and a half out of four stars in 2020, calling it "skillfully structured so that the audience’s sympathies see-saw back and forth between" Lucius and Valdez. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donmar Warehouse</span> Theatre in Covent Garden, London, England

The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977.

<i>Faith Healer</i> 1979 play by Brian Friel

Faith Healer is a play by Brian Friel about the life of the faith healer Francis Hardy as monologued through the shifting memories of Hardy, his wife, Grace, and stage manager, Teddy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Daniels</span> British actor (born 1964)

Ben Daniels is a British actor. Initially a stage actor, Daniels was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for Never the Sinner (1991), the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for 900 Oneonta (1994), Best Actor in the M.E.N. Theatre Awards for Martin Yesterday (1998), and won the 2001 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Arthur Miller play All My Sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ortiz</span> American actor and artistic director (born 1968)

John Augustin Ortiz is an American actor. He is known for his antagonist role as Arturo Braga in Fast & Furious (2009) and Fast & Furious 6 (2013), and Clyde in Jack Goes Boating (2010), which earned him a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is also an artistic director/co-founder of the LAByrinth Theater Company.

Stephen Adly Guirgis is an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. He is a member and a former co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced both Off-Broadway and on Broadway as well as in the UK. His play Between Riverside and Crazy won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

<i>The Fix</i> (musical)

The Fix is a musical with book and lyrics by John Dempsey and music by Dana P. Rowe. It concerns the career of a fictional U.S. politician who gets mixed up with the Mafia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josie Rourke</span> English theatre and film director

Josie Rourke is an English theatre and film director. She is a Vice-President of the London Library and was the artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse theatre from 2012 to 2019. In 2018, she made her feature film debut with the Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated historical drama Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reg E. Cathey</span> American actor (1958–2018)

Reginald Eurias Cathey was an American character actor. He was best known for his roles as Norman Wilson in The Wire, Martin Querns in Oz, the game show announcer in Square One Television, and Freddy Hayes in House of Cards, the last earning him three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, including a win in 2015.

<i>The Last Days of Judas Iscariot</i>

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a play by American playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis first staged Off-Broadway at The Public Theater on March 2, 2005, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Signature Theatre Company is an American theatre based in Manhattan, New York. It was founded in 1991 by James Houghton and is now led by Artistic Director Paige Evans. Signature is known for their season-long focus on one artist's work. It has been located in the Pershing Square Signature Center since 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edi Gathegi</span> Kenyan-American actor

Edi Mūe Gathegi is a Kenyan-American actor. He appeared as recurring character Dr. Jeffrey Cole in the television series House, as Cheese in the 2007 film Gone Baby Gone, Laurent in the films Twilight and its sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and as Darwin in X-Men: First Class. Edi also featured in the AMC series, Into the Badlands, as Baron Jacobee. He has also been a recurring character in NBC's television series, The Blacklist, as Matias Solomon, an operative for a covert organization. Gathegi reprised the role in the 2016–2017 season crime thriller, The Blacklist: Redemption. He has also played a leading role in Startup, a television drama series on Crackle. Since 2022, Edi has played engineer and entrepreneur Dev Ayesa in the Apple TV+ original science fiction space drama series For All Mankind.

<i>Red</i> (play) Play about artist Mark Rothko

Red is a two-handed play by American writer John Logan about artist Mark Rothko. It was first produced by the Donmar Warehouse, London, on December 8, 2009, in a production Michael Grandage. It then transferred to Broadway in March 2010 with the same two leads, Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, where it won many Tony Awards.

The Train Driver is a play by South African playwright Athol Fugard.

Jonathan Butterell is an English choreographer, stage director, and film director. He has worked in the West End, on Broadway, and Off-Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branden Jacobs-Jenkins</span> American playwright (born 1984)

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is an American playwright. He won the 2014 Obie Award for Best New American Play for his plays Appropriate and An Octoroon. His plays Gloria and Everybody were finalists for the 2016 and 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, respectively. He was named a MacArthur Fellow for 2016.

Between Riverside and Crazy is a 2014 play by playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor Stephen Adly Guirgis. The play won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2015 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, the 2015 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and the 2015 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play.

Paola Lázaro is a Puerto Rican actress, writer, and playwright. She is best known for portraying Juanita "Princess" Sanchez on the apocalyptic drama television series The Walking Dead (2020-2022).

Privacy is a 2014 play by James Graham. The play looks at how the personal information we share is used by the government and other corporations, and how this affects our security. It was inspired by revelations by Edward Snowden regarding government surveillance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travis Preston</span> American director and theater artist (born 1959)

Travis Preston is an American director and theater artist known for his staging of classical and contemporary operas and plays. He is the Executive Artistic Director of CalArts Center for New Performance as well as Dean of the CalArts School of Theater. His notable works include Prometheus Bound, The Master Builder, Al gran sole carico d'amore, Macbeth, the opening gala performance at Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin, and King Lear. In 2022, he was named to the Artistic Committee of the Wuzhen Theatre Festival in China.

Michael Longhurst is artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse theatre in Covent Garden, London. He was appointed as its fourth artistic director, succeeding Josie Rourke in the role.

References

  1. ↑ "VSU performers will present play". Archived from the original on 2011-08-13. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
  2. ↑ "Listing" Archived 2015-04-17 at the Wayback Machine lortel.org, accessed April 22, 2015
  3. ↑ Gutman, Les. "Review" curtainup.com, November 28, 2000
  4. 1 2 "Hoffman Directs Original Cast of Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train for June 22 Reading". Archived from the original on 2008-06-02. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
  5. ↑ "Jesus Hopped the A Train @ Town Hall". Archived from the original on 2008-06-24. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
  6. ↑ "About Labyrinth". Archived from the original on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
  7. ↑ Billington, Michael. "Review. 'Jesus Hopped the A Train' " The Guardian, 13 March 2002
  8. ↑ "Olivier Winners 2003" olivierawards.com, accessed April 23, 2015
  9. ↑ Jesse Green, "Review: It’s Law vs. Order in ‘Jesus Hopped the “A” Train’", New York Times, October 23rd, 2017.
  10. ↑ Bethany Rickwald, "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train Extends at Signature Theatre", TheaterMania, October 25th, 2017.
  11. ↑ Andrew Gans, "Signature’s Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train Delayed Two Days Following Departure of Reg E. Cathey", Playbill, September 28th, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Australian Stage Online - Jesus Hopped the A Train" . Retrieved 2008-12-08.
  13. ↑ Brantley, Ben. "THEATER REVIEW - Locked Up In a Place Far Beyond Redemption". The New York Times . 30 November 2000. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  14. ↑ Renner, Pamela (2000-12-11). "Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train". Variety. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  15. ↑ Als, Hilton (25 April 2011). "War Games: Battles at home and abroad". The New Yorker . Condé Nast. pp. 86–87. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  16. ↑ Scheck, Frank (2017-10-23). "'Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train': Theater Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  17. ↑ "The Great Work Continues: The 25 Best American Plays Since 'Angels in America'". The New York Times. 2018-05-31. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  18. ↑ Billington, Michael (2002-03-14). "Jesus Hopped the A Train, Donmar Warehouse, London". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  19. ↑ Billington, Michael (2019-02-21). "Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train review – faith and horror on Rikers Island". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  20. ↑ Nestruck, J. Kelly (2020-02-03). "Review: Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train brings a poetic and profane playwright to Soulpepper". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.