By Eileen Wingard
NCINITAS, California — Tu B’Av, the 15th Day of Av, is both an ancient and modern holiday. Originally a post-biblical day of joy, it served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women in the Second Temple period (before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.).
The staged reading of A Play for Tu B’Av, presented at the Hive at Leichtag Commons, Sunday evening, August 14, proved to be a delightful theatrical journey into six variants of love between two people. Five of the couples were from the San Diego Jewish Community and those of us familiar with the community were able to identify them, even though, in Ali Viterbi’s play, they remained nameless. The story of the sixth couple, whose love story wove seamlessly among the other tales, was based on the Biblical account of Jacob and Rachel.
Tying all these dialogues together was the solo violin playing of my daughter, Myla Wingard. Her clever selections of Jewish music even included a brief excerpt from a piece composed by the musician of one of the segments.
The four actors, Jason Heil, Jamie Newcomb, Jackie Ritz and Sandy Campbell, took on the different roles with outstanding versatility. They were recruited by the director of the play and long-time director of the Lipinsky Jewish Arts Festival, Todd Salovey.
First of the anonymous couples was a pair who knew each other from preschool and became boyfriend-girlfriend in high school. Separated during their college years, they still remained loyal to each other and married in their twenties.
Another monogamous couple was bi-coastal, assisted by the bride’s aggressive mother, and had some wonderful “‘bashert” moments. They ended up not only marrying, but working together, with her being the vocalist for his band.
An unusual love story was that of an architect father who met a woman artist whom he introduced to his son. His son married her. The father and his wife loved the young artist as their own daughter.
A platonic friendship between two women from different Jewish cultures, one from South Africa, the other from Mexico, was beautifully enacted by Sandy Cambell and Jackie Ritz, each even taking on the accent of their place of origin.
The last couple depicted was that of two gay men. Their segment described how the medical doctor, a leader in the Jewish community, became attracted to the talented actor, the struggles they faced before gay marriage was legal and how they were finally legally united.
The epilogue focused on the breaking of the glass under the Chuppah, its many symbols, as the final act of the Jewish wedding ceremony. Following the shattering of the glass, which ended the play, Myla played “Siman Tov and Mazel Tov, “leaving the audience on an upbeat celebrity note of joyous love.
Another inspiring note, the talented playwright, Ali Viterbi, a graduate of the San Diego Jewish Academy, JCompany, Yale University, author of many “Women of Valor” segments and her play, In Every Generation, is getting married this coming weekend. We wish her the love and happiness she so vividly described in her beautiful A Play for Tu B Av.
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Eileen Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com