Studio Theatre Archives - Page 2 of 2

Bad Jews – Studio Theatre

Jordan Wright
November 11, 2014
Special to The Alexandria Times

If you find the title Bad Jews off-putting, that’s precisely what Playwright Joshua Harmon is aiming for. Go ahead. Feel uncomfortable. But you’ll laugh your head off while you’re squirming in your seat.

Irene Sofia Lucio (Daphna), Maggie Erwin (Melody), and Alex Mandell (Liam). Photo: Teddy Wolff.

Three college-age cousins are gathered in the Manhattan apartment of Liam and Jonah for the funeral of their grandfather, Poppy. In this funny-cause-it’s-true comedy they debate, denigrate and question each other over who has the right to have Poppy’s “chai”, a chain on which hangs the Jewish symbol for life. Which one of them is most deserving of its ownership? Which one of them is more Jewish? Who is the True Believer? Each offers a salient argument to the age-old question.

Irene Sofia Lucio (Daphna). Photo: Teddy Wolff.

Daphna (Irene Sofia Lucio), a young woman with plans to take up rabbinical studies in Jaifa and later enlist in the Israeli Army, thinks she should have it since she is the most religious and insists her cousins respect the sacrifices that “Poppy” made to safeguard it during his internment in a concentration camp. Jonah (Joe Paulik) is insistent that, by tradition, it should go to the eldest son – – especially since he wants to gift it to his Wasp girlfriend Melody (Maggie Erwin) as a symbol of his love, in the same way their grandfather presented it to their grandmother upon their engagement. Liam (Alex Mandell), Jonah’s brother and a video game addict, is non-committal, determined to stay out of the fray, while all hell breaks loose around him. He calls himself a “Bad Jew” for eating cookies on Passover and considers himself an atheist, leaving the debate to Jonah and Daphna, whom Jonah angrily refers to as “the Super Jew” for wanting to observe the most Orthodox interpretation of Jewish tradition.

There is so much vitriol flying around for the sake of determining the “best” Jew, that the audience literally gasped and groaned in shock – – not only for the meanness demonstrated by Daphna and Liam but also for the brutal honesty on often glazed over issues that can be ignored, hotly debated or even fervently embraced. There is nothing facile in here. Nonetheless it is riveting and hilarious in its presentation and the actors do a bang-up job interpreting their roles.

Alex Mandell (Liam), Irene Sofia Lucio (Daphna), Maggie Erwin (Melody), and Joe Paulik (Jonah). Photo: Teddy Wolff.

Director Serge Seiden has a firm grip on the action, setting the characters in constant motion and keeping the pace locked and loaded for the next brawling barb.

A+ for provoking honesty, evoking laughter and encouraging introspection and discussion.

Through December 21st at Studio Theatre, 1501 14^th St., Washington, DC 20005. For tickets and information call 202 332.3300 or visit www.StudioTheatre.org.

Belleville – Studio Theatre

Jordan Wright
September 8, 2014
Special to The Alexandria Times

In Amy Herzog’s Belleville the viewer is afforded a plate glass window onto the seemingly idyllic Parisian life chosen by an attractive young American couple. Eager to absorb the culture, Abby and Zack, bring their hipster lifestyle to the City of Lights, “Or is it City of Life?” Abby posits. In their case it becomes a mirror reflecting back their secrets, lies and insecurities.

Jacob H Knoll (Zack) and Gillian Williams (Abby) in Belleville. Photo: Igor Dmitry.

Zack has taken a job in Paris working on children’s AIDS research – a cause Abby finds “noble”. It appears to be somewhat of a charmed life. But the innocents abroad have brought along more than their dreams and suitcases to the multi-cultural neighborhood of Belleville. They have packed their emotional baggage too. And a horrid Freudian-filled brew it is.

The first two scenes (there’s no intermission) unwind slowly with an overlong set up that lays out the dynamics of the couple. It lingers on their interpersonal issues, and a budding friendship with their landlord, Alioune (Maduka Steady), a successful 25-year old Senegalese who lives in the building with his wife and two children. Abby’s self-effacing responses to the landlord and her forgiving manner towards Zack, lull us into a false sense of ease about the couple’s relationship.

Gillian Williams (Abby) in Belleville. Photo: Igor Dmitry.

Gillian Williams shows us a lithe, vulnerable Abby, caught up in a Parisian fantasy of her own imagining. With pressure to compete with her sister’s successful marriage and win her father’s affection, she alternately needles Zach and coddles him. “I can be emotionally abusive,” she confesses. Williams’ ability to shift gears from kittenish to claws-out tigress to emotional wreck and back again is riveting. To counterbalance her neuroses Jacob H Knoll gives an equally taut performance as Zack, an emotionally stunted husband who seeks her approval.

In an accompanying media kit, reviewers were asked to “not reveal any major plot details” – rightfully calling out a new wave of unprofessional “critics” who feel it’s necessary to tell the entire plot as if it’s CliffsNotes. So don’t expect any further revelations in this review as to where the play is headed. We honor the playwright’s sense of suspense and surprise. But be forewarned, it’s explosive and chilling, and sharp objects are involved.

Joy Jones (Amina) and Maduka Steady (Alioune) in Belleville. Photo: Igor Dmitry.

Both Maduka Steady and Joy Jones, as his wife, Amina, give solid performances as the landlord and his disapproving wife.

Through October 12^th at Studio Theatre, 1501 14^th St., Washington, DC 20005. For tickets and information call 202 332.3300 or visit www.StudioTheatre.org.