Hand to God

In its program for Robert Askins' "Hand to God," the Ensemble Studio Theatre declares that it has been "discovering new voices since 1968." And it's certainly fulfilling its mission with Askins. He's a former member of Youngblood, EST's collective for emerging playwrights under 30, and in 2010 Youngblood and EST mounted an admirable staging of his promising "Princes of Waco." Now they've done the same for this, his latest work, an overheated but appealing stew of religiosity, teenage angst, and sex.

The play takes place in the Christian fundamentalist church of Pastor Greg, where lots of stuff is happening. To begin with, the pastor hankers for the recently widowed parishioner Margery, but she's not interested. Margery is rather trying to serve her faith by establishing a puppet ministry with a trio of teenagers, including her son Jason. The puppets, however, take second place to her impulsive furniture-wrecking sexual encounters with Timothy, the ruffian of the trio. Most disruptive, though, is the hand puppet almost perpetually on Jason's left hand. He's called Tyrone, and as puppets and ventriloquists' dummies are wont to do, he's developed a demonic mind of his own. Is Jason's left hand possessed by the devil? Or is Tyrone the devil himself? Or is he just the externalization of Jason's subliminal teenage seethings? Askins' provocative writing leaves you with the feeling that it might be all three.

Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel has guided his excellent cast of five into an entertainingly antic production. It may not plumb the darker levels of the script as deeply it could but gets considerable mileage out of the comedy.

Steven Boyer does a Herculean job of manipulating and voicing the maliciously boisterous Tyrone, perched on one hand, while bringing truthful life to the diffident Jason. The wide-eyed Tyrone, who looks like a sinister cousin of Kermit the Frog, quickly becomes a sixth member of the cast. Boyer gives the conversations between the two an astounding rapid-fire pace, and Jason's battle to rid himself of Tyrone brings the play to an impressively physical climax.

Geneva Carr is appealingly vulnerable as Margery while going from prim puppeteer teacher to unbridled sexpot. Scott Sowers modulates Pastor Greg's unctuousness with just enough sincerity, while Bobby Moreno's Timothy boils over humorously with teenage hormones. Rounding out the cast is Megan Hill as Jessica, the third puppeteer student, and when she brings on her own puppet, Jolene, to hook up with Tyrone, they carry on in a way that could make the denizens of "Avenue Q" blush. Among the well-executed production values, the puppet design of Marte Johanne Ekhougen deserves a special hand.

Presented by the Ensemble Studio Theatre and Youngblood at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 W. 52nd St., NYC. Nov. 7–20. Mon., Thu.–Sat., 7 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. (212) 352-3101, (866) 811 4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org.