In the almost complete darkness, a man’s voice can be heard, struggling with the words to the Lord’s prayer. The choppy attempt is interrupted by profanity-laced demands for silence by other voices, and an argument ensues.

A small amount of light reveals a man in an orange jumpsuit, standing in a jail cell.

This isn’t an incident at San Quentin—it’s a scene from “Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train,” an emotionally charged two-act play that ran from April 17 to 20 at SF State’s Studio Theatre.

“It’s one of the most intelli-gent pieces I’ve ever seen writ-ten,” said Rudy Solis, 28, who played the lead role, Angel Cruz.

“Jesus Hopped The A Train,” is an award-winning play by playwright and screenwriter Stephen Adly Guirgis, which revolves around Angel Cruz, a 30-year-old bike messenger who is sitting on death row for shooting a priest, Solis said.

Angel’s lawyer is trying to convince him to lie on the witness stand, Solis explained. Meanwhile his cellmate, Lucius, has found God and “is telling him to man up, take responsibility for his actions and don’t run away from what he’s done,” Solis explained.

“It’s one of those plays that pushes buttons and asks questions,” said Joseph Ingram, who plays Lucius Jenkins. “Like ‘do you believe in God?’ or ‘I wonder if God is on my side.’”

Director Ben Baker said he had a difficult time finding the right play for his senior thesis until he read “Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train” in one of his classes.

“[The play] challenges Christian theology,” Baker said. “The subject matter was a good fit for me...because it deals with some real pertinent issues.”

Expressing his disenchant-ment with lighter, “lovey-dovey”-type plays, Baker’s Christian upbringing fit well with the subject matter, he said.

With strong actors at his disposal, Baker said his only problems were with technical aspects of the production.

“A lot of the things I was struggling with logistically was because I didn’t have a stage manager for a long time,” Baker said. His stage manager, Abbie Dwelle, only came on board three weeks ago.

Of the five cast members, two have never attended SF State, including Solis and Scott Bray, who plays corrections guard D’Amico, Baker said.

“I met Ben at a party,” Bray said of how he got pulled into the production. Bray, a delivery driver by trade, took up acting over eight years ago as a hobby after seeing Street School Artist Collective, an acting troupe of which he is now a part.

“As far as having the life-long dream of being on the stage and being an actor, that’s really not my story at all,” Bray said. “Now that I have experience, I am into it.”

Although enjoyable, some actors found the production a challenging experience, Solis said.

“I think everyone would agree that it’s probably the most lines that most of us have ever had to memorize for a show,” Solis said. “I think it definitely called for everyone to push themselves as far as possible and I think all of us have succeeded so far.”