Directed by Weyni Mengesha
Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Presented by Soulpepper Theatre Company
Featuring Daren A. Herbert, Diana Donnelly, Gregory Prest, Tony Nappo, Xavier Lopez
Set: Ken MacKLenzie
Lights: Kevin Lamotte
Costumes: Shannon Lea Doyle
Sound: John Gzowski
Fight Director: Simon Fon
Stage Manager: Ashley Ireland
Received 2 Dora Awards Nominations, 2020
Best Lead Performance in a Play, Daren A. Herbert (Soulpepper Theatre)
Winner of Toronto Theatre Critics Award
Director Weyni Mengesha, who’s led a thus-far flawless season as Soulpepper’s artistic director, has, in Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, succeeded in building a world that is brutal and charming, real and fantastic, impossible to situate on any moral scale”
”The result is a show that is irresistible and unnerving. You sit with your body on the edge of the seat and your fingers white-knuckled against the armrest.You sit with your body on the edge of the seat and your fingers white-knuckled against the armrest.
Broadway World
This express train ride of a play, directed with a quick sharp hand by Soulpepper’s Artistic Director Weyni Mengesha (Soulpepper’s Kim’s Convenience), has no delays on the tracks. It drives full speed to the end of its line filling us with a complicated engagement that is twisted by violence and personal choices.
Front Mezz Junkies
Artistic director Weyni Mengesha’s production of his 2000 prison drama Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train is an entertaining night at the theatre but in no way an easy one.
While Ken MacKenzie’s prison set is airy, Mengesha’s production is all about keeping energy contained in small spaces – even in the case of Mary Jane. As she delivers a series of monologues, a play unto itself in which her own road to you-know-where is paved with good intentions, her free character is trapped by Kevin Lamotte’s lighting; she, like all of us mortals, is stuck in her own prisons of mind and body.”
The Globe and Mail
Deftly helmed by Soulpeppers artistic director Weyni Mengesha, {whose dazzling production of A Streetcar Named Desire lingers in my mind months after seeing it,} this Jesus is fleet, tidy and gorgeously acted.”
Now Magazine
Weyni Mengesha’s Soulpepper production is thoroughly realized from a design perspective and features a barn-burning performance by Daren A. Herbert, one of the most exciting talents in GTA theatre.
The Star
