THE STORY: Preparing for his bar mitzvah, Stanley Rosen is disconcerted by his proud mother’s promise to commission a chopped liver sculpture in his likeness, but even more concerned about his father’s decision to change the family name from Rosen to Royal. World War II has begun and the older Rosen, disturbed by a growing evidence of anti-Semitism, even in their provincial town of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, wants to disguise the family’s Jewish background. Although Stanley is very much a part of the local community, and even has a gentile girlfriend, Fern, he is uneasy with his father’s action which, he feels, is a betrayal of a proud heritage. With Fern’s help, and that of a sympathetic cousin, Manny, a shell-shocked veteran, he arranges a secret bar mitzvah in the proper family name. His father, angered and resentful at first, soon realizes that his son has shown a courage he has lacked—and as the play ends the family is once again united, and determined to face what may come with dignity and resolve.
Inspired by characters from Morley Torgov’s book,
A Good Place to Come From. The second of three related plays (
Today I am a Fountain Pen,
The Chopin Playoffs) which focuses, with warmth and beguiling humor, on Jewish family life in Ontario, Canada, at the beginning of World War II. This time the action deals with the approaching bar mitzvah of young Stanley Rosen, and the crisis which arises when his father, sensitive to the growing spectre of anti-Semitism, contemplates changing his name from Rosen to Royal.
“…Down-to-earth honesty, sincerity and love in the writing…” —BackStage.
“…an envious amalgam of wit, warmth and homey philosophy.” —New York Daily News.
“…the best thing I have yet seen from Horovitz, a triumphant affirmation of an early promise…” —New York Post.
