Interview: Jennifer Decker of THE WANDERERS at Mildred's Umbrella

One of Houston’s most fascinating upcoming productions opens this week. Mildred’s Umbrella is presenting THE WANDERERS at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center on South Braeswood. Last year, Jennifer Decker (Mildred’s founder, artistic director, and leading champion) directed a show there called PHOTOGRAPH 51, written by Anna Ziegler. This year, she returns with the full force of her company behind her to produce another script by Ziegler concerning two Jewish couples, one devoutly Orthodox and the other less strict in their faith. The show runs February 8th through the 23rd, and it is always on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays (Friday nights are not available to observe the holy day). The JCC has a wonderful black box theater, and Mildred’s Umbrella always produces amazingly well-constructed, character-driven dramas that audiences love. Broadway World writer Brett Cullum got a chance to talk about the show with Jennifer. 

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Jennifer Decker: So there are two intertwining stories that are connected. And they're in two different time periods. So there's an orthodox couple that's in the early eighties. And then there's a non-orthodox secular Jewish couple. The woman is also half African, American, and half Jewish, and they're supposed to be modern-day. Their stories are happening simultaneously on the stage. Both couples are having trouble in their relationships, but both are for similar reasons. It explores how our responsibility is related to our own needs and desires. Sometimes, your needs take a backseat to responsibility towards our community, the relationship, or our families. It’s a very universal theme. You make sacrifices for any of those things: your community, your family, your relationships.  

With the orthodox couple, the woman is having a real struggle with following the rules because it's interfering with what she's trying to get as a human being. And then, in the other couple, it's the man that's having that problem.

Brett Cullum: Did you have anyone to advise you on this Orthodox couple? I read that you pulled in some help from celebrated Houston author and artist Leah Lax. 

Jennifer Deceker: Leah Lax is our dramaturg. She's been giving us a lot of information about the Orthodox community because we don't know anything about it. You can research it online and watch documentaries, but we need first-hand experience. She spent thirty years in that Orthodox community and didn't grow up in it. She just joined it. She told me that the stuff that I see in documentaries and movies is often wrong.

Brett Cullum: How did you end up pitching this to the JCC?  

Jennifer Decker: We don’t have our own space at Mildred’s Umbrella. And I told the JCC, “You don't have people to produce in this theater, but I know you don't want to just rent it out to random people. If you trust me from the stuff I've done for you, maybe we can find plays that support both missions and then present them in the black box.”

I submitted a few plays to them, and I knew this was the same playwright who wrote PHOTOGRAPH 51. So I knew they liked this playwright because they chose that one and hired me. So I put two Anna Ziegler plays on the list and gave them the scripts from a few others - Jewish women playwrights. It's an easy relationship because we know each other and have dealt with each other before. Basically, I'm producing the show, but they're providing the space and a lot of their admin staff, which also means box office. It's been nice. And we're doing two shows with them. Another one will happen in the fall. It's called THE LAST YIDDISH SPEAKER, and it's the National Jewish Play Project winner. It's like a dystopian future thing.

Brett Cullum: This cast for THE WANDERERS looks AMAZING! You have some real talent committed to this one.   

Jennifer Decker: We have Christian Tannous. He’s been at the Alley, 4th Wall, and AD Players. There is Sarah Sachi, she was just in FROZEN at TUTS, and she played Dorothy at Queensbury in WIZARD OF OZ. Samantha Walker, who was in CYRANO. Als,o Scott Searles and Nonie Hillard.    

They really drive it home, and there is a theme that it's not just how I feel about you but how I need to be seen by someone. And you're not seeing me that way. To me, that was a universal human thing in relationships. Whenever people cheat, it's most of the time because of something like that. This new person sees me the way I need to be seen, and the other person doesn't. They're taking me for granted. Right? So, there is a 5th character. And she's a movie star who comes to the contemporary guy's book reading. He's a writer and has started an emotional online relationship with her. That's what's causing conflict for him in his relationship. But there's also a really, really crazy plot twist that I don't want to give away. There are elements of betrayal in both stories. If someone had just said something different, everything would have gone in a different direction. If, in that one second, that person had responded just a little bit differently, things would have gone completely differently in the story, which I think was what kept me on my toes when I was reading it.

Brett Cullum: Is it hard to direct a show if you think someone is a bad guy (or girl) in a relationship?

Jennifer Decker: I hesitate to decide that someone's just bad because, to me, the conflict is that people are just human beings, and they're trying just to get something that they need or want. That's like real life because I don't think most people are evil.

Brett Cullum: So this addresses arranged marriage, too. Am I getting that right?

Jennifer Decker: Yes. The Orthodox couple is definitely an arranged marriage. Then, the other couple basically got married because their families wanted them to. Their mothers wanted them to. So it is also kind of an arranged marriage. They weren't forced, but they were pressured. It's all just like humans. It's just all the things in relationships that we have to navigate in order to stay in a relationship because there always have to be compromises. That goes for family relationships and community relationships.

Brett Cullum: This is gonna make me talk to my therapist. 

Jennifer Decker: There are a couple of very big reveals that happen that I think will make it exciting.

Brett Cullum: Well, break legs with this one. I know you're usually very strong, and Mildred’s Umbrella is just an amazing company. I am always excited to see you produce stuff. I want not to reveal anything more here, so everyone… just go see THE WANDERERS.  

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