In slow moving Cypress Texas, the devil lurks where you would least expect him: a church basement puppet show. His name is Tyrone, and he may look like an innocent sock puppet, but when he infiltrates the angst-ridden church youth group and takes possession of the unsuspecting Jason’s arm, all Hell breaks loose.
Michael Daw as Jason/Tyrone
Spectacularly foul-mouthed and wickedly scandalous, Tyrone the possessed sock puppet shocks the congregation with his outrageous insinuations, exposing their deepest secrets—and teaching us all about what it means to be human. A smashing success on Broadway and in London, this fast-paced irreverent comedy is darkly described by The New Yorker as “Sesame Street meets The Exorcist.”
Local actor Michael Daw takes on the dual roles of Jason, a Christian teen struggling with the current route his life is taking, and Tyrone, the demonic puppet.The challenge of working with puppets and using them to tell this particular story is what drew Daw to the show. “I wanted to audition because I thought it was a good story. It's dark, and it's really blue, but I think that crass humor is being used to critique a part of southern evangelical culture that I'm a little too familiar with.”
Leslee Young as Jason’s mother Margery and Michael Daw as Jason/Tyrone have a colorful argument.
Having grown up around church puppets, Daw finds working with “Tyrone” to be a new challenge he is ready to tackle. “It's fun and challenging working with a puppet. When I was a home-schooled kid in Mississippi, I actually did puppet shows with my church group. Those were super basic, so this is my first time with a rod and arm puppet.”
Rod and arm style puppets are best known as Muppet style puppets where the mouth is controlled by the puppeteer's one hand while the other hand controls rods that move the puppets arms. This style of puppetry also played a key role in grabbing Daw’s attention, “I'm also a big fan of all things Jim Henson, so I saw this as a great opportunity to try puppeteering as an adult and challenge myself.”
Michael Daw as Jason/Tyrone and Martta Maki-Petaja as Jessica rehearse a love scene.
The rest of the talented cast is rounded out by Leslee Young, Kyle Golden, Marta Maki-Petaja, and Jason Lewing. Hand to God is a Studio 400 productions and it meant for mature audiences only and contains adult language and themes
Tickets are available online at PensacolaLittleTheatre.com and through the Box Office at 850-432-2042 on weekdays from 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM. Masks are required at this event until seated, and the audience will be socially distant in the auditorium.