Hannah and Franklyn are a young, Jewish married couple, and so are their dearest friends: Martha and Ben. Ben and Frank are college buddies. Frank and Hannah are the quieter couple. Martha and Ben always argue, but not like, say, Albee’s ..Virginia Woolf. The four have trials, but love each other, and take it in stride.
Both couples are trying to get pregnant. They’ve spent years going to specialists, looking for a successful strategy. Through a couple of curious coincidences, Frank finds Allison, a college Freshman who prefers to find her baby a home, rather than explain to family in Iowa. Somewhere along the way, however, they get the impression that Allison’s Jewish, and she assumes Frank and Hannah are goyim.
In Kosher Lutherans, playwright William Missouri Downs has written an absorbing, entertaining narrative, both wisecracking and wise. Struggles endured by the friends are often crushing. Curveballs Martha describes as God’s way of blindsiding us. Humor can alleviate catastrophe. Downs has an intuitive feel these slapdash koans, seeming contradictions to explain deeper problems, like the point of suffering. Jokes to bridge the inexplicable and undeniably comical. “I bought strawberry lube, but my wife’s allergic.”
The second act is notably funnier, but that’s obviously the idea. Downs is faithful to what the story needs. What are Hannah and Frank willing to forfeit for an end to misery? Downs is cunning in his nuance. He manages a balance between handing out yarmulkes and characters so generic they might be agnostic or Wiccan.
Director Rick Tuman deserves kudos as well as his deeply involved, intrepid cast. Kurt Kelley (Franklyn) Sara Rashelle (Hannah) Trevor Smith (Ben) Kristi Smith (Martha) and Lydia Williams (Allison) keep the chemistry punchy and plausible. Believable but believably absurd. They avoid the urge to nudge us, leaving room to identify with characters. Instead of selling the punchline.
Kosher Lutherans engages us with the lives of friends who care so much, who offer guidance and warmth. Downs works in surprising turns, gags with chutzpah and pointed wit. Humor nearly coalesces with the hopeless. But somehow it works. This is a strong, touching, memorable show.
Rover Dramawerks presents: Kosher Lutherans, playing November 11th-20th, 2021. Cox Playhouse, 1517 H Avenue, Plano, Texas 75074. 972-849-0358. www.roverdramawerks.com