PhotosBlood, Salad and Sleeping Tyrones! Spend a Mischievous Two-Show Day at Hand to God With Sarah StilesHand to God, starring Steven Boyer in his acclaimed performance as a boy and his foul-mouthed hand puppet, continues to delight (and maybe shock) audiences at the Booth Theatre. Sarah Stiles, whose performance in the comedy earned her a 2015 Tony Award nomination, shares a recent two-show day with the people and puppets who inhabit her world.
By
Matthew Blank
August 27, 2015
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Blood, Salad and Sleeping Tyrones! Spend a Mischievous Two-Show Day at Hand to God With Sarah Stiles
Blood, Salad and Sleeping Tyrones! Spend a Mischievous Two-Show Day at Hand to God With Sarah Stiles
Hand to God, starring Steven Boyer in his acclaimed performance as a boy and his foul-mouthed hand puppet, continues to delight (and maybe shock) audiences at the Booth Theatre. Sarah Stiles, whose performance in the comedy earned her a 2015 Tony Award nomination, shares a recent two-show day with the people and puppets who inhabit her world.
24 PHOTOS
10:10 AM... I overslept! 20 mins to get showered, put clothes on my body and pack a lunch!!!
Sarah Stiles
LUNCH: Lettuce container, add olives, 1/2 cucumber and a slice of baked tofu. Throw in a handful of leftover noodles. Ok done.
Sarah Stiles
SHOWER: Dirty hair is fine. Leg shaving, another day. 5 mins. Ok done.
Hi boys! Brunch. I'm a wee but late, but they don't seem to care. RIPOSO on 9th. Delishhhhh.
Sarah Stiles
12:45 PM and I'm at my theater home. Full of eggs and salmon and happy conversation. This is my dressing room. It is magical.
Sarah Stiles
Fight call. G watching as Pamela, her understudy, goes over sex fight #1. Our fight call starts at hour every show cause we've got soooo much of it and we gotta be safe.
Sarah Stiles
Top of show view, stage right. I spy Steven crawling through his doggy door and getting into place!
Sarah Stiles
Passing Kuds in the stairwell. "Whad up Pastor Greg?"
Sarah Stiles
Ok so this I LOVE. Michael and I usually chat in his dressing room at this point in the show: after swings, before sex fight. Today I noticed this quote by his door. I asked him about it. He said it's his gateway to Timmy. I love Michael Oberholtzer.
Sarah Stiles
Here we are at intermission showing off our blood. It was a wet one today. Our favorite.
Sarah Stiles
And here is G steaming her throat and checking her email. Isn't her orange chair so cute? Classy fiery pixie chair. Like the lady herself.
Sarah Stiles
Ummmm....this is Kevin and my ninja. And big Tyrone in pieces. Waiting for the epilogue.
Sarah Stiles
Show one is done. I do yoga, eat my weird salad, call my sister and then NAP TIME. This cot is under my counter in my room. It's a nest. It's one of my favorite places to sleep.
Sarah Stiles
Up and rehearsing for Carols for a Cure with the gang. Love this pic of Alex Mandell. He understudies Steve AND Timmy and turns out he's an awesome drummer too!
Sarah Stiles
Ok let's check on Steve. "Ready my love?" Yup he's ready.
Sarah Stiles
Check on the Tyrones (they sleep on Steven's windowsill). Yup they're ready.
Sarah Stiles
Let's do it. Show number 2!
Sarah Stiles
Smitty's ready.
Sarah Stiles
Junior's...well, he'll BE ready...(as I steal a tootsie pop and hide it in Jessica's backpack for later)
Sarah Stiles
Mid-show: catching Timmy charge through a door.
Sarah Stiles
End of show. Michael's wife Gema comes to say hi. She is crazy stunning right? Had to take a picture.
Sarah Stiles
Good night babes. See you tomorrow. I'm out.
But I'm greeted by some of our awesome Hand to God lovers! I make them be goofy for the camera before I sign their Playbills, blow them a kiss and head into the insanity of Time Square back to my subway line and back to my cozy apartment where I eat cheese, drink wine and do laundry before I zzzzzzz. Life is kinda awesome right now.
Producer Kevin McCollum's three years of development on this play include its previous acclaimed productions at the Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) in 2011 and its more recent Off-Broadway debut at MCC Theater in 2014.
The provocative play features the complete cast of the 2014 MCC Theater production. Boyer ("The Wolf of Wall Street," King Lear) stars as Jason/Tyrone with Geneva Carr (Broadway debut) as Margery, Tony Award nominee Marc Kudisch (9 to 5) as Pastor Greg, Sarah Stiles (Into the Woods, Avenue Q) as Jessica and Michael Oberholtzer (Broadway debut) as Timmy. Boyer received an Obie Award, the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Play, the Actors' Equity AssociationClarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Newcomer and a citation from the Drama League for Distinguished Performance, among other awards.
Hand to God, according to producer McCollum, "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."
The design team for Hand to God includes scenic design by Beowulf Boritt, costumes by Sydney Maresca, lighting by Jason Lyons, sound by Jill BC Du Boff, puppet design by Marte Johanne Ekhougen and fight direction by Robert Westley. Casting is by Telsey + Company.
Created and performed by Sydney-based comedian and visual artist Sam Kissajukian, the show comes to New York directly from a sold-out engagement at Edinburgh Fringe Festival
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