You might remember a Long Wharf Theatre production of this same play in 2017, which moved to off Broadway. It’s difficult to dramatize this, and Playhouse on Park’s simple setting of glass windows, a few chairs and tables and an easel makes this an actor-centric rather than design-driven exercise. Asher’s rebellion against his parents is contained within his paintings.

It’s about passion for art, not for other people. This is after all, a coming-of-age story that’s not about romance. In the title role is Jordan Sobel, who overdoes the Brooklyn accent and is generally too broad-shouldered and manly for a character who must age from childhood to adulthood in the space of 90 minutes without the aid of make-up or costume changes.

Playhouse on Park, which had some success in 2016 with a different Posner adaptation of a Chaim Potok novel - “The Chosen” - is staging “My Name is Asher Lev” through May 12. It acts out the bits that can be acted out and turns the other bits into a broken-up monologue in which Asher Lev tries to make sense of his coming-of-age adventures. His questions about religion, family and society at large find their way into his art, which impresses some (including art dealers and critics) and concerns others (mainly his Hasidic parents).Īaron Posner’s stage adaptation starts with Asher’s memories of making art and continues through his first flush of notoriety as a painter in the heady New York art world of the mid-20th century. Based on the celebrated 1972 novel by Chaim Potok, it traces the development of a young Jewish boy who becomes a prominent artist.

Chaim potok paintings