Miami New Drama’s “Birthright” Is Full of Character Amid Plenty Of Complexity

By Michelle F. Solomon

 

Miami New Drama’s “Birthright” is like “Friends” but with a deeper meaning and Jewish identity at its core. The play tackles plenty of issues from the perspective of six friends who form alliances during a rite-of-passage trip to Israel.

 

 

Commissioned for MiND’s Y6K Project, an initiative led by Miami New Drama’s Artistic Director Michel Hausmann, to give life to original plays with Jewish narratives and champion Jewish storytelling, “Birthright” was written by Jonathan Spector. His play “Eureka Day” closed on Broadway in February and will be part of South Florida’s GableStage’s next season in May. “Birthright” is at the Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road through Sunday, April 27.

 

 

Much like David Rosenberg’s “Wicked Child,” presented in 2024 at Zoetic Stage (see our ArtSpeak video conversation with David Rosenberg), “Birthright” addresses conflicts between friends and family over Jewish religious and political issues. Spector artfully weaves and intertwines the lives of the friends – each having a very specific character arc, something not easily achieved with a larger ensemble.

The three-act play takes place in 2006, then 2016, and then 2024. “The characters begin in their early 20s, aging 18 years over the course of the play to be about 40 by the end,” Spector instructs in his script, specifying that the characters are all Ashkenazi Jews.

Spector describes his characters this way: Chaya, female in search of community; Isabella (Izzy) female, in search of justice; Noah, male, in search of understanding; Emerson, male, in search of serenity; Alona, female, in search of home; Lev, male, in search of meaning. There’s also Deborah, Chaya’s mother, who is around 60 at the beginning of the play, and whom Spector adds to her description, “What’s with all the searching?”

 

 

Spector has a gift for smart dialogue and knows when to break a moment with some needed comedy. He also uses comedy to surprise his audience, giving his characters very funny moments – his depiction of Deborah as the stereotypical Jewish mother who wants to make sure everyone is fed and rambles on a bit too long is an obvious choice for comic relief. He also creates a dialogue structure that is realistic – with two conversations happening at one time in some scenes.

While the questions of what it is to be an American Jew are front and center, underneath the surface, this is a play about individual beliefs, about heritage and family, and about how what happens throughout life (in this case, college days into adulthood) changes our views.

It is the relationships of the characters that make “Birthright” more universally relatable than its constant bubbling up debates, entrenched in deeply intellectual conversations over Israel’s very existence, that will keep audiences, Jewish or not, invested in this play and its characters.

 

 

At times, however, the deep ideological debates delve into topics that feel more like couch conversations for Gen X or Baby Boomers, not Millennials (mostly in the earlier part of the play).

For non-Jews in the audience, Spector should provide education for better interpretation. Perhaps other characters could somehow offer a simple explanation – not too forced, but enough to make the references more understandable. Maybe an explainer projection a la a supertitle here and there?

Examples: At the top of the play, one of the characters, Chaya, says, “and then she was like, I think maybe I’m gonna make Aliyah.” At the end of the play, there’s talk of a Mourners Kaddish, but they aren’t sure if they can perform the ritual because they don’t have a Minyan. (All difficult to comprehend as a gentile.)

Hausmann has assembled a terrific team to bring Spector’s script to the stage. Director Teddy Bergman, a New York-based director, whose Broadway credits include the musical KPOP and the concert staging of “Urinetown” at New York City Center, keeps the action moving. Even when actors are seated on a couch, there’s something happening between them. Bergman also knows how to keep the tension heightened, as well as when to allow more fluidity for comic moments.

 

 

The cast is top notch and the acting superb — professionals with Broadway, film and television credits: Washington, D.C.-based Dani Stoller as Chaya; New York-based Arielle Goldman (2018 “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) as Izzy; Stephen Stocking, who made his Broadway debut in the 2022-23 revival of “Death of a Salesman,” as Noah; and Hale Appleman as Lev, who was in the Netflix series “The Magicians.” The three South Florida actors in the cast are Irene Adjan as Deborah (last seen in MiND’s recent “Lincoln Road Hustle”), Krystal Millie Valdes as Alona (the previous Y6K Project, “Bad Dog.”) and Daniel Capote as Emerson, who has been featured in other MiND plays.

The realistic set design, which takes place in Chaya’s parents’ home in suburban Washington, D.C., is decorated for 2006 for the first act including a 2001 working Apple iMac, sourced in Boca Raton (props and set dressing by Jameelah Bailey), and then, voila, theater magic as the living room with a kitchen remodel is updated for Act III for 2024. In the second act, the action takes place on the back porch outfitted with a working hot tub.

 

 

Adam Koch, who worked on MiND’s Miami and Broadway production of “A Wonderful World” along with Steven Royal made the set and projections, including really inventive projections for the last act. We see the characters’ iPhone texts above the stage — secret from those on stage, they are large, facing out to the audience to reveal private conversations.  FaceTime projections along two sides of the stage, while certainly pre-produced, are amazingly real-time.

Nicole Jescinth Smith’s costume designs reflect the characters authentically in different periods and in different stages of their lives along with Carol Raskin’s wig designs. Lighting design by Jeff Croiter brings out the softness of the suburban home and is a challenge well met in the dark back porch. One funny bit is a motion-activated light that keeps going on and off, forcing the characters to wildly wave to make it light again. Salomon Lerner, whose original music and sound design is a mainstay at MiND, again provides the soundtrack so fitting for the eras.

With all new works, there’s room for nips and tucks in a script, and many times these changes are made in response to audience reaction. Here is an opportunity to see an entirely new play, a unique chance afforded to South Florida theatergoers.

 

 

There’s room for praise that Hausmann consistently raises the bar in Miami theater for new plays with hopes that they make their way to the ultimate stage – Broadway. Miami theatergoers are more than fortunate to be invited into that process.

What “Birthright” asks from its audience is the dedication that is required of a challenging play. For those willing to be part of the journey, “Birthright” is a thoughtful and satisfying evening of new theater.

WHAT: The world premiere of “Birthright” by Jonathan Spector

WHERE: Miami New Drama production at the Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, through Sunday, April 27

COST: $46.50, $66.50,  $76.50 (plus a $6.50 service charge)

INFORMATION:  305-674-1040 or miaminewdrama.org

 

Published with permission of ArtburstMiami.com, a nonprofit source of dance, visual arts, music and performing arts news.