Long Warf Theatre Presents BAD JEWS, Now thru 3/22

Long Wharf Theatre, under the director of Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein, will present Bad Jews, by Joshua Harmon, directed by Oliver Butler, from tonight, February 18 through March 22, 2015, on Stage II.

Tickets are $40-$70 and can be purchased by visiting www.longwharf.org or calling 203-787-4282.

The cast includes Christy Escobar (Melody), Keilley McQuail (Daphna), Max Miller (Jonah), and Mike Steinmetz

(Liam.) Each member of the cast is making their Long Wharf Theatre debut. The creative team includes Antje Ellermann (sets), Paul Carey (costumes), Stephen Strawbridge (lights), and M.L. Dogg (sound). Lindsey Turteltaub is the stage manager.

When Daphna arrived at the funeral of her beloved grandfather, she thought it was obvious that she would get the necklace her Poppy carried throughout the Holocaust. After all, she's the one on the way to rabbinical school in Israel. Her cousin Liam appears with his non-Jewish girlfriend Melody and a very different plan in mind. Named the best comedy of the year by The New York Times, Bad Jews is a bold take on our complex relationship with family, legacy and tradition.

Bad Jews had its world premiere at the Roundabout Theater Company in New York City in 2013. Playwright Joshua Harmon was inspired to write the play after attending a Holocaust memorial service while in college. The students were talking about their grandparents' experiences in a manner he found uninspiring. Without the eyewitness connection to the events, the power of the story was lost. "It really scared me that I felt like that," he said.

The play is about family in many ways, and how one deals with creating their own identity. "My hope is that is the audience would leave with more questions than answers," Harmon said. "You really do tap into something universal when you talk about something specific."

For more information about Long Wharf Theatre's 50th anniversary season, visit www.longwharf.org.

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