Explore real-life trauma with dream logic in FEMALE, ASHKENAZI WITH A SEWING MACHINE

Set Designer Viscaya Wilson tells the audience nearly everything they need to know when they walk into the Berger Park Coach House for FEMALE, ASHKENAZI WITH A SEWING MACHINE, written by Jamie Greenblatt, with music by Richard Jennings and directed by Izadorius Tortuga. Dream-like, blue waves cover two walls. An antique Singer sewing machine sits on a small table, a spare, leafless tree, hung with folded paper on strings, frames a bench in the back. This lovely staging continued with an excellent use of space, for example, Anna’s (an expressive Haley Basil) hospital room was effectively created with two hooks and a blanket.

Anna is a young textile artist who was adopted at birth. Her only connection to her biological past is that Singer sewing machine, which is also her best friend and confidant. Then, she meets Benjamin (Keith Surney) a devout Jewish man, who tells her he’s certain she must be Ashkenazi. Margot Chervony rounds out the rest of the cast, playing side characters, an ominous narrator of sorts and various ancestors of Anna’s.

The story centers around Anna’s experiences falling in love, marrying and then being diagnosed with ovarian cancer – a result of the BRCA gene that she didn’t know she carried. A DNA test reveals she is a woman of Ashkenazi decent and therefore had a 1 in 40 chance of developing breast or ovarian cancer, due to a genetic bottleneck traced to the Middle Ages. The facts are woven in and out of the narrative, while Anna at first seems resistant to learning about her heritage, and then accepts it.

There are moments of song, dance and violin music (played well by Venus Fu) weaving in and out of the narrative. Much of the language is poetic and stylized. A semi-finalist in the Jewish Plays Project’s 11^th Jewish Playwriting contest of 2022, one can see why the readers found the creative and ambitious attempt to dramatize the rather dire medical history and dark subject matter compelling. However, once produced, the blend of music, dance, monologues and dream-like scenes come across as rather heavy handed. Chervony plays so many characters, it is also sometimes difficult to know who is who, and whether or not she and Basil are in the real world, or a dream one.

A lighter touch might have made this sorrowful, dramatic story easier to digest. While no laughing matter, many survivors of cancer point to gallows humor as one of their most valuable survival techniques. There were glimmers of what that could look like:  the removal of Anna’s organs involved Chervony’s doctor character pulling a long, growling puppet from a zipper in Anna’s hospital gown, and a repeated refrain that began to take on a tinge of the ridiculous as each character said it. As it was, the moments of levity seemed accidental. Also, unfortunately for the actors, the theater was also stifling hot to the point of distraction, especially given that they were all in winter clothing at some point – if you go, bring a fan and wear light clothing.

Somewhat Recommended

Reviewed by Alina C. Hevia

FEMALE, ASHKENAZI WITH A SEWING MACHINE runs August 7-23^rd on Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30, and Saturdays at 3:00 pm. Berger Park Coach House, 6205 N. Sheridan. Tickets: $25 general, seniors/students $20 on sale at https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/female-ashkenazi-with-a-sweing-machine.

Visit www.artsjudaica.com for more information. Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.