Theatre Review: A Jewish Boy Dares to Pursue His Dreams in 'Asher Lev'

THE TAMPA TRIBUNE
By Walt Belcher

Georgina McKee, left, Chris Crawford and Brian Webb Russell
star in the Amercan Stage’s production of “My Name is Asher Lev.

FLORIDA---When a young Jewish lad is compelled by an overpowering artistic desire to draw and paint, this passion disrupts his family and upsets many in the Hassidic community in their Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood. Not only does Asher Lev defy the wishes of his strict, religious father, the boy dares to paint abstracts of crucifixions, sensitive subject matter in the early 1950s for both Christians and Jews. And therein lies the conflict in "My Name is Asher Lev," a successful off-Broadway play that the American Stage Theatre Company is presenting as the second production of its summer series. Adapted from a 1972 novel by the late noted Jewish author and Rabbi Chaim Potok, the play explores the struggle between religion and art, father and son, and peer pressure and individuality. [link]