By Britin Haller
According to Security.org, 1.7 million packages a day get lost or stolen in the United States. If it’s your new hairdryer or electric toothbrush, it might not be so bad, but if the lost item is your dead relative’s body, that’s a completely different story. Such is the case in Jason Odell Williams’s Handle With Care (with Hebrew by Charlotte Cohn,) a romcom now playing at the West Boca Theatre Company.
It’s Christmas Eve in Goodview, Virginia, and we open on Terry, a visibly upset American DHX driver, trying to explain to Ayelet, a visibly upset Israeli woman, that her grandmother’s corpse has been “misplaced” because he left the keys in the van, and someone stole it with Savta (Hebrew for grandma) riding shotgun.
The situation is comically exacerbated because of the language barrier and, because according to Jewish law, a body must be buried within twenty-four hours after death. The clock to get Savta returned to Israel is ticking, and Terry is feeling the strain.
Enter Josh, Terry’s best friend from childhood, whose life took a completely different path. Josh got out of Goodview and is only home for the holidays to help with some family matters. Terry called Josh instead of the police because Terry is terrified he’ll lose his job, and because he wrongly assumes Josh must be fluent in Hebrew because he is Jewish, when in reality, all Josh remembers from studying it in school is “Shalom” and “I have a big penis.” As expected, that last line really gets the laughs.
In a series of flashbacks, we find out that Grandma was on a mission to find the long-lost love she had at the age of seventeen. Her father wouldn’t let her date the American boy because he wasn’t Jewish, and she would cause shame to the family. This is why she brought her granddaughter to the States, and why they have been in eleven towns in two weeks, because all Grandma knows is Simon works at a Food Lion in Virginia. So that we can understand them, Grandma and Ayelet speak mostly in English during their scenes together.
As Terry, the DHX driver who specifically got a job with that package company because of their pretty yellow uniforms, Blaine Deberry is simply, with an accent you’re not really sure of but you just want to hug him anyway, adorable. His relationship with Josh is fraught with anxiety due to the circumstances, but you can tell underneath all the madness going on around him that Terry really cares for his old friend and wants the best for him. And when Grandma can no longer act as her granddaughter’s matchmaker because she’s, well, dead, Terry is more than happy to pick up the reins. It’s almost like Savta is working through him.
Ravit Allen is Ayelet, the gorgeous Israeli girl who is still recovering from her own heartache back in Israel, and who now finds herself all alone in the middle of small-town America with only a Hebrew-to-English dictionary, and being able to hum Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus,” to help her make it through.
Allen cleans up well, has a gentle beautiful way of moving, and her enthusiasm for Jewish traditions is hard to resist. Her Shabbat dinner with Josh is touching, especially when she puts her hand over his head to cover it during the prayers. Allen was born and raised in Israel, and served in their military, so Hebrew comes naturally to her, and she is also fluent in English, but even so, she is great at appearing to struggle for the right words.
Played by Mark Hernandez, Josh is a dear soul who lost his wife eighteen months ago in a tragic accident from which he has not recovered. Can Ayelet be the one to help him heal? It certainly seems so, as he soon realizes he be doth protesting too much. A few times Hernandez was difficult to hear, primarily when he is speaking kindly with Ayelet. Using his stage voice would work wonders in those scenes. During their dinner, we couldn’t stop wondering how they would kiss around the obvious handset mics, so it’s a good thing he’s a gentleman and doesn’t move that quickly. The bit where Josh is trying to impress Ayelet with his celebrity impressions is lovely.
In the role that Tony nominee Carol Lawrence originated off-Broadway, Francine Birns stars as Edna, the loving and funny grandma who can’t miss watching Wheel of Fortune nightly. She’s full of energy and youth and obviously adores her granddaughter. And when Edna’s plan tragically all goes up in smoke, her anguish is palpable.
The generic motel room is just that, generic. The worn-out carpeting and drapes, the uncomfortable chairs, and the bedspread you don’t want to sit on. Oops, too late! Other than the “Virginia Is For Lovers” picture on the wall, we wouldn’t know if we were in Delaware, Kentucky, one of the Carolinas, or another of the other six states with a Food Lion grocery store. In other words, it’s perfectly created by Alan Nash and Mark Hernandez (Josh) with set decoration by Holly Budney. Nash also produced, directed, acted as stage manager, and did tech, again with Hernandez, while Budney designed the music, costumes, and co-directed with Nash.
As the saying goes, when G-d (HaShem in Hebrew) closes a door, he opens a window. Handle With Care is a beautiful love story about destiny, meeting your “bashert” (Hebrew for soulmate,) and second chances, with a lot of laughs along the way. And that last scene is really so precious. After all, rules must be followed, even in death.
In the end, a few questions remain. Will Terry stay in the yellow uniform, or find one he likes even better? Are Simon and Savta Edna back together again somewhere in the stars? Does Josh own a passport, or for that matter, a kippah? And will he ever learn to pray the Hamotzi?
Tip: Take a jacket, footies, scarf, mittens, and anything else you might need because if it’s as cold as it was on the night we attended, you’ll have icicles hanging from your nose. Well, not really, but you get the idea. But don’t be afraid to speak up, because to their credit, after several requests at intermission, the air conditioning was turned off for the second act.
Britin Haller is a mystery author and an editor for Turner Publishing. Her recent short story “So Many Shores in Crookland” can be read in the 150th issue of Black Cat Weekly. Britin’s latest edit, a cozy mystery novel called Dumpster Dying is by Michelle Bennington and available where books are sold. Find Britin across social media.
Handle With Care from the West Boca Theatre Company runs through December 21st at the Levis JCC Sandler Center, 1050 95th Avenue S., Boca Raton (south of Glades Rd, west of Lyons, be prepared to present your driver’s license at the guard gate); 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Sundays. Running time approx. 105 minutes includes a 15-minute intermission. Tickets starting at $35 for non-JCC members. Call 561-558-2520, or visit levisjcc.org.
