Theatre J: The Chameleon

 When you attend a play at Theatre J, you know two things.  The subject matter will involved Jewish history, culture, even angst.  It will be done well.  An extension of the programs and community outreach under the auspices of the EDLAVITCH DC Jewish Community Center--Theatre J is rightly seen as the premiere Jewish Theatrical venue in the nation.  Not a brag.  A fact.

On this occasion, I attended the final performance of "The Chameleon" by Jenny Rachel Weiner.  The title refers to a minor comic book heroine from the 1950's created by Jewish writers and authors who expressed in her character the most essential zeitgeist of Jewish identity in America at the time.  Now, a major Director with a history of Jewish friendly movies wants to add it to the cannon of the current Super Hero film craze.  

He has just hired Riz Stapleton to play the lead.  It's late December and she is at home to celebrate "Jewish Christmas" with her family on Long Island.  The family includes her parents, her paternal grandmother (holocaust survivor with dementia), Her kid sister and her African American Lesbian partner, and her lapsed Catholic Brazilian Husband.  Everyone has a secret or two.  Riz is pregnant, her kid sister is planning to move to the West Bank to live with and provide justice support for Palestinians (no triggers there!--when art and life collide, eh?)  To this meal (Chinese Take Out, of course) intrudes the news that the director of Riz's film is a Neo-Nazi sympathizer and Riz is forced to confront the ways she has chosen to compromise hire Jewish identity in order to find success in her career.

It's a tangled web.  And if reality isn't difficult enough, the events take on a magical reality mode worthy of Jorge Luis Borges.  What is real and what is only imagined becomes impossible to distinguish in a way that is so prescient to today--it's freaking weird. 

the set with it's raw comic book frames was brilliant.  As reality merged with fantasy, the details became even more fascinating.  The lighting design was such that it was nearly an additional member of the cast in the way that rarely happens with this aspect of a play.

Of the cast, it's really hard to pick and choose.  This really was an ensemble effort of equal intensity.  I have a history of seeing three members in others productions and each raised their esteem with me in this performance: Nancy Robinette, Eric Hissom and Ryan Sellers.  Dina Thomas as Riz the foci of the story was a worthy fulcrum to the yin and yang of the play.  

If I had even one consideration at all, upon deeper reflection, it would have been to ask the playwright to better consider her character's use of the work "fuck".  Don't misunderstand--I LOVE to say FUCK.  FUCKetty, Fuck, FUCK, F-U-C-K!  (For the record); however, it remains a blunt instrument in discourses of any kind.  And as such, deserves a more nuanced usage.  At least within the context of this play.

Embedded in the play our memes and tableaus like meals.  [L-R]: Maya (Arielle Moore), Riz (Dina Thomas), Mitch (Eric Hissom), Stephanie (Emma Wallach), Val (Sarah Corey) and Bubbe (Nancy Robinette) 

Another meme was the power of social apps to control the narrative of our lives.  [L-R]: Joaquin (Ryan Sellers), Riz, Mitch, Philip (in back, Rj Pavel), Maya, Stephanie, and Val

When even more shit hits the "fan."  The action is dense and fast-paced.