With beautiful, profound stories bound to make the audience both laugh and cry, the Braid once again brings heartfelt, resonating messages in “I Loved Jew, I Loved Jew Not.”
Produced, adapted, and curated by Ronda Spinak; and directed by Susan Morganstern, this show offers a fresh look at inner pride, amidst looming anti semitism throughout America and the world. The variety of vignettes vary from telling stories of how Condoleezza Rice helped build up the Stanford Hillel, written by Robin Beth Kennedy…to life in “Am-ree-kah,” as a new emigre from Iran, written by Esther Amini, who graced the stage for the q&a post show. “The Nazi in the Hot Tub,” written by Rob Eshman, retells his story of meeting a most unsavory character with many layers and tattoos face to face at a hot tub in a hotel during the Limmud conference, and how he offered to pay for the removal of a swastika tattoo. “Nightmare,” written by Gail Solo, explores how close friends and neighbors would be willing to hide Jews, if necessary, much like the righteous gentiles during World War II. Each piece, so brilliantly and eloquently shared, tells the personal true life account of the writers, interluded with some beautiful, poetic songs, such as “If My People Are Down,” by Mike Himelstein and Lincoln Adler; and “Chazak,” by Dan Nichols. A humorous standout is Monica Piper, with snippets from her amazing one woman show, “Not that Jewish.” She is a petite dynamo, packing a punch with cerebral stories and visceral humor, sure to evoke many a resonant laugh. She added much needed levity to a most somber, serious , and scary subject matter. “Stories of generational trauma,” states Matthew Friedman, of the ADL, is a running thread through these stories, “ensured to make the audience get angrier at times, and laugh harder at others. These stories also serve to change the current narrative and mindset and to empower us against systemic oppression.” “Show and Tell,” an impeccable piece, written by Arlene Sarner, is told from a young student’s point of view, as she was the token Jew in her classroom, wide eyed, and innocent, yet excluded from her classmates’ show and tell experience. Lisa Ann Grant and Casey J. Adler shine onstage, with their stellar vocal performances and star quality stage presence. The show is both refined and soul searching in one, as the stories reach to the depths of the soul. Each member of the cohesive ensemble lights up the stage, while pouring their heart out, sharing stories with deep, dark toned nuances. Each storyteller, a beacon of personality and attitude in his/her own right. It is evident that the director, writers, stage managers, performers, and entire team worked together in a labor of love and commitment, to portray these personal, yet dark stories, in history, so as to teach, and never repeat.
Bonnie Priever Curtain Up 