The Last Yiddish Speaker at InterAct Theatre Company

An old, Yiddish speaking woman, lands on the steps of the home of Mary and Paul in upstate New York. It is 2027, and they have fled from New York City in the wake of a successful January 6th rebellion that has brought a white supremacist regime into power. They are Jewish, passing as Christians in this small town. Interact Theatre is presenting the world premiere of “The Last Yiddish Speaker,” by Deborah Zoe Laufer at the Drake. It is engaging, suspenseful, and powerful as we watch a father and his 17-year-old daughter try to figure out how to reply, not just to the woman, but to the events around them.

            The play begins in the home where Paul (Dan Hodge) and Mary (Katlyn Zion) live. Hung on the walls are crucifixes and a portrait of jesus. But we soon learn that they are trying to blend into a society that doesn’t know their true identities. Mary’s real name is Sarah.

            The third major player before the woman arrives is John (Gabriel Elmore), a good-looking young man who is in Mary’s senior class in high school. They have serious crushes on each another, and he is to be taking her to the senior prom. But not only does he not know of Mary’s real identity, he is also part of the youth group that seeks to root out all those who oppose the regime. They are seeking “to take the country back” from the Jews, the gays, the non-whites, and even the women, who are prohibited from attending college. When the old woman, Chava (Stephanie Satie) arrives, they cannot let John know about her and they hide her in the basement. Paul doesn’t even want to keep her there, lest their true backgrounds be revealed.

            So who is this old woman? She says she is Mary’s great aunt. She says she’s been married over a dozen times. She says she lived 1000 years ago. The only things we can be reasonably sure about is that she is Jewish and speaks Yiddish. And that is a threat to Paul- revelation of hiding a Jew can lead to serious consequences and his only goal is to protect his daughter. Her mother, his wife, disappeared mysteriously a few years earlier.

            Chava awakens in Mary a sense of what is means to be a Jew, and it threatens the precarious situation in which it challenges Paul’s attempt to let them “blend in” to their new life. She makes Mary laugh. She gives her a sense of history.

            We are riveted for every moment of this 95-minute drama, but also the effective comedic touches that Laufer has given us, like the results from the downloading of the Yiddish app on Mary’s phone to understand what Chava is saying, before we realize it won’t be needed. And what will happen to many of the professions usually dominated by Jews if they are eliminated? But what struck me so powerfully were the brief descriptions of Jewish identity based upon the centuries of repression.

            The ensemble is terrific- so honest, so real, so conflicted. From the challenging daughter to the protective father, from the questioning young suitor to the mysterious yet sweet old woman, they all create memorable characters. Director Seth Rozin does a superb job bringing this dystopian future play to life. I loved every minute!

“The Last Yiddish Speaker” by Deborah Zoe Laufer at InterAct Theatre Company at The Drake, 302 S. Hicks St., Philadelphia, PA 19102, 215-568-8079  interacttheatre.org  Thru April 21, 2024