Fiercely Funny Play BAD JEWS Announced At The Gamm

Joshua Harmon's Bad Jews runs from March 2-26 at The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm). Gamm Artistic Director Tony Estrella helms this vicious yet hilarious take on family and faith, tradition and progress, and the complications of identity.

In Harmon's award-winning play, a beloved grandfather and Holocaust survivor has died, leaving a treasured heirloom with religious significance up for grabs. But who among a group of brawling cousins should get it?

The Bad Jews cast includes Gamm newcomers Sarah Corey as Daphna Feygenbaum, a devout Jew with an Israeli boyfriend; John Hardin as her cousin Liam Haber, a self-absorbed PhD candidate who prides himself on being open to other cultures; and Hillel Rosenshine as Liam's younger brother, Jonah Haber, a college sophomore turned unwilling peacemaker. Gamm regular Nora Eschenheimer (Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Thea Hovstag in A Lie Agreed Upon) plays Liam's big-hearted but non-Jewish girlfriend, Melody.

Harmon, whose play Admissions had a popular and critically acclaimed run at The Gamm in 2020, has a talent for using sharp, witty dialogue to explore universal themes, Estrella said. "I am thrilled to bring Harmon's electric, hilarious, gasp-inducing dialogue back to the Gamm stage. Bad Jews has the whiplash ferocity of Admissions and digs deep to uncover unsettling truths about identity, family and our debt to history. Harmon is like a contemporary Moliere, exposing the hypocrisy that lurks at the heart of self-righteousness while making us laugh wildly if uncomfortably at ourselves," Estrella said.

MASKED MATINEE: A nose and mouth covering is required for patrons attending the performance on Saturday, March 25 at 2pm only.

From the author of Admissions (Gamm 2020), a deliciously savage comedy about family, faith and the complications of identity. A beloved grandfather and Holocaust survivor has died, leaving a treasured heirloom with religious significance up for grabs. But who should get it? Volatile, self-described "Super Jew" Daphna, who plans to move to Israel after college; or her wealthy, self-absorbed cousin Liam, an ethnic studies grad student with a secular worldview and a shiksa girlfriend? Then there's Jonah, Liam's younger brother, forced to play peacemaker as the rivals argue, insult, and try to outwit each other to the play's bitter, hilarious end.

Bad Jews runs from March 2-26 at The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, R.I. Tickets: $55-$65; preview performances (March 2-5) just $38. Information about Friday night pay-what-you-wish rush tickets, as well as discounts for seniors, students, groups and more at gammtheatre.org/discounts. Tickets: 401-723-4266 or gammtheatre.org/badjews.

Founded in 1984, the non-profit Gamm Theatre is proud to tell stories that entertain, provoke, and engage seriously with the most important issues of our time. The Gamm further serves the public with educational programming that enriches the cultural and civic life of our community. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Tony Estrella and Managing Director Amy Gravell, The Gamm is a regionally recognized, award-winning theater and a proud member of New England Area Theatre (NEAT), a bargaining unit of the Actors' Equity Association.

To post a comment, you must register and login.