The Socialization of Ruthie Shapiro
Theatre West is often the host of new plays given their first exposure to an audience. Spoon River Anthology famously came from Theatre West. A new play by Barbara Nell Beery recently had its first production on the stage of this theatre. It is called the Socialization of Ruthie Shapiro.
Ruthie is a young Jewish girl (though her family doesn’t practice though her mother does seem to worry about kosher laws). Ruthie has no friends and ends up hooking up with a transplant from Texas named Loretta. Loretta is tall an a bit of an outcast herself. Ruthie’s brother, at the request of her mother, is coaching Ruthie to become popular by watching the way she dresses, acts and being picky about who she hangs out with. Ruthie shows a dash of independence and sincerely develops a love for her new friend. Her brother sees her kiss Loretta on the cheek and tells her that it means she is a lesbian. Ruthie eventually gets scared and drops Loretta as a friend.
The lesson here seems to be that there are social forces at work that make us conform and not follow our true feelings. Nothing new here but I found it troubling that Ruthie was presented as such a victim. Her brother, overplayed by Nick McDow, is a horror and has one note, screaming. Her mother is also super passive except to express her desire for Ruthie to be popular. It is also pressing the limits of believability when we discover that Loretta, true to stereotype, is prejudiced against
Jews. What the play does have going for it is Ms Beery’s command of dialogue and her good sense of humor that mitigates some of the bathos of the story. Perhaps with a stronger cast and better director the playwright might have learned more about her play and done rewrites. The Socialization of Ruthie Shapiro plays at Theatre West until July 11.