After his mother-in-law hosted her first seder, Jarrett Byrnes told his wife, “This is a play.” Writer Lila Rose Kaplan told her husband that if that were true, the play better be a comedy.
Or maybe, she considered, a dramedy. Growing up, Kaplan experienced seders of various flavors, because her immediate family generally visited relatives for the holiday, rather than staying home. No doubt all that influenced Kaplan’s new seder-centric play, “We All Fall Down” – a production rich in heart and complicated feelings. Bear in mind, there’s also a rubber chicken. Don’t jump to any conclusions.
The show, which premiered in Boston in 2020, makes its regional premiere at the New Jewish Theatre, May 30 – June 16. Directed by Artistic Director Rebekah Scallet, the production stars NJT favorite Alan Knoll (“Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” etc.) and Mindy Shaw (“The Immigrant”) as Saul and Linda Stein.
Saul, a professor who has abruptly decided to retire, and their grown daughters are stunned when Linda, a brilliant psychologist, announces that, for the first time ever, they are going to have a seder. That turns out to be more complicated than Linda expected. Or than any of them did.
“This play is about people who are culturally Jewish, rather than observant,” said Kaplan, 43. It’s a perspective she appreciates. “When my grandmother decided to make a seder, she had to check out a book from the library. We weren’t particularly observant.”
But Kaplan’s parents and grandparents instilled in her a value that she considers profoundly Jewish – the value of sharing stories.
Playwriting, of course, is one kind of storytelling, and Kaplan dove in when she was still in high school. “I was that kid who always loved performing,” she said. “But what I loved about playwriting, that first time, was standing at the back and hearing the audience laugh.
“I’ve acted and I’ve directed. But that feeling I had in the back of the room, listening, has always stayed with me.”
It stayed with Kaplan through drama studies at Brown University and an MFA in playwriting from UC-San Diego. Today she lives in Somerville, Mass, with her husband, a marine biologist, and their 9-year-old daughter. And she keeps writing, 20 plays so far. The best part: Nearly all have been produced.
Some of them, including “The Magician’s Daughter” and her latest, “Leah and the Dybbuk,” are explicitly Jewish terms of subject matter, setting or character. But over time, Kaplan said, “I’ve come to think that all my plays are Jewish.”
“We are a culture of storytellers. Jews have a lot of generational trauma, and you treat that by telling stories over and over,” she said. “We often have survived difficult things by making them funny. by telling stories over and over. It’s one way we connect.”
Seen that way, “We All Fall Down” is easy to understand. “It’s a love story,” the playwright said, “a love story about how we all try to stay connected.”
“We All Fall Down”
Where: Jewish Community Center’s Wool Theatre, 2 Millstone Campus Drive
When: May 30-June 16
How much: $27-$59 at showpass.com/we-all-fall-down/
More info: Playwright Lila Rose Kaplan will participate in a talk-back with the audience after the 4 p.m. performance on June 1.
Artistic Director Rebekah Scallet will host two additional talkbacks with show audiences on Saturday, June 14 following the 4pm performance and on Thursday, June 6, following the 7:30 p.m. performance.
