Behind the Gates
Wendy Graf’s latest drama explores the Orthodox world behind Jerusalem’s Haredi settlement of Mea Shearim—literally interpreted from Genesis as “100 Gates.” From behind the wall separating this community and its laws from secular interference a troubled American teenager, Bethany (Annika Marks) disappears after converting to the faith. Seduced by the fervent devotion she believes gives her life significant meaning, the newly named Bakol soon discovers a silent but insidious attitude towards women that challenges the very tenets she tries to uphold.
Desperate to find their daughter, Jerry (James Eckhouse) and Susan Leiberman (Keliher Walsh) journey through Jerusalem with the aid of a hired P.I. and tour guide, Ami Dayan (Steven Robert Wollenberg). As they try to piece together clues that eventually leads them past the gates into a world scarcely seen by outsiders, they learn more about themselves and the daughter they fear they will never see again.
The play raises more questions than provides easy answers for a problem facing many religious communities that self-govern and restrict the rights of their citizens, particularly those who have the least power within the community such as women and children. Although the play focuses primarily on the Haredi, Graf takes great pains to present a balanced perspective of the Orthodox faith, revealing the tantalizing allure of an ancient religion devoted to the teachings of Hashem. Text taken from Bakol’s prayer book and the Torah and Talmud celebrates compassion and reverence for all people, but like many faiths, the words alone cannot guard against their being twisted to keep a silent minority trapped into a life of submission and abuse. Exacerbating the religious issues are the customs such as strictly enforced ‘modesty’ laws, the Shabbat, and the lack of outside contact within these Orthodox neighborhoods that keeps victims from speaking out for fear of expulsion, physical attacks or in rare cases, murder.
Prior to the show’s casting, Graf met some resistance from members of the press and within the theatre community concerned that the volatile subject matter might propagate anti-Semitic views. This is hardly the case as Graf sensitively addresses the piety and enduring faithfulness inherent in the religion, its people and the layered complexities in a city everyone claims as their own. To the secular, the world beyond the 100 Gates is foreign and daunting, but for the haredim, the world outside their gates is just as alien and in some ways more fearful too.
The simple but easily transitional set design by Stephanie Kerley Schwartz features stone wall facades that typifies Graf’s repeated refrain of walking amongst the ancient stones so many have walked before along with a movable veil suggesting the inscrutable barriers inherent in the vast differences of the peoples and their faiths.
The dynamic cast and direction by David Gautreaux feelingly portrays the fervent passions and frustrations from conflicting customs and difficult communication. Wollenberg and Tom Beyer as the Embassy contact give solid performances as liaisons for the Leiberman’s. Walsh is completely sympathetic as a determined mother and Eckhouse is a powerhouse of simmering emotion. Marks is riveting in the nearly half hour opening monologue that arcs from an explosive tirade peppered with expletives to a hopeful convert enraptured by doctrine. Oren Rehany, Robyn Roth and Nicolas Mongiardo-Cooper each round off the cast with excellent dialects along with a genuine understanding of their roles.
Thoughtful and provocative, Graf goes behind the gates and asks hard questions about what lies beyond for the people of Mea Shearim, Israel and the outside world that rarely looks within.
“Behind the Gates”Runs through July 3
Fri and Sat at 8pm
Sundays at 2pm
Lee Strasberg Creative Center
Marilyn Monroe Theatre
7936 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, 90046
PH: 323-960-5772
www.Plays411.com/Gates
A panel discussion on “The Role of Women in Conservative Religion” follows on May 23
A panel discussion on “The Many Faces of Israel” follows on June 6.