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Cast of The Zionists (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography)
By Bill Hirschman
Yes, the world premiere play The Zionists: A Family Storm provides an incisive and fair examination of the clashing issues of Jews’ and Palestinians’ rights to call Israel home.
But that comprehensive inquiry in this powerful drama at Miami New Drama extends much farther, broader and deeper than that sole central topic on the table.
S. Asher Gelman’s script inhabited by this superb cast and director Chloe Treat asks whether 21st Century human beings are capable of open-minded discussions that actually have the potential or even the goal of persuading someone on the opposite side of a political, social or religious divide. Are mutually compromised solutions possible?
Indeed, is there such a thing as Truth, — not simply your perceived truth, but Truth when genuine facts collide with one another?
This work doesn’t answer those questions, but it delineates those questions in stark painful human dimensions of a tightly bonded but troubled Jewish-American family fiercely clashing in the wake of the Hamas-initiated Gaza war.
The debate contains a score of varied arguments. But the basic issues are the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish homeland dictated by ancient history and 20th century blood, versus whether Palestinians have an equal right to live there.
The two generations of the wealthy Rosenberg family are gathering in a luxurious bungalow complex in the Turks and Caicos in November 2024. Clearly, they are an articulate, intelligent group whose gentle jibing at each other is typical of people who love each other. Smiling and hugging each other, they circle together to conduct the traditional Sabbath prayers.
Related by blood, marriage and partnerships, they come from different backgrounds or have grown into different ideologies.
The parents Ruth and Mitchell are well-to-do residents of the Hamptons. Mitchell (Avi Hoffman) is a successful businessman and Ruth (Joanna Glushak) is a socially aware philanthropist who was once so politically connected that she almost became the first woman ambassador to Israel.
Their children include David (Gregg Weiner) a New York City financier, and his wife Maria (Jamie Ann Romero), a second-gen Cuban-American college educator who is pregnant after numerous attempts.
Then there’s Bex (Dani Stoller) who served as a medic with the Israeli Defense Force during a lengthy stay there, and her partner Dana (Shira Alon), a native Israeli. Her earlier lover and the child’s father became a violent terrorist attacking Palestinian settlements. The women and Bex’s out of wedlock child moved to America after unremitting violence.
The final couple are son Aaron (Coby Getzug) and his husband Zephyr (William DeMeritt), an elementary school teacher at a Jewish school in Oakland, California.
The crux of the problem: Aaron took much of an inheritance and created the single greatest funder of pro-Palestinian causes on college campuses, including Maria’s Columbia. The catch is that the money was secretly funneled through a profoundly reluctant and guilt-ridden David’s financial structure, for reasons that aren’t quite clear.
Those are only a few of the secrets and stresses buried beneath the exterior, but emerge scene by scene in series of flashbacks alternating with the reunion scene.
As a hurricane closes in, trapping them in the living room, the fatal subject they studiously avoid bubbles up and then explodes as David and Aaron insist on having a face-to-face head-to-head that rarely exists (and here’s the point) in any modern “discussion.”
Everyone in the family gets pulled in, engulfing the audience in an overwhelming rapid fire torrent of facts, figures, opinions, pros and cons, then cons to the pros, and visa versa. Over the evening in two major carnages, Gelman unafraid delivers a comprehensive and evenly presented analysis.
For instance, Aaron argues, “Anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, David!”
David responds, “What could be more antisemitic than denying just the Jews the right to a homeland? Don’t you get it, Aaron? Hating Israel is the new, socially acceptable way to hate Jews.”
Aaron thinks he is just trying to do the just thing giving Palestinians a fair avenue without the violence occurring. David counters, “I’m sorry, I thought (the fund) Abraham’s Sons supported ‘Globalizing the Intifada’ ‘From the River to the Sea’ ‘By Any Means Necessary’!”
Aaron counters, “Zionism has twisted and manipulated Judaism to justify violence, displacement, and oppression.”
Ruth contends, “Israel wasn’t just a consolation prize for surviving the Holocaust! It’s important! The Holocaust was simply the latest, deadliest manifestation of thousands of years of antisemitic persecution – because we had no nation to protect us! And why? Because we had been kicked out of our ancestral homeland – Israel! That’s why it was given back to us.”
Late in the melee, Mitchell tries to get the clan to step back and see the danger that the dissension is having.
“I have never been more ashamed of you than I am right now. Clawing and fighting and tearing each other apart. You won’t always have each other, and you certainly won’t always have us. Time is so precious, and you’re wasting it fighting with each other! You want for nothing! Nothing! It’s just… disgusting. So much money. So much power. And this is what you’re doing with it… People aren’t just one thing. We didn’t raise you to reduce people to a single position. Flatten everything into for or against. Zionist. Anti-Zionist. No room for negotiation. No common ground. No path forward. You are all our children. You are not as different as you think.”
Ruth offers, “Israel existing in peace? That’s the dream. HaTikvah. The hope. That is my Zionism. It’s not conquest, it’s coexistence.”
But the pure triumph of this production is that every actor and Treat’s directing vision electrifies these exhortations and arguments borne inside the characters’ guts. These technical, numerical, logical and political contentions are expressions of the inner selves, their respect for right and wrong. The acting and directing, the passion and pacing sell these as concepts engrained in the characters self-defining in their DNA.
Admittedly, the specifics got lost sometimes in the tireless tumult of the verbal battlefield. But slowing would add another hour to the runtime. Besides the overreaching theme still comes across clearly.
The final scene or two of this production is a bit murky regarding the family actually finding that co-existence, more a sense of huddling to survive the horrors outside. The script is a tad clearer if rushing through what Gelman is trying to depict.
New York City-based Treat has gifted a masterclass perfection in directing in unifying vision, pacing, essential visual blocking for a talky script, and helping the cast mold vivid distinct characterizations.
Every single performance was exceptional, but special mention is due the rage and fury of Weiner, one of the only two actors from Florida besides Hoffman.
The design elements are on the same level. The elegant wood paneled set has a high ceiling with arch leading to a skylight with a large globe light hanging down. Outside the glass doors is a porch backed up by a stage-length panorama of the seashore which changes with time and the incoming storm. You wish you could live there.
So bows are due Adam Koch, scenic designer; Solomon Weisbard, lighting designer; Andy Evan Cohen and Salomon Lerner, sound and music designers; Jameelah Bailey, props; Anya Klepikov, costumes; Steve Covey, projections; Karina Batchelor-Gómez; Amy Rauchwerger, stage manager, and a dozen others.
A few side notes: At the opening Sunday matinee, the full house was engrossed and vigorously applauded at least three times at particular pro-Israel speeches.
Security at the door including a bag search and body tunnel. During intermission and after the play, a small group of anti-Zionist Jewish protesters handed out leaflets.
The Zionists is the second world premiere production from, this company’s Jewish Play Initiative creating works that explore Jewish storytelling with contemporary resonance. The first, Birthright is due to play in New York City’s MCC Theater in June.
As soon as this production closes, it will move lock, stock, cast and set to prestigious Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires in Massachusetts.
The Zionists plays through May 10 at Miami New Drama, Colony Theatre,1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach. Performances 8p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday 3 p.m. Sunday. Running time about2 hours with one intermission. Tickets $40-$110. Box Office 305-674-1040 or [email protected].
