{"id":361269,"date":"2024-11-06T13:02:23","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T18:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/?p=361269"},"modified":"2024-11-06T13:02:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T18:02:23","slug":"safety-eludes-two-generations-of-jews-in-joshua-harmons-soul-stirring-prayer-for-the-french-republic-at-theater-j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2024\/11\/06\/safety-eludes-two-generations-of-jews-in-joshua-harmons-soul-stirring-prayer-for-the-french-republic-at-theater-j\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety eludes two generations of Jews in Joshua Harmon’s soul-stirring ‘Prayer for the French Republic’ at Theater J"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does it mean to feel safe? For the world\u2019s Jewish population, this question has never gone away. Chased throughout Europe and the Middle East over millennia, they\u2019ve endured unspeakable horrors and have made extraordinary contributions to the societies in which they\u2019ve lived.<\/p>\n

In his ambitious Prayer for the French Republic<\/em>, Joshua Harmon explores the notion of safety as he focuses on a Jewish family living in post\u2013World War II Paris and their descendants who still live there in 2016\u20132017. Harmon\u2019s 2022 play, which premiered Off-Broadway and then moved to Broadway in 2023, is receiving its DC regional premiere at Theater J. The theater\u2019s artistic director, Hayley Finn, directs this soul-stirring work.<\/p>\n

The comfortable, urbane life of Marcelle Salomon (Danielle Skraastad) and Charles Benhamou (Ariel Eliaz) is rudely interrupted when son Daniel (Ethan J. Miller), a math teacher at a Jewish school, arrives home one day with a bloodied face and a black eye. Marcelle, who\u2019s Ashkenazi Jewish family has lived a largely assimilated life in France for generations, angrily blames this antisemitic attack on Daniel\u2019s insistence on wearing a kippah in public. For Charles, the attack revives raw memories of a much more recent upheaval. Born in Algeria, Charles was forced to flee with his family when the country gained independence in 1962. Many of Algeria’s French-speaking Sephardic Jews resettled in France. Now, it may be time to flee again. It\u2019s a choice, Charles says, between \u201cthe coffin or the suitcase.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Benhamou family and Molly: Danielle Skraastad (Marcelle), Ariel Eliaz (Charles), Ethan J. Miller (Daniel), Dani Stoller (Elodie), Jourdan Lewanda (Molly). Marcelle and the children gather around Charles who is panicking over his family’s safety. Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The argument for and against immigration, this time to Israel, sprawls across nearly three hours of tense, ironic, and mordantly funny interactions between the Benhamous, their troubled but whip-smart daughter Elodie (Dani Stoller), Marcelle\u2019s secular, bombastic brother Patrick (Cody Nickell), and a visiting young American cousin, Molly (Jourdan Lewanda). Patrick also serves as a narrator, weaving together the Salomons\u2019 multigenerational saga and placing it in a grisly historical context going back long before the Crusades.<\/p>\n

Through flashbacks, we meet Marcelle and Patrick\u2019s family, great-grandparents. Irma (Brigid Cleary) and Adolphe Salomon (Stephen Patrick Martin) stayed in Paris and survived the war but lost many family members, including son Lucien\u2019s wife and daughters. Lucien\u2019s traumatized son Pierre (Jeremy Allen Crawford) and his father return to Paris but will almost never speak of the horrors they witnessed in the camps. They rebuild the family piano business looted by the Nazis, reassemble their pre-war lives, and largely disappear as Jews into a secular society.<\/p>\n

The challenge in such a sweeping narrative is to balance character development with the larger underlying themes of nationalism, antisemitism, Zionism, assimilation, and historic persecution. Harmon is largely successful in making us care about his characters. Only occasionally do they lapse into mere mouthpieces for competing ideologies. Theater J\u2019s actors flesh out their roles and encourage us to care deeply for them. Skraastad\u2019s depiction of Marcelle and Miller\u2019s embodiment of Daniel and Lucien are real standouts.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Benhamou family and guests gather around the Seder table in \u2018Prayer for the French Republic.\u2019 Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over three acts, the drama builds toward a volcanic family Seder, where accusations of blame and shame, religiosity, secularism, politics, and polemics fly across the table in all directions. When the time comes for the traditional opening of the front door for the prophet Elijah, Marcelle recoils. The real-life 2017 murder of a Parisian Jewish teacher in her own apartment chills the evening and raises Marcelle\u2019s sense of vulnerability. By the end of that ritual meal, no character is left unchallenged or unchanged.<\/p>\n

Misha Kachman\u2019s smart and simple scenic design transports us easily from past to present. He also makes effective use of the apron for Elodie\u2019s show-stopping \u201cconversation\u201d with Molly \u2014 a manic deluge of assertions and disdain triggered by the na\u00efve Molly\u2019s bland criticism of Israeli settlements.<\/p>\n

Colin K. Bills\u2019 lighting design ably aids the transitions between past and present. Warmer light suffuses the flashbacks while brighter, colder light helps us examine the families\u2019 complicated present-day concerns. Danielle Preston\u2019s costume design, particularly for Marcelle, illuminates her journey from relative comfort to doubt. When we meet Marcelle, she is the epitome of Parisian chic. Her outfits become more modest over time, and her makeup, visibly subdued.<\/p>\n

As the Benhamous wrestle with their decision to stay or go, France itself was coming to terms with Marine Le Pen\u2019s first serious bid for office. Patrick scoffs at the possibility that the right-wing daughter of a notorious Holocaust denier would ever win the French presidency. But in the years that have followed Harmon\u2019s important play, Le Pen\u2019s National Front has indeed grown, as have antisemitic incidents throughout the country and elsewhere. We hope against hope that the present decade will not someday be seen by historians as the leading edge of yet another mass displacement.<\/p>\n

Running time: Three hours with two 10-minute intermissions<\/p>\n

Prayer for the French Republic<\/a><\/strong><\/em> plays through November 24, 2024, presented by Theater J<\/a>\u00a0at the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater in the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th\u00a0Street NW, Washington, DC. Purchase tickets ($50\u2013$80, with member, student and military discounts available) online<\/strong><\/a> or\u00a0by calling the ticket office at 202-777-3210, or by email (theaterj@theaterj.org<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The program for Prayer for the French Republic<\/em> is online here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The actors flesh out their roles and encourage us to care deeply for them as the drama builds toward a volcanic family Seder. 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