arts & culture
W JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
hen it commences its 32nd
season in October, Th eatre
Ariel will carry on the leg-
acy of its founding artistic director,
Deborah Baer Mozes, who retired aft er
the 2021-’22 season.

And so, when deciding on a theme for
the Jewish salon theater’s four shows for
2022-’23, new director Jesse Bernstein
did not have to brainstorm for long.

Th e theme will be legacy, as an email
from the theater revealed.

“What do we inherit? What do we
leave behind? What do we pass on to the
next generation,” it further explained.

But, as Bernstein elaborated, the sub-
ject is not just about the Main Line
24 organization continuing the legacy of
its founder. It is also a topic that is rel-
evant to Judaism — and specifi cally to
Judaism today.

“What we inherit from the genera-
tions before,” he said. “And also, as I
was reading scripts, that theme started
to emerge.”
Th eatre Ariel’s fi rst show of 2022-
’23, “We All Fall Down” by Lila Rose
Kaplan, is about whether a family’s revi-
talization of an age-old Jewish tradi-
tion, the Passover seder, can bring them
closer together. Its next play, “Ancient
History” by David Ives, features a couple
that eschews labels ... until the woman
realizes that her Jewish background
does mean something to her.

Both of those will premiere for the the-
AUGUST 25, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
ater’s intimate crowds in 2022, with two
more to follow in the fi rst half of 2023.

In 2022-’23, the theater will continue
its legacy of in-person performance.

It ended the 2019-’20 season online
because of the outbreak of COVID-
19. Th e 2020-’21 schedule played out
entirely on Zoom due to the ongoing
pandemic and last year’s shows were in
person for the fi rst two performances
and virtual for the next two.

Th is year’s plays will all be in per-
son with locations to be determined,
Bernstein said. Th e director, who served
as associate director under Baer Mozes,
said the theater still had 58 members
and an average crowd of between 40 and
60 people for its 2021-’22 performances.

Both of those numbers were in line with
pre-COVID standards.

“We are very much about the con-
versation around the show, as well as
the reading. We’re looking to create
community and dialogue,” Bernstein
said. “Th ere is a hunger for that. You
can still engage with your Judaism and
be entertained.”
Judaism is about continuity, he
explained. But in the Jewish community
of 5782, that continuity feels uncertain.

Synagogue membership is declining.

Many shuls in the Philadelphia area see
small crowds for Shabbat services.

Millennials are oft en unsure about
the degree to which they want to affi l-
iate. It’s become a common refrain for
local Jews of all ages to say something
along the lines of, “I’m not religious, but
I do appreciate my Jewish identity.”
But what, exactly, is that identity today?
It’s a question that, like so many in
Jewish life, really only leads to many
more questions.

“In terms of where we are right now
in American Jewry, one of the things
that is a question is how do you involve
more people? What are the important
things we want to pass on? And what are
we inheriting that we need to adapt?”
Bernstein asked.

And then, he asked some more.

“What are the things that are being
forgotten that we want to make sure
Jesse Bernstein
are not forgotten? What is the value of
Jewish culture and ideas and spiritual-
ity? How do we cling to that? How do
we communicate that? How do we pass
that on? Th at includes both the trauma
and the celebratory parts.”
Th ose are questions that Bernstein
is asking not just about modern Jewry
but about Th eatre Ariel. Th e director
wants to carry on Baer Mozes’ legacy
because he believes that Jewish art is a
valuable inheritance worth continuing
— and ultimately passing on to another
generation. At the same time, much like the aver-
age synagogue congregation in 5782,
Th eatre Ariel’s audience is older. And
fi nding younger members is an ongo-
ing challenge. Bernstein, who is 44,
is not sure where they are and how to
fi nd them.

Th e director and the theater’s co-pres-
idents, Marci Wilf and Judy Guzman,
are looking into collaborating with ven-
ues that are more accessible to younger
people, expanding the theater’s social
media presence and bringing younger
people into the organization and its
productions. “It’s going to be a process,” Bernstein
said. But one well worth undertaking.

“It’s important that our stories are
handed down,” Guzman said. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
Courtesy of Jesse Bernstein
Theatre Ariel’s New Season to
Explore Old, Contemporary
Jewish Theme