A friend invited me to this one-man show at Theatre J largely because it is performed by her favorite writer/director, Josh Kornbluth who co-wrote and co-directed the film Haiku Tunnel. It's a great little film, so I agreed to go along, knowing pretty much nothing about the show except that it centers on Andy Warhol's Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century.It was a pretty good show, especially considering it was the premiere and clearly still in the works. After the show, four of the people behind the show (including Josh) sat down on stage to ask the audience questions about how the show worked and what might be done to improve or clarify sections. That was when we learned that the order of the sections of the show had only been settled on that morning, so it was understandable that Josh needed some prompting from the director at various points. I actually didn't mind at all, it lended a certain credibility to the whole thing.
As the show progresses we learn things about each of the ten subjects of the portraits. These vignettes ranged from very simple segments (about Albert Einstein) to much longer and involved stories that intertwined with Kornbluth's own life experiences. Those were the best parts, when a story about his own childhood bore a striking connection to one of the portrayed historical figures and their own life works. Personally, I really loved the story behind Martin Buber's "I and Thou" relationships and how this tied into one of Kornbluth's formative childhood experiences. Not only was it touching and telling, but it got me thinking about my own "I and thou" relationships.
There really isn't much talk in this show about what it is to be a Jew or what it means to be a Jew, but you do come away with a sense of the cultural significance of being a Jew and pride in being a part of the same religious and historical community as the ten Jews portrayed by Warhol. Also, the show is pretty funny.
