When one prisoner is named Lucius, the other is named Angel, and Jesus is invoked in the play's title, we anticipate an allegory. But while Stephen Adly Guirgis' expertise as a Violence Prevention Specialist in the Riker's Island Correctional Center might exceed his experience as a playwright, he demonstrates a notable acumen for integrating widely disparate elements: on one level, the play provides a forum for the two killers to argue the morality and circumstances of their respective crimes. On another, the contrast is between the penitent who approaches salvation boasting publicly of his redemption and the pilgrim who confesses his doubts and humbly seeks answers.
We've also got two Roman Soldiers -- oops, prison guards -- one kind and one mean, along with a Public Defender so steeped in hubris that her downfall -- and, unfortunately, her client's as well -- is as predictable as the subway train that supplies the play's title. What ultimately rescues this undeniably articulate symposium -- which could as easily, minus the profanity, come from the mouths of two canon scholars -- is the adrenaline-fueled stichomythia set up by E. Milton Wheeler and Eric Aviles, under the deft direction of Ron OJ Parson, making for a gritty verisimilitude and a visceral suspense that keeps us riveted even as we quickly guess the reward for virtue in this unjust universe.
