Generations of Jewish Identity -- 'Forward' and Back

"Spring Forward, Fall Back" opens in a dreamlike setting, as Richard Resnick, a 79-year-old Jewish jazz conductor, is confronted by four generations of his family. The stage gradually fills with Resnicks dead and alive: His father, his younger self in the 1940s, his son and his grandson all appear as the play progresses. The question is posed: After years spent struggling to assimilate, what has happened to this breed of secular Jews? Yiddish has fallen by the wayside, the kids barely know what Yom Kippur is and everyone is marrying shiksas. Should they even be calling themselves Jews?

As one of America's most respected directors and critics, Robert Brustein has debated about and written frequently on the subject of ethnic and racial assimilation. He is also a playwright, and his latest work focuses on what assimilation means for the future of the Jewish community. The question is daunting, says director Wesley Savick, who began his career as a student of Brustein's in the 1980s at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. But Savick says he's lucky to be working with a playwright who enjoys collaboration.

"It could have been a terrifying experience," Savick says. "I mean, he's living theater history. . . . He started the American Repertory Theatre. I grew up reading his book, '[The] Theatre of Revolt.' But the fact is, he practices what he preaches. He's really committed to the ensemble."

Indeed, the ensemble is what drives "Spring Forward, Fall Back." As four generations of fathers and sons and wives meet onstage, the spotlight is evenly distributed. Actors change roles as they shift from one generation to the next. Sometimes characters appear in the flesh; at other times, they appear as memories. Actor Mitchell Greenberg -- who plays Richard Resnick at 50 -- admits that for all six actors, it's a tough job.

"For the actor, it's a real challenge keeping straight who is in the room with me, and who's speaking to me as a ghost."

The intended effect is what Savick describes as a "theater of memory," built according to Brustein's plans. As director, Savick has to work with the common threads that run through the play. One of the most important links among characters, Savick says, is music.

The play itself is divided into three musical "movements," and, as Savick puts it, the changes in generation are defined by musical taste. Richard Resnick is the conductor of a jazz orchestra, and Artie Shaw is his passion. Richard's father, Abe (also Greenberg), has an affinity for Guy Lombardo. Son David (Sean Dugan) finds his muse in the Grateful Dead. Finally, Sean (Joe Baker), Resnick's 17-year-old grandson, discovers his niche in hip-hop.

"It's about a world where everything is slipping away," Savick says. "There's a palpable sadness there. But the audience watches this process, the playing out of sadness. When people re-experience that, they begin to take things into account. To take stock."

Greenberg says he has realized that some of the plays issues are his own. "These characters are pretty close to my experience," he says. "I've grown up with a lot of the characters in this play. I'm certainly not the only one who laments the loss of cultural identity. I have a 7-year-old daughter, and sometimes I wonder what she's going to do."

Actor Bill Hamlin -- who plays several older men in the play -- says that as a Jewish actor, he is also sympathetic to the plight of the Resnicks. "The play asks a question: To what extent does the melting pot become a mush?" he says. "But the play is not just about loss. Good things happen, and characters from the outside contribute to the Resnicks. And for this Jewish family, a germ of something does survive. And in the end, that really does define them."

Spring Forward, Fall Back Theater J 800-494-8497 Through Nov. 26