Broken Glass comes to Pico Playhouse
Although the play "Broken Glass" was written late in the career of the great American playwright Arthur Miller (1994), it was his first to deal thematically with problems that were deeply disturbing to American Jews of his generation: assimilation, self-hatred, and the dire circumstances of their European co-religionists in the days leading up to World War II.
The setting is Brooklyn in the autumn of 1938. Sylvia Gellburg has been obsessively following news accounts of events in Nazi Germany. When she sees s newspaper photo of old Jewish men forced by Nazis to scrub a sidewalk with toothbrushes, she becomes mysteriously paralyzed.
Her husband, Philip Gellburg (that's Gellburg, not Goldberg, he repeatedly reminds) is the lone Jewish executive at a very Establishment banking firm. At first he is valued, but is later viewed with suspicion. He is never an equal. Philip loves his wife and is deeply concerned for her, but theirs has long been a sexless marriage.
The only one who gives the paralyzed Sylvia hope is her married physician, Dr. Hyman, who reminds Sylvia of her own sensuality.
Miller pulls off the feat of crafting a play dealing with specifically Jewish characters and substantive themes but that will nonetheless resonate with anyone from any group who wanted a sense of belonging both to their own immediate community and the larger community that is America.
"Broken Glass" was nominated for the Tony Award when it was first produced on Broadway.
The West Coast Jewish Theatre production of "Broken Glass" is helmed by Elina de Santos, one of Los Angeles' most acclaimed and prolific directors. Her numerous directing credits include shows for Rogue Machine, Pacific Resident Theatre, Odyssey Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Circus Theatricals, Berkshire Theatre Festival and the Pittsburgh Public Theatre.
Ms. de Santos' cast includes Susan Angelo, Michael Bofshever, Stephen Burleigh, Peggy Dunne, Renae Geerlings and Lindsay Ginter.
Set design: Erin Anne Brewster. Lighting design: Leigh Allen. Costume design: Melanie Watnick. Sound design: Bill Froggatt.