Playwright: Joyce Piven and Stephen Fedo. At: Piven Theatre, 927 Noyes, Evanston. Phone: 847-866-8049; $25. Runs through: Dec. 16
Certain fiction writers blur the line between this world and some other world. They plant a story firmly within modern urban society and then seamlessly move into a dream world, a fantasy life, a spiritual universe. Such writers don't have to be Jewish, but it helps. What Dreams May Come offers stage adaptations of short stories by Barnard Malamud and Isaac Bashevis Singer, great masters of mood and the mystical, plus a third story by Delmore Schwartz that's literally dream-like yet not as other-worldly as its companions. With attention to period costuming ( by Nikki Delhomme ) , richly chiaroscuro lighting ( Pete Dully ) and choreographed movement ( Marla Lampert ) , this loving staging at Piven Theatre firmly establishes a redolent atmosphere of the half-seen, the unknown, the dream-state.
Without question, this 80-minute show weaves a spell, and yet it isn't really 'American Visions Through Jewish Eyes,' as it proclaims itself. Yes, the authors and characters are Jews and the stories are set in the United States ( well, in New York City ) . But none of the three really explores what it means to be a Jew and an American, or what you do if Jewish and American values conflict. There are notable authors who address this issue—Philip Roth and Joseph Heller come to mind—but that's not the case here.
The opening tale, Schwartz's In Dreams Begin Responsibilities, is, in fact, a dream given highly effective staging utilizing slow motion, rapid movements and sound to take us back to the silent movies and Coney Island of 1909. In a dream, a young woman witnesses the courtship of her parents. She sees a mismatch leading to a disastrous marriage and the dreamer's perception of herself as a monster. But what may be true and what may be the young woman's own fears is left unspoken.
Malamud's The Silver Crown is the tale most about the conflict between modern urban cynicism and faith. It's a brief psychological study of a man willing to try anything, even faith healing, to aid his dying father. Is the old Bronx rabbi he consults a scam artist? Or can he really channel the healing powers of the Almighty? And what are the son's real motives? A darkly comic tale, it ends with a punch line of sorts.
Singer's story, A Wedding in Brownsville, is the most Jewish in detail but possibly the least Jewish in theme; a simple tale of a man meeting the ghosts of his past, chief among them the great, lost love of his life.
Taking the principal roles are the B's in Piven's bonnet: Brent T. Barnes, Ravi Batista and Bernard Beck, all of whom deliver varied, effective and understated performances with lots of subtext under Joyce Piven's caring direction.