June 2004: Donald Margulies’ play, What's Wrong With This Picture? opened with the conclusion of shiva , informing us that this was a play about a Jewish family. And this was further enforced when Bella, the grandmother, insisted on sending rugelach off with the last departing visitors. It also hinted at the solemnity/levity aspect of the play. It was on the background of the shiva that the conflicts, tensions and disappointments of the family were revealed, and it was at the conclusion of the shiva that Shirley, the late, lamented mother, returned. She came back to sustain her husband, Mort, and her son, Artie, until they were ready to let her go and continue with their lives. But while she was back, she also indulged in a little housecleaning and straightening up!

Mort, the widower, was given to outrageous actions in his grief; while his son, Artie, struggled with his own grief and the incomprehensible fact of his mother’s death (she choked to death on a piece of Chinese food), attempted to help his father in his despair. This sometimes led Artie to unseemly expressions – his only way of ventilating his loss, since his father was incapable of giving him the support that he needed. He often broke down laughing and making jokes, mostly because he didn't not know what to feel or think. Laughter was the easiest course. It was his way to ward off the dark feelings waiting for him.

A contrapuntal effect was achieved by Mort’s mother, father and sister, a bizarre set of relatives, who had their own ideas of “grief therapy.” The play kept the audience bouncing between hilarity and pain as the son enlightened the mother and father on the painful necessity of letting go.

The show featured a fine set of veteran JEST actors, including

Marvin Meital
Brian Negin
Vivian London
Gail Kirschner

as well as two who were new to the JEST stage

Elinor Slater
Matanya Epstein

Directed by Leah Stoller