Jewish Repertory Theatre

It’s Tradition vs Modern at Jewish Repertory Theatre

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We all know that person. He’s chronically late and eternally apologetic. He’s completely annoying and utterly charming. He swears he’s your best friend but given the opportunity, he’d shatter your trust.

That pretty much sums up Hershel Klein (“My friends call me Hersh,” he says), the diamond dealer who can’t shut up in Modern Orthodox, the current production of Jewish Repertory Theatre.

Hersh is traditional and proud of it, peppering his patter with plenty of Yiddish interjections, notably Baruch Hashem (blessed be the name of the Lord). He’s 45 minutes late to sell a diamond to Ben (RJ Voltz) who is finally ready to pop the question to his live-in doctor girlfriend Hannah (Kayla Storto). Hersh is curious about Ben and Hannah, who are Jewish and modern and breaking all the rules that Hersh holds so dear. Ben is less curious about Hersh’s life, even to the point of mocking his faith. So it’s a rather weird circumstance that lead Hersh to Ben and Hannah’s door where he passes out, then moves in, and an odd kinship develops. And it becomes clear that Hersh is settling in for the long haul. Hersh is content to be there…but only after the kitchen and items can be kosher, and some of Hersh’s treasures are on the walls, and there’s a mezuzah on the entrance doorframe. To get him out of their hair and lair, Ben and Hannah use an internet dating site (oy gevalt!) to find Hersh to Rachel (Robyn Baun), his b’shert…his perfect mate.

Adam Yellen is using his very best deadpan chops as Hersh: he has Hersh’s shtick down pat, from his earnestness to his overall twitchiness. Voltz and Storto are perfectly suited as the affianced Ben and Hannah. It’s the Hersh and Rachel combination that is so endearing. Baun is laugh out loud hysterical as they kibbitz away their first date. She’s that proverbial ray of sunshine with a brash and loud chutzpah; still she’s the zaftig girl of his dreams. You almost hope for a second act so you can see their marriage emerge.

Director Steve Vaughan had a good eye for this cast; they roles fit them like gloves.  Playwright Daniel Goldfarb has a real gift for banter and fast-paced conversation: if there are some holes in the plot, they are quickly forgotten.

Give yourself a few minutes before the show starts to scan the program’s pullout of Yiddish-Hebrew words: there’s a lot of them and it will come in handy (all these years, I thought Shlemiel and Shlemazzel were just the first few years of the Laverne and Shirley theme song…who knew!)

Modern Orthodox is onstage to May 29. The show runs 90-ish minutes with no intermission: tickets and details are at www.jccbuffalo.org. We’ve had a frightening and heart-breaking week…give yourself a night out to laugh and lose yourself in the blush of young love.

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The Treasurer is Rich With Emotion at JRT

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Near the end of The Treasurer, on stage now at Jewish Repertory Theatre’s Maxine and Robert Seller Theatre in Getzville,  the titular character reminds the audience that people don’t determine the length of their lives. While that may be debatable (spoiler alert: there are some suicidal ideations in the story), people can and do determine how their lives will be lived.

For Ida Klein Armstrong, that means she will live a life of excesses that are beyond her meager means and it’s her three sons (products of her first marriage) who are keeping her in the manner she believes she deserves…in a combination of duty, guilt, and -perhaps – some residual love.

This is strong stuff in playwright Max Posner’s script. While there are a few (precious few) moments that may bring a smile, this is a piece that may ring too close to home for some.  Another spoiler: see it anyway. Let it gnaw your conscience and redirect your senses. Perhaps make you better at loving and compassion, even when hoisting your own baggage.

That being said, the cast for this production is remarkable. David Lundy is the son who bears the burden of his mother’s life and takes control of her finances.  He’s the lead storyteller and in this way, the show is his 90-minute non-stop monologue.  He’s expressive, he’s fierce, he’s prescient in describing his own eventual demise, and while some corner of his heart may hold some love for his mom, the reality of dealing with her life choices over time occupies more space there. The subtle moment when he tosses the obligatory “love you” goodbye to his mom – as she says “I love you” and repeatedly asks him to “add the I” – is followed by a string of “I” statements. Yes, this son chooses where to insert a pronoun.  Poignant script writing here and Lundy’s execution is marvelous.

Darleen Pickering Hummer is Ida the mom. Charming and loveable to store clerks and telemarketers (and the sons who still feel the wounds of her earlier abandonment),  she is also manipulative and demanding. And then dementia begins robbing her mind and judgment.   Pickering Hummert’s performance is exquisite in its inherent sadness and bewilderment as the life she had is leaving her. While she’s superbly acting this role, there’s that jolt of reality that reminds us that her situation – the loneliness, humiliation, dependence on her sons, the loss of her faculties – is all too real. Her gorgeously expressive face will linger in your thoughts.

John Kreuzer  and Alexandria Watts appear in a variety of supporting roles, as store clerks and siblings and a particular significant other, both flexing their versatility chops in all good ways.  As always, they are joys to watch on stage.

In one brief scene, the son and one of Watts’ characters meet on a plane and off-handedly discuss Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. In reflection, The Treasurer is a bit of a nod to this story, where the son is the reluctant caregiver to his mom and her delusions.

Set designer David Dwyer kept the stage pristine, as is JRT’s wont.  Single and strategically placed chairs and a table were all that was needed.  Tom Makar dropped in some well-timed ambient noises when Lundy described his character’s bike riding, and Brian Cavanagh’s lighting punctuated key moments.  Director Saul Elkin knit these bits together to be stark, strongly emotional, and the kind of theatre that is occupying your head hours after you leave.

The Treasurer runs 90 minutes long with no intermission until February 27.  Find information and ticketing at https://www.jccbuffalo.org/jrt/.

Photograph 51 Holds the Secret of Life at JRT

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One of my favorite James Taylor songs begins with these lyrics: “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time…”

Sometimes we’re robbed of time. Sometimes we’re robbed of opportunity. Part of the human condition. For real-life British scientist Rosalind Franklin, the focus of Photograph 51, presented by Jewish Repertory Theatre, her early death (at age 37 from ovarian cancer), robbed her of both, and so much more.

Franklin was a ground-breaking researcher with a fascination for shapes, images, and patterns. In fact, the show begins with her monologue as she reminisces about looking through a camera for the first time at an arrangement of fallen leaves. She wasn’t creating art, she says, she was fascinated by the shapes refracted through the lens. This curiosity led her to the field of xray crystallography, the study of molecular and atomic cellular structure. The repeated and organized patterns that make up cells hold the secret of life and all its creations. She was hooked.

One quick sidebar: the study of crystallography may spark resonance with Buffalonians, as downtown Buffalo is home to the National Crystallization Center (a national resource for crystallography research) located in the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute. Ironically, the Institute’s founding in 1956 was funded  by the largesse of a woman, Helen Woodward Rivas, whose family wealth came from the Genesee Pure Food Company, the makers of Jell-O…crystals of an entirely different ilk.

Back to the show.  In short, it’s riveting. Kristen Tripp Kelley is focused and fiery as Franklin. She makes the visceral passion and determination of a scientist incredibly real and palpable. You can see Franklin’s intensity through every movement of Kelley’s pencil in her journal or the turn of her head. You feel her anger when she’s marginalized by her peers. The supporting cast – a group of five male scientists in pursuit of their own scholarly work – orbit around Franklin with varying levels of dismissive disdain and vague fascination. Could this 1950s-era woman of all things really be on the cusp of a discovery that would change how we view the building blocks of life and cure disease, too? It was that chance glimpse of an image – the infamous Photograph 51 – that held the proverbial key.  Jacob Albarella as Francis Crick, Ray Boucher as Don Casper, Dan Torres as Ray Gosling, Adam Yellen as James Watson are each fine in their roles. It’s John Profeta’s portrayal of Maurice Wilkins, the biophysicist who ‘assumed’ Franklin was joining his Kings College lab to support his work, is captivating – first in his arrogance and later in his veiled admiration – and is a perfect foil for Kelley as Franklin.

Staging is sparse and spare thanks to designer David Dwyer’s deft hand and elegantly lit by Brian Cavanagh.  They create a mood here that’s nuanced enough to have subtle power. Your focus is oh so meant to be on words by playwright Anna Ziegler and purposeful stage movement orchestrated by director Katie Mallinson. Sublime.

There’s a lot to unpack in this production. Franklin knew her work was leading to major breakthroughs, yet her peers didn’t honor her contributions. Cancer took her life before she could make further professional strides. Even the Nobel Prize committee – which lauded the work of her peers with the prize in Chemistry  in 1962 and later awarded another colleague the same prize for advanced crystallography work in 1982 – didn’t grant her posthumous recognition.   

In reading about Franklin’s real life, she did indeed travel to the U.S., albeit not to Buffalo, where a woman’s support was quietly developing a facility where researchers (many who happen to be women) have made – and are still making – life changing discoveries in crystallography and other fields of science. Dr. Franklin, they are grateful for your bold manner and solid work.

Photograph 51 is 90 minutes long (one act) with no intermission, onstage at the Maxine and Robert Sellers Theatre in Getzville, until November 14. Visit https://www.jccbuffalo.org/jrt/ for tickets and details.

Looking Life Square in the Eye: What I Thought I Knew

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Josie DiVencenzo in “What I Thought I Knew.” Photo by Ali Lewis

Jewish Repertory Theatre’s production of “What I Thought I Knew” packs a lifetime of emotions,  decisions, and dilemmas into 90 minutes.  Based on writer Alice Eve Cohen’s memoir, the story is deeply reflective at times and slyly funny, too. Josie DiVincenzo is the soul teller of this story as she portrays 40 characters without leaving the stage.

DiVincenzo’s first character is the writer, who – in Jewish tradition – curses herself by proclaiming her happiness. After coping with infertility in her first marriage, she’s a single mom of an adopted daughter and is now the cougar partner of a hip and cool musician. She is…happy.  That is, until the day she detects a lump in her abdomen and has enough non-specific symptoms to send her to various doctors who can’t pinpoint a cause. Finally tests reveal that she is pregnant. And over 40 years old. Without health insurance. And without the first six months of careful prenatal care that she would have practiced if an earlier doctor wouldn’t have cavalierly told her that she didn’t need birth control. Oy vey.

The moments when DiVincenzo is flipping between doctors, nurses, off-hand receptionists, and vague diagnosticians are the funniest in their own dark ways. No costume changes or props, it’s the power of her voice and her countenance that make these other ‘cast’ members so vivid, thanks to Saul Elkin’s direction. Who needs a set (save for two lightweight chairs) when you can suggest the dreaded stirrup-strung examining table with posture (and toned and controlled abs), or arch an eyebrow and tilt your head to speak volumes without words?

She adopts solid personae for the recurring characters in the writer’s life:  her beau with his soft New Orleans accent, and her nine-year-old daughter’s overly dramatic “I want to die a moment” writhings and one rip-roarin’ doctor are evocative and just right.

DiVincenzo shares the stage with two other non-speaking co-stars: Brian Cavanaugh’s lighting design and Tom Makar’s sound design add to the performance. Both are subtle and gracefully applied.

“What I Thought I Knew” isn’t every woman’s journey, yet we’ve all dealt with life-defining and life-changing situations that caused us to examine our priorities and make hard decisions. The ethereal combination of faith – regardless of formal religious belief – and relief when things feel right are universal truths. Cohen’s honesty in sharing her journey is laudable. She’s neither maudlin or preachy.  There were spots where the long-one-act program dragged a bit, but DiVincenzo’s energy never flagged. In the end, Cohen reminds us that happiness is our best gift.

“What I Thought I Knew” runs 90 minutes without intermission to March 1. Visit www.jewishrepertorytheatre.com for tickets and show days and times.

Theatre Review: ‘Oh My God’ at Jewish Repertory Theatre

/ Buffalo Theatre Guide

The cast of “Oh My God” at Jewish Repertory Theatre.

This evening I attended the Western New York premiere of “Oh My God” by Anat Gov at the Jewish Repertory Theatre. Ms. Gov was one of Israel’s premiere dramatists with scores of plays and television programs to her credit. Like all Israeli students, Ms. Gov studied the Bible throughout her school years. As an adult, Gov founded a Bible study institute.

. . .a very careful and studied production of a philosophical play.

The play takes place in a therapist’s office in modern day Tel Aviv. God is feeling so depressed about His relationship with the people on Earth that He is considering suicide and needs psychological therapy.  Ella, the loving Jewish lady who He has selected for His therapist, has just one hour to convince God not to destroy Himself and all of creation. The therapist is the single parent of a preteen who has autism, and so she has lots of challenges of her own. The heart of the play is the therapy session that takes place in Ella’s office.

There is very little action in “Oh My God.” It’s cerebral – more like theological dialogue than a true play. Perhaps the translation from Hebrew to English is partially to blame. Many of the lines seemed stilted and were delivered in a stagey fashion that seemed odd in such an intimate setting.

This is a  confident and well oiled production of a wordy, difficult piece that has been mastered with aplomb by the cast, Todd Benzin and Lisa Ludwig, who obviously took this assignment very seriously and gave it 100%. For this, they are to be congratulated. Congratulations also to director Saul Elkin for this smooth and well paced production.

One challenge is in the casting. God is described in the play as being impressive and frightening with a deep voice. Mr. Benzin, although he gives this his best effort, just isn’t majestic or mature enough for the role. In fact, in this production, God comes across as younger and less powerful than Ella, the therapist. Ms. Ludwig plays Ella who the play describes as being warm and empathetic. Instead, in this production, Ella seems more enthusiastic about proving her points than she is about giving of herself to God and humanity.

There is a lot of yelling onstage – God is frequently exasperated and Ella is agitated. Potential moments of poignancy, amazement, connection, and humor were rushed through – perhaps in an effort to keep the pace brisk.

Max Goldhirsch does a lovely job as Ella’s son.

Production values are fine throughout. Perhaps if Ms. Ludwig has been costumed in slacks, instead of heels and a skirt, she could have been freer with stage movements. Ella’s office is part of her home, after all, so one wonders why she’s so dressed up. She looks more like Beaver Cleaver’s mom than like a modern day therapist. 

And, it’s quite possible that this is indicated in the script – but there were inexplicable short sudden schmaltzy musical passages throughout the evening. They were more distracting than atmospheric.

This is a very careful and studied production of a philosophical play.

“Oh My God” is 90 minutes with no intermission.

“Oh My God” runs until November 17, 2019 and is presented at Jewish Repertory Theatre. For more information, click here.

Theatre Review: ‘Looking Through Glass’ at Jewish Repertory Theatre

/ Buffalo Theatre Guide

It’s just your typical boy-meets-girl-meets-boy-who-dies and inhabits her body sort of play…with a twist.

. . .a fine night of theatre. . .

Playwright Ken Kaissar’s local premiere of ’Looking Through Glass,’ a modern adaption of ‘The Dybbuk’ is an ethereal send up to the intensity of love and the power of a promise, produced by Jewish Repertory Theatre.

In short, it was lovely, sparse and spare with staging to emphasize the beauty of the words, and very well executed by a stellar cast. Yes, on opening night there were some stutters and stammers and dropped lines, but then again, real life isn’t about perfection. Neither is love, and that’s the heart of this story.

Leah is a doctor living with her mother in New York, happily dating a fine young man, and waiting for him to pop the question. She’s ineffably attracted to Jacob,a stranger who is just as mysteriously drawn to her window. Silent sparks fly, curiosity is aroused, and her cautious mother and suspicious intended are wary. After Jacob takes his life, Leah intends to wed her beau Shmuel, and that’s when it happens. Jacob’s restless soul – his dybbuk – has unfinished business with Leah.

Kaissar’s adaptation of S.Ansky’s 1914 story is fierce, with enough contemporary updates to pull you into this character study and capture your imagination. It’s the casting and the character that put it over the top. Arin Lee Dandes is a fine Leah. She’s sweet and skeptical, romantic, and career-focused, and truly wants to do the right thing, whatever it is. When the dybbuk possesses her, she’s visibly, audibly changed. No stage magic here, it’s all her, and her fine actor’s chops.

Zachary Bellus is equally on point as Jacob, the stranger no one wants to know any better, a Kabala-quoting pseudo –intellectual, he’s every mother’s nightmare in sneakers. Yet he charms and beguiles Leah and he does it oh so well. Angelo J. Heimowitz is the even-keeled, dependable Shmuel, a perfectly good guy whose heart will be strangely broken. Heimowitz is rock-steady, just as his character should be. Tina Rausa is Leah’s mom who delivers the outstanding level of performance we expect and love from her.

The complete and unabashed stand out in the cast is David Lundy in three distinct and demanding roles. Some of them brief, but each one requires a change up in accent, demeanor, and delivery. Most of the time he’s playwright Ansky, guiding the early development of the story. Later he’s the Rabbi at Leah and Shmuel’s wedding who tried to exercise the dybbuk. Then he’s two generations of Mordecai, Leah’s father, who gives context and the delivers the surprise twist that gives this story its soul. His performance is brilliant.

‘Looking Through Glass’ is full of metaphor and allegory and suspended reality in the context of beloved Jewish mythology. JRT’s delivers  a fine night of theatre with this one.

Sidenote: this is intense and riveting theatre in a small, quiet, dark space. For the love of all things holy and mystical, before you enter this space, turn off your cell phones and keep them off.  All the way off. Not just the ringer. The whole device. No text that you may receive is all that important and your social media feed can wait. There were the usual distractions from audience members who put their need to stay connected above the respect live theatre deserves.

Running Time: Approximately 2 hours, with a 10-minute intermission

‘Looking  Through Glass’ is onstage now to June 2, 2019 and is presented at the Jewish Repertory Theatre. For more information, click here.

 

Theatre Review: ‘The Strudel Lady’ at Jewish Repertory Theatre

/ Buffalo Theatre Guide

Mary Kate O’Connell and Lisa Ludwig star in “The Strudel Lady” at Jewish Repertory Theatre.

Jewish Repertory Theatre began its 16th season with a sweet take on empowerment and transformation in the world premiere production of “The Strudel Lady.” Playwright Shirl Solomon penned this charming musical with a healthy dose of Jewish content and a universal message: sometimes it takes a strong new friend to help you believe in yourself.

Solomon’s story is touching.

“The Strudel Lady” is Chava, a recently divorced woman. Her ex lied about her to the rabbi, her children now shun her, and she wears her shame along with her drab and frumpy wardrobe. She meets a vivacious new friend, Faiga, wife of the temple cantor, who mends and updates Chava’s clothing, and by extension, repairs Chava’s broken spirit. Faiga sees a new opportunity for Chava, too: Chava is a wonderful baker and her strudel can put her on a path to financial independence and respectability.

Yes, it’s a bit like Pygmalion in a pogrom or “My Fair Lady” in a schmatta, but that’s what makes this production so grand. Four well prepared actors (and one on-stage keyboardist) roll out a five-year journey that’s a remarkable evolution for Chava, wonderfully played by Lisa Ludwig. Ludwig takes Chava on the path from bashful to self-confident with unabashed conviction. No longer content to be the baker in the background, we watch Chava emerge, and if she strays from orthodoxy along the way, she’s still true to herself and what she believes.

Chava owes the first steps in her journey to Faiga. Only a skilled and visionary director like Saul Elkin can coax the Jewish mama out of nun-playing, DIVA by DIVA creator like Mary Kate O’Connell, who adapts to this role like the surprise addition of figs in apple strudel. In other words, just delicious. O’Connell and Ludwig’s chemistry is the heart of the production: Faiga is to be admired, she’s the cantor’s wife who learned English and went to college after all. She’s full of sound advice for being happily married (“You still have to do it”), and succeeding in business, (“In business, lying is called marketing.”) too, and if Chava is reluctant at first, well, let’s just say she catches on. Perhaps a little too much. But growth sometimes is hard to reign in when a whole new world is opening up for you.

Rounding out the ensemble is Tom Makar as Faiga’s husband Velvel, the cantor who loves opera and likes to shake up Shul by applying Hebrew prayer to operatic arias. Makar’s resonant high baritone is well placed here. David Marciniak is loveable as Leonard, the restaurant executive who finds a place for Chava in his bakery department and beyond.

Solomon’s story is touching. Her songs add an interesting element to the production, too, as they often act as the “inner voice” or conscience of her characters.  Director Elkin made outstanding choices here: the ensemble’s voices were lovely, compatible, and blended. Elkin prompted depth from the actors, too. In places the plot was thin, and it was the forces of personality on stage that kept the story feeling real, like a modern-day fairytale with the message we all love to hear.

Running Time: 2 Hours with one 10-minute intermission.

“The Strudel Lady” runs until October 28, 2018 and is presented at Jewish Repertory Theatre. For more information, click here.

Theatre Review: ‘Sight Unseen’ at Jewish Repertory Theatre

/ Buffalo Theatre Guide

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Peter Palmisano and Josie DiVincenzo in “Sight Unseen” at Jewish Repertory Theatre.

As an art teacher, my students ask me all the time, what makes art, art? This is one of the most difficult questions a student can ask. I almost wish that they would ask me where babies come from, because at least I could tell them to ask their parents. It is a very slippery slope. The reason being because everyone has their own perception of what art is, or what art should be. It is like comedy, everyone will have a different idea. Who is right? Who is wrong? Who knows? This is one of the conversations that takes place in Donald Margulies’ “Sight Unseen” now playing at the Jewish Repertory Theatre.

Great acting, great direction, and great story telling. Go see this show!

Artist Jonathan Waxman (Peter Palmisano) used to be a young, struggling artist, but once fame found him, his work and popularity exploded all over the international art scene, so much in fact that collectors are putting up top dollar to purchase paintings that he hasn’t even started working on yet. When he goes to London for a gallery opening, Jonathan decides to call on a past lover, Patricia (Josie DiVincenzo) and his goal is to apologize for the way that the acted in the past. This brings back a little dirty laundry, especially when Jonathan sees a painting of Patricia that he did, when they first started seeing each other. Throw in Patricia’s husband, Nick (David Lundy) and an art writer (Constance Caldwell) and you have a show that is full of tension, heart, and hilarity.

Director Saul Elkin directs this character study, and keeps the audience engaged, even though very little is happening on stage. Conversations, arguments, and witty banter are tossed around. Elkin does well making sure the audience is vested in these characters.

Leading the show as Jonathan is Peter Palmisano. Palmisano plays the character in an interesting light. He plays a subtle artist, not an eccentric or large personality that I perceived this character to be, but it is an interested choice. It allows Palmisano’s character to arch, and doesn’t allow his performance to fall flat. At first, I thought that this was completely wrong for a character who was suppose to be a snobby creative personality, but it grew on me as the show progressed.

David Lundy as Nick is hilarious. His comedic timing and stage presence are perfect. When Lundy starts laying into Palmisano’s Jonathan about what art is, and why art should cost so much money, the tension is fantastic. Lundy is riveting.

Josie DiVincenzo plays Patricia in this production, and she brings a real heart to her role. She is conflicted throughout the entire story, seeing her ex-lover, and being tossed into this awkward situation with her husband Nick and Jonathan. She adds well to the tension, and is captivating.

Constance Caldwell rounds out the cast as the German art reporter who is trying to make sense of Jonathan’s career, but is met with much hostility. Caldwell does a great job in the role, and complements her fellow actors nicely.

Overall, I really enjoyed this production. Great acting, great direction, and great story telling. Go see this show!

Running Time: 2 Hours with one 10-minute intermission.

Advisory: Language and Suggestive Content

“Sight Unseen” runs until May 13, 2018 and is presented at Jewish Repertory Theatre. For more information, click here.

Jewish Repertory Theatre presents ‘Sight Unseen’ to conclude 2017/2018 season!

/ Buffalo Theatre Guide

The Jewish Repertory Theatre completes its 2017/2018 season with SIGHT UNSEEN, the third production in a season called A Sentimental Journey.

“This season we are bringing back a couple of “old” friends – VISITING MR. GREEN and ROSE – who helped us start our JRT journey as well as SIGHT UNSEEN, which will be the third Donald  Margulies play we have produced,” says Saul Elkin, JRT Founding Artistic Director. “These are productions that we first presented in other Buffalo theatres before we had a home of our own. Revisiting these wonderful stories and characters in our own theatre space is an exciting venture which we are pleased to offer our audiences.”

SIGHT UNSEEN, JRT’s third play of the season, is Donald Margulies’ play about Jonathan Waxman, a superstar artist so popular that collectors will buy his work “sight unseen.” In London for a major retrospective, Jonathan decides to call his former girlfriend, Patricia, whose influence became a turning point in his early career. Patricia is now married to Nick; they live in the English countryside, where they excavate ancient Roman ruins. When Patricia invites Jonathan to spend the night, tensions arise among the threesome. The scenes in the countryside are intermingled with scenes of an interview with a German journalist, Grete, who questions Jonathan’s motivations for his art and his self-promotion. Throughout Sight Unseen, questions about art, money, love and inspiration, their codependency and the ways in which they are inextricably entangled, are brought to the surface.

“Sight Unseen” is directed by JRT Artistic Director Saul Elkin and stars Constance Caldwell, Josie DiVincenzo, David Lundy and Peter Palmisano.

Brian Cavanagh is Lighting Designer, Kari Drozd is Costume Designer, Tom Makar is Sound Designer, David Dwyer is Set Designer, Amelia Scinta and Christina Serio are Stage Managers, Mike Benoit is Property Master and Jessica Lake Mason is House Manager.

The Jewish Repertory Theatre of Western New York is a program of the JCC of Greater Buffalo.  This season’s original artwork is created by artist Eta Rottenberg. For more information on JRT productions, dates and tickets, visit www.jewishrepertorytheatre.com.  Tickets are available at 716-650-7626, through Showclix at 1-888-718-4253 (Monday–Friday, 9am-9pm EST) or at either JCC reception desk.

 

Theatre Review: ‘Rose’ at Jewish Repertory Theatre of Western New York

/ Buffalo Theatre Guide

Tina Rausa in ‘Rose’ at Jewish Repertory Theatre.

Rose doesn’t say she’s a heroine. She doesn’t consider herself a victim. She is, however, a survivor. She’s full of irony and contradiction (“I’m eating ice cream to take a pill for cholesterol,” she says as a cold creamy spoonful helps her swallow her meds), and a strong, modern woman who holds onto bits of tradition in a less than noble world.

. . .an exquisite night of theatre.

“Rose” is currently on stage at Jewish Repertory Theatre, through February 25, and Tina Rausa is reprising her title role as an older, wise actor.  This one-actor show runs the emotional gamut with compelling storytelling, a few laughs, and many powerful moments.

Rausa as Rose tells her story from the solid wooden shiva bench. No easy feat for an 80-something who – in her youth – walked through Warsaw’s sewers and through Eastern Europe to eventually board a ramshackle boat and then leap from a moving train to find freedom – not in Palestine as she thought – but in America. By the time she’s working in a Jersey shore hotel, she knows her young daughter and most of her family were killed. Yet she survives. If there’s guilt that lingers, she parlays it into determination to build a new life in a new world (“I mastered the language in a month,” she says), and if embracing American capitalism is foreign to her, she knew what she had to do to protect herself and the new family she’ll create.

This is far from another retelling of the atrocities of World War II: this production is more soulful. Rose admits that sometimes she’s not sure if her remembrances are real or pop culture adaptations she’s reliving. But they are sincere, emotional, stark and seering. Playwright Martin Sherman’s storytelling is riveting, and Rausa is expansive, as a slight woman whose only movements are soft and spare. Her expressions and the rise and fall of her voice as she recounts her stories fill the room. Sometimes she admits her failings, “I’m in the millennium, but I stink of the last century,” she says, and other times she wistfully remembers Yiddish as her first language, and struggles to reckon with the next generation’s reaction to 21st century Israeli conflict and politics. Sometimes Rausa the actor stumbles over her words: on the other hand, is it Rose, the person, stumbling past the articulation of her story?

Sherman’s words, sometimes punctuated by audio bites and musical backgrounds carefully curated by Tom Makar, against David Dwyer’s remarkably simple set and Brian Cavanaugh’s equally simple and effective lighting, support images that are hard to erase when you exit the space. What’s it like to lose everything, to start again, to question your identity, to lose connection with your past and try to grasp what is now….this is what Rose lives with every day.

It’s this push and pull between past and present, family and self, time frozen, indelible memories and the need to march forward that makes Rose a remarkable woman and an exquisite night of theatre.

Running Time: Approximately 110 minutes with one 10-minute intermission.

“Rose” runs until February 25, 2018, and is presented at Jewish Repertory Theatre. For more information, click here.