Hickory – A play featuring a puppet ministry may sound like wholesome entertainment but, when it’s in the Firemen’s Kitchen, audiences should expect the unexpected. Hand to God, Robert Askins’ wickedly funny and decidedly adult comedy, opens October 16 and runs through October 31. This production carries its strong 18+ rating as a badge of courage.
At the center of the story is Jason, a painfully shy teen struggling with the death of his father and trying to find his place in his mother’s church puppet ministry. Enter Tyrone: Jason’s foul-mouthed, outrageous and difficult-to-control hand puppet. Tyrone says and does all the things Jason never could, and soon no one knows where one ends and the other begins.
Morganton actor Trenton Stiles returns to HCT this season in Hand to God, taking on both Jason and his unruly puppet alter ego, Tyrone. Audiences may remember him as Kipps in The Woman in Black or as one of the “other weirdos” in Be More Chill.
Playing two sides of the same character isn’t new territory for Stiles — he’s drawn to roles with layers. While working on The Woman in Black, he talked about the fun of portraying a character through someone else’s eyes. Hand to God pushes that challenge even further, asking him to build Jason and Tyrone at the same time, often in direct conflict with each other.
Stiles is currently studying Theatre at Catawba Valley Community College and has plenty of experience juggling characters. In a student-created mashup of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, he played the Mad Hatter, Caterpillar, Minstrel, and Alice. What grabbed him about Hand to God was its mix of chaos and heart. “All I knew was that it was extremely depraved but meaningful,” he said. “I was hooked from that moment.”
Performances of Hand to God are Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 16–31 at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 2:30 p.m.; and Thursday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for students 18 and over. Because of the content, this production carries a strict 18+ rating and is not recommended for younger patrons. Tickets are available online at hickorytheatre.org/box-office or by calling 828-328-2283.
Hand to God is produced in association with Friends of the Theatre. Hickory Community Theatre is a funded affiliate of Arts Culture Catawba and receives sustaining support from the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Season 78 community support is provided by the City of Hickory, A Cleaner World, David and Maria Williams, Shurtape Technologies, and Acuña & Acuña Dentistry.
