Review: THE WANDERERS at Theater J

Theater J, located in Washington, DC's Jewish Community Center focuses its work on celebrating and bringing light to the Jewish culture and its people. Anna Ziegler's The Wanderers is no exception to this mission. This is the fourth Ziegler play that Theater J has produced and its one that is sure to spark conversation, make the audience think deeply about the characters, and even toys with one's own emotions and thoughts on their own lives.

The Wanderers explores the relationships of two couples: a Satmar-Hasidic arranged marriage and a secular Jewish author couple. Through alternating scenes, the audience is invited into the complex lives of these individuals. Esther (Dina Thomas) and Schmulli (Jamie Smithson), both Satmar Hasidic Jews, struggle with the complexities of their strict sect, their marriage, their lives, and paths. Opposite, yet all so similar, Abe (Alexander Strain) and Sophie (Kathryn Tkel) struggle with their marriage and work-related competition. Abe finds it hard to stay faithful when an extreme celebrity, Julia (Tessa Klein) writes to him following one of his book talks. Through this journey, audiences experience with these deeply complex characters happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and jealousy. Scene after scene we are left wondering to what degree the characters are connected and find ourselves longing to connect with parts of them as well. Without spoiling anything, there are two major twists in this intricate and smart script on love and those longing for answers.

The production has assembled a truly fine cast to execute Ziegler's moving play. Each actor contributes enormous talent allowing the play to soar to new heights. While I was thoroughly impressed with every performance, Jamie Smithson (Schmuli) was a remarkable staple of this show that truly shined. Smithson had a tough task as he had to adapt to the life of a Satmar Hasidic Jew and while his calming stature was apparent at first, things quickly turn the other way.

Alexander Strain (Abe) delivers an incredible performance filled with raw emotions, life-changing decisions, and pain that may never go away. More than halfway through the play, Strain delivers an intensely difficult monologue that stuns. You could literally hear a pin drop in the audience as he had the entire theatre in the palm of his hand.

Each design element is beautifully done and creates a unique world. While Andrew R. Cohen's set is truly masterful it raises a few questions that I have been pondering now since I left the theatre. The design is extremely neutral. It includes a grey/blue circular fixture as the main set piece. Draping lights add a neat effect to the back and are in some correlation to the text and its characters though I've yet to discover the actual meaning. Upon further thought, the neutrality of the set works for most of the play as Zeigler doesn't necessarily focus on the world as much as she focuses on the characters and their stories. With that being said, considering the nature of their religion and the flaws of the "complicated" world that they live in, a more specific design could have been a good touch.

Amber McGinnis' direction proved to be just the right calling for such a play. McGinnis handled the characters and their stories with great care. The overall result was quite touching and largely successful.

I was thrilled to hear that this play is going to have another run quite soon. The Wanderers will be produced Off-Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City as part of their 2021 season. While I'm very fond of Zeigler's script, one part to me that could use some attention is the ending. There is a sequence of "e-mail" exchanges between Abe and Sophie that result in them realizing they weren't for each other. There's extreme symbolism that follows and this provides quite the bunch for the audience to unpack. There were parts of this seemingly long ending that I liked, but can see it being fined tuned a bit.

In its essence, The Wanderers is a unique exploration of a world more complex than we know. A world we may be both removed from but also familiar with. It truthfully explores characters that seem distant yet connected to us. At its core, The Wanderers examines relationships and life and all that comes with them. It's deeply personal and thrillingly real.

Run time: 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission.

For tickets please visit https://theaterj.org/on-stage/the-wanderers/.

The Wanderers runs until March 15 at Theater J located at 1529 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. (202) 777-3210

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