High Holidays

STOMP THING Zuppa gets percussive.

Photo: Liz Lauren

Chicago playwright Gross’s new comedy revolves around a communal ritual that has deep meaning for its communicants, even if it seems arcane and even incomprehensible to outsiders and younger generations. Yes, for all its liberal seasoning with Yiddish and references to the Pentateuch, High Holidays is at heart another act of boomer self-mythologizing. The trouble that young quasi-narrator Billy Roman (Zuppa) has preparing for his 1963 bar mitzvah, while it dominates the opening act, quickly recedes to the background once older brother Rob (Custer) returns home to announce he’s dropped out of college to become a folk singer. A Jewish folk singer from the Midwest. And that 1963 bar mitzvah is scheduled for late November; Billy’s not the only one about to lose his innocence. Something is happening, and we know all too well what it is, Mr. Gross.

Robman and company stage High Holidays with gusto. While all four actors deliver strong performances, Altay’s Essie is a particular treat: a foul-mouthed matriarch who breaks up her sons’ and husband’s fights by beating them with her slipper. Altay finds just the right blend of passion, tenderness and smoldering resentment for this family pillar. The homecoming scene in which Essie strips Rob of his ragged accoutrements provides the night’s comic highlight. Gross can put together a one-liner and offers a wealth of historical references, but to call the central situations here stock would be an insult to bouillon.

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