The New York Theatre Workshop recently presented “Becoming Eve” at the Abrons Arts Center on Grand St. in Manhattan and it was a very revealing, very important piece of theater. Written by Emil Weinstein, it was based on the memoir of Abby Chava Stein and had riveting direction by Tyne Rafaeli.
Our society has sadly not been accepting of transgender individuals and this play put that reality into a perspective that truly lets us know this is wrong. Each person has a right to be the person they identify with inside themselves. The story we were presented with here is of Chava, who meets with a rabbi named Jonah and asks his assistance in helping her to tell her rabbi father, referred to as Tati, that the son he had is now his daughter.
The play is set a week before the High Holidays. Jonah represents modernity, while Tati represents Orthodoxy. As Jonah tries to build a bridge to bring Tati and Chava together, it is obvious that Tati, who is from a dynastic Hasidic rabbinical family where gender totally matters, has no room in his mind or heart to begin to fathom an understanding of the daughter he now sees before him.
The playwright takes the audience through the anxiety and fear that Chava feels about telling her father, and we see childhood memories showing that while born a boy, she has never felt comfortable in a male body. Because her father is a rabbi, she tries to explain how she feels by relating it to religious stories.
Chava has the right to live as a woman and in a way that is comfortable for her. The audience watched how this character, from the time they were a youngster, was placed into situations that made her uncomfortable. It is so interesting to realize through the flashbacks that while the father never understood what was happening with his young son, the mother always understood that her son was more like her than society and their faith would ever accept.
This play dramatically showed how harmful it is when people are not accepting of who someone truly is. But, it also demonstrated that while it will hurt that person at the moment of rejection, their life goes on.
A truly stunning and innovative part of this production was how the boy’s character throughout his life was represented by full-sized puppets. Tommy Dorfman, who played Chava did a tremendous job with this role. She truly embodied the character speaking for Chava as a young boy growing up in a religious, Jewish household, and then a young man, and now as the transgender adult trying to find acceptance in her father’s heart. Richard Schiff was powerful as Tati. His confusion over what his child was experiencing was obvious, but his disdain and stubbornness were also vividly portrayed. Brandon Uranowitz was brilliant as Jonah, the rabbi who tried to find a common ground for Chava and Tati. Judy Kuhn was wonderful as Mami, Chava’s mother, who had realized the true heart and feelings of her child. The two puppeteers, Justin Otaki Perkins and Emma Wiseman, did a marvelous job as they maneuvered the full-size puppets with ease and grace. The cast was rounded out by Rad Pereira and Tedra Millan.
All the technical aspects of this production flowed and included scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costume design by Enver Chakartash, lighting design by Ben Stanton, sound design by UptownWorks – Daniela Hart, Noel Nichols & Bailey Trieweiler, puppet design by Amanda Villalobos and music by Daniel Kluger. Plays like “Becoming Eve” are so important in today’s society where transgender people are constantly facing judgement, ridicule, rejection, and violence. This play gave audiences a chance to see the process a person can go through when they realize from a young age that they are not what people thought they were born to be. For information on upcoming productions visit abronsartscenter.org.