🎭 Jewish-ish | "Jewish for Dinner" @ Santa Monica Playhouse

Affinity. The desire to be part of a group with similar likes and interests. It is one of the ways that we, as humans, come together to meet people and have fun together. Affinity comes from shared beliefs, shared hobbies, shared interests. My synagogue, Temple Ahavat Shalom in Northridge, has a number of these affinity groups (which we call small groups) to bring people together. One of them is a group of people that love to attend live theatre, which I coordinate.

My belief is that such a group, as it is under synagogue auspices, should attend live performance events that have a Jewish theme. It’s not right for a synagogue group to go see Christian-themed plays (e.g., Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, A Man for All Seasons), nor generally secular plays. I also don’t want it to be all Holocaust, all the time. So I try to find interesting Jewish plays, and along the way, introduce the group to small theatres they may never have seen. So we’ve seen shows such as Sukkot at 6th Street/Skylight Theatre in 2024, Treyf at the Geffen Playhouse in 2022, It Shoulda’ Been You at MTG in 2020;  in 2022; It Shoulda’ Been You at MTG in 2020; Eight Nights at Antaeus in 2019;  and numerous online things during the pandemic: Shared Legacies at JWT;  Stars of David at the Y! I Love Yiddish Fest; Fabulous Fanny Brice; Allan Sherman Unmasked!; and Jews, God, and History (Not Necessarily In That Order). I should also note that, because of these writeups, I’m viewed as a theatre critic by some publicists; as such, I get lots of press release mailings and invitations to shows.

One of those lists is the mailing list for the Santa Monica Playhouse. We were there a long time ago — way back in 2014 — to see Author Author, a play they do on Sholom Aleichem (In fact, they will be doing it again in May 2026). A mailing from them in December 2025 mentioned a play they were doing: Jewish For Dinner:

Santa Monica, CA. December 10, 2025. The Santa Monica Playhouse Jewish Heritage Program is excited to present the WORLD PREMIERE of Lou Borenstein’s play Jewish for Dinner.

Ruth Cohen finally finds the perfect man to love, marry, and above all else, bring home to her Conservative family. But she neglected to ask one, small question: Is he Jewish? Or, can he at least fake it?

The play is based on the short film “Jewish for Lunch,” that won Best Comedy at the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival, Best Comedy and Best Actor (Rylie Decocq) at the Mentone Film Festival, and Best Jewish Short Film at the Anatolian Film Festival in Turkey. Written & directed by Lou Borenstein.

This sounded like a perfect outing for our TAS Live Theatre Group. So I sent out a message, and we ended up with a group of 19-22 people at the show (we have 19 in the group photograph, but my RSVP count was 20, and I was told we had one or two more after that who didn’t tell me they were coming). We had a delightful dinner at Fromins Santa Monica beforehand (it’s no Brents (our local deli in Northridge), but there are few like Brents), which has been in Santa Monica for 47 years under family ownership.

So, on to the show itself.

As the Press Release noted, Jewish for Dinner is an expansion and extension of the 2022 13 minute short film, Jewish for Lunch, featuring much of the original cast. You can see the original film on YouTube. The situation in the film (which is still in the play) was expanded with more backstory and context; there was also a resolution added turning this from a filmed situation into a broader story with some deeper questions. The SM Playhouse did a staged reading of this back in August 2025, and now they have mounted the full play.

The basic story ties back to how I opened this writeup: affinity. Shared interests often lead to the desire, as we form relationships, to bring “like” together: people from the same background, the same religion, the same culture. This often reduces friction and provides common touchpoints and language. So this play’s setup is this: Conservative (as in the Conservative Movement in Judaism; not politically) Jewish family. Father, mother, two adult kids. Regular Shabbat dinner. A friend comes over, and is playing with the dating apps on her phone. The daughter comments how hard it is to find a nice Jewish guy. The friend suggests dating out of the faith. She dismisses the idea, giving numerous examples of how her family wouldn’t accept it or how it is doomed to failure. She also kvetches about the synagogue adding a high-holiday service they for which they are charging … something called Tashlich. The family notes this shouldn’t be a surprise: the synagogue is remodeling and needs more money for the remodel. There’s an argument about how she wouldn’t mind donating the money, but doesn’t like the subterfuge of the added service. She decides to go into the synagogue to complain. When she gets there, the Rabbi is in a meeting with a handsome architect, David Green, over some rolled architecture diagrams (that look like a Torah scroll). Insert a meet cute, and the fact that she doesn’t know that David Green is actually not Jewish. They quickly fall in love, and he proposes. Then, as they say in the sitcom world, hijinks ensue. We have family dinners with the usual confusions and problems. We have meetings with the Rabbi. We have fights, and the inevitable reconciliations. C’mon, you don’t really believe they would stay broken up over this?

If you’ve made it this far into the writeup, you’re probably wondering what I thought of the play. There are two ways to look at this, modulo some quibbles I’ll mention in a few.

First and foremost, this is a very funny play. My wife and I were laughing quite a bit, and our temple group also greatly enjoyed the play. There were situations that we recognized, and it captured much of American Jewish culture today, with all of its stereotypes.

That said, it also felt at times like an episode of The Neighborhood. Now, we love that sitcom and find it very funny, but there are times that it telegraphs the train wreck that is about to occur. You get that feeling here. And, as with The Neighborhood, you find the wreck is averted by some little twist or story point that takes things in a redeeming direction. Still a bit of a train wreck, but still very funny.  And the basis of the train wreck is pretty easy to see: Non-Jew trying to blend in as Jewish, and (a) getting everything slightly wrong, and (b) the girlfriend in a panic because of it all.

But even with the gefilte fish out of the bathtub problem, the show has an interesting point to make: What makes someone Jewish? Is it simply an association by birth, even if one doesn’t understand or even know all the rituals (such as how the daughter was unaware of tashlich). Is it belief? Is it a desire to be part of the Jewish people and find meaning, as the boyfriend learns by the end? What is the ultimate problem with intermarriage? It used to be a big issue in the non-Orthodox community (it has always been a shanda in the Orthodox community). Reform started accepting it in the 1980s and it is now very common and accepted. Conservative Judaism used to prohibit such marriages, but even that attitude is changing.  So in raising these questions, I think this show can provide some good discussions about belief, Judaism, and interfaith marriage.

I think my biggest quibble is the setup, but that could easily be rectified by some writing fixes. The main problem: Tashlich is a pretty standard part of Jewish High Holyday practice. I know that it has been done at most Reform congregations I’ve been at (TAS does it at either Limekiln Creek or Lake Balboa). Further, as Tashlich is done off premises, there usually is not an extra charge on top of High Holyday tickets. For those who aren’t Jewish, you might be wondering about the practice of charging for services. For most Shabbats, there is no charge to attend services, except possibly a registration access due to security in these antisemitic times. But for the High Holydays, when even the non-observant Jews come to synagogue, there are often tickets used to ensure sufficient seats. These are typically included with membership, although some congregations charge extra for better (i.e., closer to the bimah) seats; there are also charges for additional tickets. Note that there is often an unticketed family service open to the community; and of course in these post-COVID days, there are often live-streamed services. But back to the play: I’ve never known about an extra charge for a tashlich service.  This easily could be changed to something else for which there is a charge — perhaps a Sukkot-dinner, perhaps some other event. But using tashlich as an excuse took me out of the story.

There were some directorial quibbles. At times, the projections still had the menu bar at the time and the Apple finder at the bottom. For a Conservative Jewish household, they had some mannerisms that were less than Conservative (but, then again, that’s common in Conservative families). During the High Holyday service, they seemed to do the mourner’s kaddish in the middle of the service. The hatza-kaddish (half-kaddish) I could understand, as that separates segments, but the full mourners kaddish is at the end. Some folks in our group indicated they had to stifle the desire to stand up during some of the prayers. But I think these are all minor quibbles, and ones that would be ironed out in a production that ran longer or had a greater budget.

I do have one more major quibble, and it is a common one these days: I absolutely hate having programs that are only available via QR code. You can’t easily look at them during the show; you don’t have a long term record; and most importantly, they have no archival quality because websites change, are reorganized, or disappear. That online program of today will be gone tomorrow. Shows, at minimum, should have a one pager (which, if you fold it and print double-sided, can give you four “pages”). Give the basics about the show and cast. Even if you have to use a tiny-font (8 pt), and print in black and white, there should be something.

The cast was generally strong, which isn’t a surprise as many came from the short film. There seemed to be a few hesitation points, but I’m willing to write that off to this being a small theatre with a small number of runs. Kate Huffman, as Ruth Cohen (the daughter) was very strong, as was Rylie Decocq as the boyfriend. I also liked Daryl Mendelsohn as the Rabbi, as he had the right gravitas. Some of the mannerisms were a bit exaggerated, but that fits with the overall sitcom style. This is a case where a dramaturg might have helped with some fine tuning.

Jewish for Dinner runs until March 1, 2026 at the Santa Monica Playhouse. Tickets are $25 or less, and are available online through Showclix or by calling the box office at 310-394-9779 ext 1. This isn’t a deep show and is a bit sitcomish, but is very very funny and makes some good points. It was great for our theatre group, and would be a great show for synagogue groups.

The Santa Monica Playhouse is recovering from a water pipe break that damaged / destroyed their stage and dressing rooms. The stage is rebuilt; the backstage less so. They are still looking for donations, and did a plea at the end of the show. We supported them. You should to.

Credits

Jewish for Dinner. Written by Lou Stone Boren. Directed by Jeff Jackson.

Cast: Kate Huffman Ruth Cohen; Ryle Decocq Dave Green; Abby Kohl Mollie Green; Gregory Cohen Leo Cohen; Ben Horwitz Gabriel Cohen; Amanda Dolan Sheba; Daryl Mendelsohn Rabbi Rosh.

Production and Creative: Lou Stone Borenstein Playwright; Jeff Jackson Director; George J Vennes III Technical Director; Joseph Perez Playhouse Projects Coordinator; Sandra Zeitzew Public Relations; Chris DeCarlo and Evelyn Rudie Artistic Directors. Surprisingly, the program has no credits for sound (and there was sound), lights (and there were lights), projections (and there were projections), and stage management (because there is always stage management). Given the program is being done via QR code and online, those credits should be added to the program.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre ^NEW, and 5-Star Theatricals. We just added Chromolume Theatre as our intimate theatre subscription — we subscribed there pre-pandemic when they were at their West Adams location, but they died back in 2018. They started back up last year (but we had seen all their shows); this year, their season is particularly interesting: The Color Purple, If/Then, Elegies (during Hollywood Fringe), and Roadshow (nee Bounce) [by Steven Sondheim]. Mind you, these are all in the intimate theatre setting, and this will be the first time Roadshow has been done in Los Angeles, to my knowledge. Information on purchasing their 2026 season is here. Our previous intimate theatre, Actors Co-Op, seems to be on hiatus.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• January: ♣ Tom Chapin @ McCabes.
• February: ♦ Applause at MTG (at Broad Stage); ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya; ♣ Mandy Gonzalez in Concert: Broadway and Beyond at Broad Stage.
• March: ✡ MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals;  ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; ✡ MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; ✡ MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
• April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; 🧬 California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ⊕ ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101
• May: ♦ Anyone Can Whistle at El Portal Theatre; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.

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