 The Vsu Performers
DRAMA CLUB & THESPIAN TROUPE
The DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGES & LITERATURE and the VSU PERFORMERS
present
Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train
In Jesus Hopped the ‘A’Train, a 2000 prison drama by playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, two incarcerated men facing murder charges try to find some form of solace through faith. Whether their sentiments are genuine or a ruse is up for debate.
Angel Cruz shot -- in the buttocks, as he makes a point of specifying -- the leader of a religious cult to which Angel (Jermaine M. Elliott—Blount) had lost his best friend. The cult leader mysteriously died on the operating table, and now the young first timer is up for murder. Lucius Jenkins (Stanley M. Kelly) is an articulate serial killer who is awaiting extradition to Florida, guilty of the deaths of at least eight people. Since the killings, Lucius has “found” God and is a “man at peace with himself.”
Much time is devoted to their arguments about guilt, innocence and higher powers. These themes are echoed in the monologues of Angel's lawyer and two prison guards: the even-tempered D'Amico (Brian Hill), who is dazzled by Lucius's fame, and the bullying Valdez and guard (TeDarryl Perry and Brandon Miles), who has no doubts about what's right and what's wrong.
Angel's overconfident public defender Mary Jane Hanrahan (Traci Jones) encourages him—she believes Angel is a good soul at heart. However, Angel’s serial-killer neighbor believes that Angel can only find peace when he admits the evil he has done.
Set in the urban landscape of the New York Correctional system and Riker’s Island, the play mixes searing drama with dark comedy. It explores themes of guilt and innocence, judgment and desperation, crime (no surprise), punishment (ditto) and the true nature of redemption. The playwright takes elements from many television crime dramas, such as "Law and Order" and the old "LA Law." He attempts to show the motivations behind the prisoners' actions and how society and their backgrounds have affected their attitudes. Particularly effective is Angel's description of a walk in his youth in a New York subway tunnel when he and his best friend were saved from an oncoming train. It was "as if Jesus hopped the 'A' train" and saved them.
Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train was originally produced by New York’s LAByrinth Theatre Company and directed by acclaimed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. The play won the Edinburgh Fringe First Award and the Detroit Free Press Play of the year. It was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award as Best New Play.
Presented by the Department of Languages and Literature and the its VSU Performers and directed by Dr. Jacqueline D. Burleson, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train opens November 11 and runs through November 19 in the LITTLE THEATRE in the basement of Vawter Hall, 1 Hayden Drive, Petersburg, VA 23806. Weeknight performances begin at 7:30 p.m., and the Saturday matinee begins at 3:00 p.m.
Admission is free.
Contact: Dr. Jacqueline D. Burleson (804) 524-5340 or (804) 524-5489
jburleson@vsu.edu
Do not miss this powerful tale of two prisoners each, of whom believes himself accountable to a law higher than our judicial system. This powerful and gritty urban drama contains raw street language and bittersweet dark humor.
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