L IFESTYLE /C ULTURE
Writer’s Work Returning to Theatre Ariel
T H EATER
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
IN HER LAST THEATRE
Ariel production just before
the pandemic, Deborah Baer
Mozes put on “Dov and Ali,”
a show about the relation-
ship between an Orthodox
Jewish teacher and his Muslim
student. Th e founding artistic director
of the Main Line-based salon
theater company loved that
play because of its writer: New
York City-based Anna Ziegler.

As Baer Mozes recalled, “Dov
and Ali” had distinct characters,
dialogue that drew you into their
stories and journeys that kept
you interested.

Ziegler, according to Baer
Mozes, could engross you “in a
matter of moments.”
“I fell in love with her work,”
the director added.

So, almost two years later,
with Th eatre Ariel back open
in person at local synagogues,
Baer Mozes is putting on
another Ziegler production.

“The Wanderers,” the
playwright’s most recent work,
about a Satmar Chasidic couple
whose marriage was arranged
and a Jewish secular couple
who have been friends since
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childhood, will premiere
on Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. at Main
Line Reform Temple in
Wynnewood. Another in-person perfor-
mance will follow at the same
place the next day but at 2
p.m. Th e run will conclude
with two virtual shows the
following week on Feb. 26 and
27. For tickets, visit theatrea-
riel.org. Ziegler’s latest work explores
how two couples who are so
diff erent on the surface can be
quite similar when you dig into
their stories and confl icts.

“Th ere is much that binds
these couples in a play of twists
and turns about human nature,
marriage and what we neglect
to see,” reads a play descrip-
tion from a Th eatre Ariel press
release. “Th e Wanderers” will appear
in the Philadelphia suburbs
before its Off -Broadway run in
January 2023.

Baer Mozes called the play
“exquisite.” “Because she’s such a
skillful writer, you really get to
feel the pain of the struggle in
very down-to-earth ways,” the
director added.

Aft er the local run of “Dov
and Ali” in February 2020,
Baer Mozes started looking
into Ziegler’s oeuvre. She
learned of “Th e Wanderers”
because it was completing a
run at Th eater J in Washington,
D.C., around the same time.

More than a year later, in
the spring of 2021, the director
got a copy of the script from the
Alliance for Jewish Th eatre, “an
international network of Jewish
theatres and theatre artists,”
according to its website. Baer
Mozes was in the process of
planning her 2021-’22 season
and needed shows.

She began reading and fell
in love with Ziegler’s words all
over again.

“Aft er the fi rst paragraph,
I was there,” the director said.

Baer Mozes contacted
Anna Ziegler Photo by Jessica Nash
A performance of Anna Ziegler’s
last play to run at Theatre Ariel,
“Dov and Ali,” in February 2020
Courtesy of Rebecca Cureton
Ziegler about producing the
show, and Ziegler, for her part,
was excited; Th eatre Ariel had
put on one of her plays before
and now it wanted to put on
another. But there was an issue:
Th e Roundabout Th eatre Co.

held the rights and planned to
produce the show Off -Broadway
last spring.

“I didn’t think we were going
to get it,” Baer Mozes said.

Yet she kept calling Ziegler’s
agent, once, then twice. He
said he needed to reach out to
Roundabout, which had not yet
opened the show.

Finally, last summer,
on Baer Mozes’ third call,
Ziegler’s agent informed her
that Roundabout had granted
permission. “I was ecstatic,” Baer Mozes
said. Ziegler was, too. Th ough
she’s now working on scripts
for HBO Max and Apple TV,
she still considers herself a
JEWISH EXPONENT
playwright fi rst and foremost.

It’s just been hard to get any
work to the stage during the
pandemic years.

The playwright is not
planning on attending the
run because she’s still being
careful about avoiding the
virus. She also said she doesn’t
love watching her plays on
Zoom. But she is grateful.

“It’s just nice, especially
during a pandemic, people
are still out there reading your
work and want to make it
happen,” Ziegler said.

Th eatre Ariel’s most recent
play of the 2021-’22 season,
“Th e Sabbath Girl” by Cary
Gitter, drew in-person crowds
of 41 and 35 people, respec-
tively, during its run back in
December. Baer Mozes expects a similar
audience for “Th e Wanderers,”
even though, as COVID
continues, salon theater fans
are waiting until the last few
days to buy tickets.

“We have a very loyal
audience,” Baer Mozes said.

Th e salon theater has the
same COVID protocols as it
did at the end of 2021. Audience
members must show proof
of vaccination at the door
and wear masks during the
performance. ●
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