The long ride up the elevator to Studio Theater’s Stage 4 is certainly rewarded in the regional premiere of Robert Askins’ Broadway hit “Hand to God.”
Here, the lift of a curtain simply won’t do; instead, visitors become instant parishioners, given a program that looks like a newsletter from the fictional Mount Logan Lutheran Church of Cypress, Texas, and led to a space that replicates every detail of a church basement, from checked linoleum to cheery yellow walls covered with uplifting religious posters.
Except for a replicated cafeteria counter that’s serving the usual wine and beer — as well as a cocktail called “Jesus Juice” (and the crucial lack of Kool-Aid, the veritable lifeblood of countless Vacation Bible School kitchens), it’s pretty much a picture of church basement anywhere.
More than that, the visitors sit at tables covered in gingham-patterned plastic and invited to make their own sock puppets, with pipe-cleaners, markers, googly eyes and socks provided. It’s at once an ice breaker, scene-setter and time killer.
Certainly none of the homemade sock puppets make it to the show and none could ever be in the class of Tyrone, a particularly malevolent orange creation with a tuft of punk hair and a foul mouth. He begins and ends “Hand of God” with a screed and spends the rest of the pay bedeviling young Jason, on whose arm he seems permanently affixed.
Tyrone goes beyond the kind of horned creature encouraging bad behavior often seen in cartoons, perched on character’s shoulders. He’s a constant taunt who is capable of violence so shocking that you may never look at soft-bodied puppets the same way again.
The dichotomy between the timid, confused teen and the outrageous puppet of course reflects the inherent conflicts of the teen age and actor Liam Forde presents a tour de force in animating both Tyrone and Jason simultaneously in back and forth arguments, with Forde even providing a reaction to Tyrone at times while providing the creature’s voice.
It’s a crazy trick and specialized skill and he doesn’t do it for a single scene, but for the entire show — a considerable achievement.
That’s not to take away from the other performers who may not quite as skilled in puppet handling (or need to be).
Susan Rome is masterful as the Texas mother who is trying to keep her life and her her Puppet Ministry together after the recent death of her husband. She’s so manic in her striving and in trying to deal with Jason’s particular problem you may forget she played Assistant State’s Attorney Ilene Nathan on “The Wire” for several seasons.
She’s got a couple of men after her. One of them is the pastor, played by Tim Getman with a Ned Flanders-style mustache and demeanor, except with a threat behind his smile; the other is the dangerously reckless teen played almost too well by Ryan McBride, whose got a jones for his puppet teacher.
Caitlin Collins rounds out the cast as a teen who finds herself amid this weird basement group, but plays a crucial role in pulling Jason out of his dilemma.
Joanie Schultz’s direction zips frantically across the space, from one makeshift basement stage where the puppet stage is erected, to the other end, which becomes a church office, a kid’s bedroom and a ride to a fast food restaurant.
The big surprise in Conway’s fabulous set is still to come, though; with a flick of a switch it becomes a quite different kind of place.
With all there is going for the production, it’s Askin’s script that’s the weak link; more crude and sacrilegious than it needs to be, with all the sex and violence that Hollywood thinks is necessary to perk up young audiences. And Tyrone’s speeches to begin and start are simple-minded theological critiques that might be taken as the playwright’s own philosophy (And if they are, poor him).
With the award winning “Avenue Q” so popular locally not so long ago, profane puppetry may be all the rage, though. And the performances and in particular the immersive set will make “Hand of God” a fun adult alternative Vacation Bible School. Where you can even get cranked on the punch as you watch.
“Hand to God” runs through Aug. 7 at Studio Theatre, Washington, D.C.