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DECEMBER 10, 2020
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‘True Colors’ Depicts American Judaism’s Diversity
T H EATER
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
A YOUNG WOMAN’S Cuban
Jewish mother forbids her from
dating a non-Jewish Puerto
Rican boy. A Chinese Jewish
writer encounters racism
during a meeting that could
launch his career. An adopted
Black Jewish girl is embraced
by her parents but rejected by
her aunt.

These are just some of the
stories in “True Colors,” a
play about the ethnic, racial
and cultural diversity of the
American Jewish community.

Theatre Ariel in Merion Station
partnered with The Braid, the
Los Angeles-based Jewish
theater company formerly
known as Jewish Women’s
Theatre, which created the play,
as well as with Jews in ALL Hues
to bring a virtual production of
the performance to the second
salon of their season on Dec. 3.

The show features actors
Brie Eley, Heidi Mendez,
Joshua Silverstein, Katherine
Washington and Kimberly
Green performing monologues
written by Jews of color about
their experiences with race,
love, family and faith. The
monologues are interspersed
with musical performances by
Washington and Silverstein.

Some of the play’s charac-
ters are born to families who
can trace their Jewish ancestry
back for generations. Others are
adopted or convert to the faith.

Some have two Jewish parents,
others have one — or zero.

They all share their experiences
searching for community as
a part of a minority within a
minority. One actor, Silverstein, also
contributed his own monologue
for the play. In addition to
portraying a Black man from
Michigan who is raised Baptist
and converts to Judaism when
he starts dating a Jewish man
in “Sabbath Peace,” Silverstein
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Katherine Washington (top) plays violin while Joshua Silverstein
beatboxes in “True Colors.”
Courtesy of Theatre Ariel.

I literally felt like it was me speaking. It just felt
so surreal, very touching. I had tears in my eyes.”
TANYA GOLD
performs as himself in “Special.”
The comedic monologue
narrates how his reliance on
his identity as a lone Black
Jewish “unicorn” to provide
him with a sense of self morphs
into something more whole-
some and loving when he joins
a community of other Jews of
color as a young adult.

There are common threads
running through each of the
stories: questions about identity,
experiences with racism inside
and outside the Jewish commu-
nity, and a desire to find one’s
place in the world. A partic-
ularly heartwarming theme
is the presence of supportive
non-Jewish family members
and partners in the subjects’
lives. Many
non-Jewish parents of Jewish children in
the play support the cultural
and religious upbringing their
Theatre Ariel’s founding
artistic director Deborah Baer
Mozes and playwright Jesse
Bernstein hosted a Q&A session
with the actors, director Susan
Morgenstern and a selection
of writers who contributed to
the play.

Several of the writers and
story subjects spoke about what
it was like to see the actors
portray their experiences in
front of an audience.

“I literally felt like it was me
speaking. It just felt so surreal, very
touching. I had tears in my eyes,”
Tanya Gold said. She was featured
in her sister Gee’s monologue,
“The Men in My Life.”
Maria Ramos-Chertok
wrote a story performed by
Mendez about her experience
growing up as the daughter
of a mother who converted to
Catholicism from Judaism and
a Catholic Cuban father.

“All of these stories were like,
‘Oh, these are my people!’” said
“I related to every story, different
aspects of every story. And it just
made me feel less alone.”
Mozes expressed gratitude
for the partnership that made
the performance possible and
pointed out that it never would
have happened if not for the
pandemic. “I truly believe this is a really
important work of theater,
particularly for this moment in
time, in American discourse,”
she said.

There will be additional
screenings of “True Colors” on
Dec. 12 and 13, and tickets are
available at theatreariel.org/
single-tickets-2020. l
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Jewish spouses desire for their
kids with love and enthusiasm,
even if they do not convert
themselves. In “The Men in My Life,”
written by Marissa Tiamfook
Gee, Green portrays a woman
whose non-Jewish Black father
hosts Passover seders and
oversees her Jewish education
after the death of her white
Jewish mother. She later
marries a non-Jewish man who
makes her a tallis out of one of
his treasured family heirlooms.

In “Beit Din,” written by M.

A. Hosein, Eley plays Monique,
a Black woman converting to
Judaism who consults her rabbi
about dating a non-Jewish
psychiatrist. After realizing they
share the same values, the couple
gets married and decides to raise
their daughter Jewish.

After the performance,
JEWISH EXPONENT
DECEMBER 10, 2020
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