HAND TO GOD

September 8th - 24th, 2016

“Ribald and wickedly funny...'Sesame Street' meets 'The Exorcist'".

--The New Yorker

Ever need a little friend, a really honest little friend? Robert Askins understands your desire as he takes you on a journey down truth and intimacy lane with, as he puts it, “some blood, some puppets and some laughs.” Set in the playwright’s hometown of Cypress, TX and based on his experiences working in St. John Lutheran Church’s puppet ministry, Hand to God follows the exploits of a young man with an irreverent sock puppet that takes on a life of its own. Nominated for five Tony awards including best play in 2015, Hand to God has been heralded as a hilarious peek into a unique faith practice while providing “a weird mirror of our unsettling times” – Christopher Isherwood, New York Times. FUSION's production is the southwest regional premiere.

Recommended for mature audiences.

ROBERT ASKINS was born in Cypress, Texas. His hit dark comedy Hand to God opened on Broadway in April 2015, following two critically-acclaimed runs at Ensemble Studio Theatre and MCC Theater, where it was named a NYTimes Critics’ Pick and called “the most entertaining show of 2014.” The nine-month Broadway run was nominated for five Tony Awards, including “Best Play”. His newest play Permission world premiered off-Broadway in spring 2015 at MCC Theater. His play Fish Display was part of the 2012 Ojai Playwrights Conference and Permission was part of the 2014 conference. Rob has received two EST/Sloan grants, the Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, and an Arch and Bruce Davis Award for Playwriting. Rob is an I-73 and Youngblood alum and a graduate of Baylor University. He’s currently at work on two feature film projects.

LAURIE THOMAS*^ (DIRECTOR) is co-founder and co-artistic chair of FUSION. She is a director, actor, writer, and entering her fifteenth year as a member of Albuquerque Academy’s Performing Arts Faculty. Her professional credits for acting and directing include work at Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, Theater Rhinoceros, Alice B. Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival, Northwest Asian American Theatre, On the Boards, A Contemporary Theatre, Southwest Repertory Theatre, The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, Berkeley Stage Company, The Empty Space, and Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Her most recent work has been directing FUSION's main stage production of Aaron Posner's Stupid Fucking Bird and playing the role of “Anna” in Donald Margulies' The Country House, in addition to creating and directing the one-act Lady in the Light, a multimedia work inspired by the life and artistry of Ginger Rogers. Additional notable directorial work includes Eugene O' Neill's Anna Christie, Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, First Love by Charles Mee, Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still, Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones, Sharr White's Annapurna and Katori Hall's The Mountaintop. Ms. Thomas is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and has been a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association since 1990.

BRUCE HOLMES* (PASTOR GREG) most recently appeared with FUSION as “Elliott” in The Country House. He also appeared in the world premieres of The Mayan Flute, You Can’t Get a Decent Margarita at the North Pole, and Tennessee Williams’ Once in a Lifetime. Previous FUSION roles include: “Patsy” in The New Electric Ballroom, “Felix Humble” in Humble Boy, “Ross/Dan” in Clybourne Park, Michael Novak” in God of Carnage, “Clown 2” in The 39 Steps, “Bill Fordham” in August: Osage County, “Brother Timothy” in The Mandrake, “William Detweiler” in How the Other Half Loves, “Ned” in Parlour Song, “Teddy” in The Homecoming, “Ben” in Death of a Salesman and “Christy” in The Lieutenant of Inishmore. He also appeared in FUSION’s children’s tours of The Invention and The Lost Ending, as well as in Jen Silverman’s award-winning The Education of Macoloco (Samuel French OOB Festival, NYC). Bruce has also directed and acted in several annual productions of FUSION’s The Seven: New Works Festivals. In Seattle, he worked at A.C.T., Center Stage, AHA!, N.W. Shakespeare Ensemble, and The Empty Space Theatre. Bruce has also performed with The Idaho Repertory Theatre and in Washington, D.C. he performed at Arena Stage and with the Washington Shakespeare Theatre. In Virginia, Bruce appeared with The Metro Stage Theatre. Recent film/tv credits include Better Call Saul, Night Shift, In Plain Sight, the feature film Fright Night and the lead in Ultimatum Pictures’ Voiceover. He received his BFA from the University of New Mexico and his MFA from the professional Actor’s Training Program at the University of Washington. Bruce has been a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association since 2005.

JACQUELINE REID*^ (MARGERY) is a founding member of FUSION. Acting at FUSION: The Country House, Annapurna, The Other Place, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike, Humble Boy, Clybourne Park, Other Desert Cities, Time Stands Still, Once in a Lifetime, God of Carnage, The 39 Steps, August: Osage County, Overruled, A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, How the Other Half Loves, The Homecoming, Parlour Song, Suddenly Last Summer, Private Lives, Hedda Gabler, The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Taming of the Shrew, Closer, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Regional: Romeo and Juliet, Agnes of God, Crimes of the Heart, Tribute. Film & Television: Heat Lightning (Best Actress: Bend, Oregon Film Festival), Doc West, Triggerman, In Plain Sight, Unsolved Mysteries, and True Confessions with Adam Arkin. Directing credits include the regional premieres of Disgraced, Outside Mullingar and Doubt, The Night Alive, Tribes, Freud’s Last Session, Red, The Mandrake, Happy Days, Death of a Salesman, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Buried Child, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Lie of the Mind, The Unexpected Man, The Long Christmas Ride Home and the world premieres of Mad Hattr and You Can’t Get a Decent Margarita at the North Pole. She is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts. Jacqueline is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and has been a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association since 1983.

CAROLINE GRAHAM+ (JESSICA) is a graduate student in UNM's Dramatic Writing program, having graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Theatre in 2015. She was last seen onstage in The Seven (FUSION), and as “Ophelia” in Hamlet (The Vortex). She has had the pleasure of seeing several of her ten-minute plays produced at UNM, as well as a one-act at CNM and a full-length verbatim play centering on individuals with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Caroline is a freelance art & photography model, co-writer of the web series Thank You, 5, and Publicity Director for Studio PlayHaus. Caroline is a proud Equity Membership Candidate.

JAMIE H. JUNG+ (JASON/TYRONE) has appeared in the last two editions of FUSION’S short works festival The Seven, in addition to performing in last season’s Stupid F**king Bird. Off-Broadway credits include: A Texas Trilogy: Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander and The House of Connelly. Off-off Broadway credits include: Hedda Gabler, King Lear, Oliver!. Regional credits include: The Ghost Train, Man of La Mancha, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He received his BA in Drama from Queen Mary College of the University of London and attended the three-year daytime conservatory program at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City. Jamie is a proud Equity Membership Candidate.

HARRISON SIM+ (TIMOTHY) is an actor, director, writer, video editor, and graphic designer. He is the Director of Marketing Media at FUSION and serves as the co-artistic director for Studio PlayHaus. He is excited to be working with FUSION again after performing in Stupid Fucking Bird last season. Other FUSION credits include Lady in the Light and The Seven. Film/TV credits include: Manhattan, Graves, Gunslingers, and Fender Bender. Harrison graduated from the University of New Mexico in December, 2015, with a degree in theatre. He is a member of SAG/AFTRA and a proud Equity Membership Candidate.

* Member, Actors' Equity Association
^ Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society
+ Equity Membership Candidate