Angel Cruz is imprisoned at Riker's Island because he shot the cult leader who brainwashed and stole his friend. Angel meets Lucius, who is awaiting extradition to Florida—where he casually killed eight people while paranoid and high on drugs. Two men who might otherwise never have met are brought together behind bars. Lucius takes his solace in God and Angel thinks he knows what he believes in but finds that he doesn't. A riveting work from the recipient of the 2006 PEN Literary Award for Drama, which cites Guirgis as "creating a theatre that feels vital, political, intimate and undeniably of the moment".
An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance featuring:
Marco Greco as Charlie d'Amico
Janel Moloney as Mary Beth Harnahan
Joe Quintero as Angel Cruz
Charlie Robinson as Lucius Jenkins
David Zayas as Valdez
Directed by Richard Masur. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles in November of 2006.
An intense, chilling take on life behind bars, Jesus Hopped the "A" Train strikes a fine balance of "intellectual vigor and sophistication on the one hand and so much anguished passion on the other". — The New York Times