Review: "Observant" Engages and Challenges the Traumatic, Local and Global
Observant Written by Pamela Weiler Grayson Directed by Shellen Lubin Presented by Red Lyric Productions in association with Adam Weinstock and Emerging Artists Theatre at Chain Theatre 312 West 36th St., Floors 3 and 4, Manhattan, NYC September 12-28, 2024 L to R: Rebecca Hoodwin, Melissa Wolff, Arielle Beth Klein, Yair Ben-Dor, Arielle Flax, Fady Demian. Photo by Dallas Phelps, NYC. In Pamela Weiler Grayson’s timely and excellent new play, Observant , we spend shabbes (or shabbat in Hebrew, as the distinction is properly outlined during the next three scenes) in Scarsdale. In this seemingly bucolic New York village, three generations of a family – and the community and world writ large – will face the worst of what this (and last) century can issue against Jewish Americans, even in the suburbs. And yet, in order to confront the world without, this family must confront that which lies within and between the generations. Over the course of this holiday with the Gordon...