From: Kevin Johnson <kjohnson.stage@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2022 4:13 PM
Subject: AUDITION NOTICE: HAND TO GOD Arizona Onstage Productions
HAND TO GOD (by Robert Askins) AUDITION NOTICE– Arizona Onstage Productions
Directed by Kevin Johnson.
Auditions are by appointment and will be held at the Troubadour Theater Space (3308 East Grant) on Monday May 23rd from 5:00 – 7:30. Sides will be emailed in advance. Please email your audition request to kjohnson.stage@gmail.com as well as a time that works best for you in the frame given.
Please note that the role of Margery is already cast. The show will run for six performances September 9 – 18th. There is an honorarium for actors. Rehearsals will start the second week of August. This show has extreme profanity and violence. It is a comedy. Really. It also contains extreme abuse of puppets. It makes Avenue Q look like Sesame Street.
Roles Available – character breakdowns:
JASON/Tyrone (ACTOR AGE: TEENS-EARLY 30'S; CHARACTER AGE 15)
Jason is a shy, scared, sweet little mama's boy, who is incapable of standing up for himself or properly hitting on his crush Jessica. Inside him, however, is a furious, bewildered, hormonal teen who hates his bullies and can't stand the pressure of being the good boy at church. He secretly resents his father for killing himself, and resents his mother for causing it with her controlling behavior and piety and neediness. Basically, he's a male version of Stephen King's "Carrie." Push them too far, and watch hell explode unto the earth. Not to scare you, but Jason is not an easy role. Jason is not only Jason, but also Tyrone, who speaks in a very different voice, and the actor must bounce back and forth between them, as the puppet is on his hand the entire show. It's sort of like having to play two roles simultaneously. You're going to have to show great comic chops and do an expressive Tyrone puppet. Do this role well and people will be talking about your performance for years. And I don't just mean your parents.
JESSICA (ACTOR AGE: TEENS-EARLY 30'S; CHARACTER AGE 15)
Jessica is straightforward and relatively quiet. She's perceptive. She thinks everyone's full of shit but mostly keeps it to herself. She's petite and a little clumsy. Reads a lot. She's good at seeming nice at church so she keeps a lot hidden. Secretly she has a massive rebellious streak and will probably end up being a goth chick or a popular bisexual feminist podcaster at NYU. I'm like 93% certain she's into anime. Nevertheless, she's level-headed and grounds the show, keeping everything from spiraling out of control. Sarah Stiles was also nominated for a Tony for this. There are a lot of different directions we could go with this: a young Christina Ricci, Charlyne Yi from the Judd Apatow movies, a teenage Issa Rae. Whatever works.
TIMOTHY (ACTOR AGE: TEENS-EARLY 30'S; CHARACTER AGE 16-17)
Timmy is a tortured soul. He has a shitty home life, and has deep feelings but has nowhere to channel them. He could have been Kurt Cobain if he had any talent. Since he doesn't, he became a mouthy bully. He has to have some mischievous charm, though, so there's a part of him that's like the bad boy in a John Hughes movie. Think Charlie Sheen in Ferris Bueller or Judd Nelson in Breakfast Club. Or maybe Christian Slater in Heathers. Although not that suave; more of a dickhead.
PASTOR GREG (30'S-50'S)
Pastor Greg is a calm, friendly Lutheran who loves his little church and his little flock. The only thing he loves more is Margery. Damn, that woman is fine. For her, he might bend the rules a little. Maybe even attempt an exorcism. He starts out a limp pushover and later shows his strength. Pastor Greg has one of the all-time great cringeworthy monologues, kind of like the phone-call scene in Swingers.
THE STORY: After the death of his father, meek Jason finds an outlet for his anxiety 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 upheaval when Jason's puppet, Tyrone, takes on a shocking and dangerously irreverent personality all its own. HAND TO GOD explores the startlingly fragile nature of faith, morality, and the ties that bind us.
"The fearsome critter [Tyrone], who takes possession of a troubled teenager's left arm in Robert Askins' darkly delightful play really inspires goose bumps as he unleashes a reign of terror…But he's also flat-out hilarious, spewing forth acid comedy that will turn those goose bumps into guffaws." —NY Times. "Furiously funny…Askins' most impressive talent is his ability to make us laugh while juggling those big themes that make life so terrifying: death, depression, alcoholism, sexual guilt, emotional repression, religious hypocrisy and the eternal battle between your good puppet and your bad puppet." —Variety. "A scabrously funny scenario that steadily darkens into suspense and Grand Guignol horror, this fiery clash of the id, ego and superego is also an audacious commentary on the uses of faith, both to comfort and control us." —The Hollywood Reporter. "I don't know which I want to do more: Sing Hallelujah—or wash it's dirty little mouth out with soap. …Clearly a singular vision is at work here, with playwright Robert Askins venturing successfully into territory—satire—rich with potholes." —Deadline. "HAND TO GOD is so ridiculously raunchy, irreverent and funny it's bound to leave you sore from laughing. Ah, hurts so good." —NY Daily News.
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