Apparently, the cultural and political time is now right—as should have been expected—for what can be categorized as Trans Plays. The new one is Emil Weinstein’s strong-minded Becoming Eve, adapted from Abby Chava Stein’s memoir delineating her life transitioning to Chava, a name translated (no pun intended) as Eve.
Much of Weinstein’s play takes place in a relatively small Upper West Side Manhattan building where rabbi Jonah (the always exceptional Tony-winning Brandon Uranowitz) has turned a relatively small second-floor room into a synagogue for a growing congregation practicing what he terms Transdenominational Renewal Judaism. Set designer Arnulfo Maldonado’s furnishings give a fitting impression of youngish rabbi Jonah’s modern approach to Judaism as he pushes the boundaries of Talmudic beliefs and interpretation.
On this particular afternoon, Jonah is graciously allowing Chava (Tommy Dorfman, who played Tybalt and the Nurse in the recent Romeo + Juliet) to carry out a long-postponed event. She has finally mustered the courage (or has she?) to tell her parents she is no longer their son. After knowing she was born a woman in a man’s body—a boy’s body—she wants to let them know she’s completed the change and couldn’t be more pleased and relieved about it.
It appears that, coming from a rabbinic background, a synagogue—even one as iconoclastic as this one—is the proper environment for the revelation. Without reservations, Jonah is encouraging her long-postponed urgent need. He’s offered the space as he is otherwise preparing his impending Rosh Hashanah address, which happens to be, as the Torah reading for the event determines, God’s declaring that Abraham slay his son, Isaac. It’s a portion of the Old Testament known as the Akedah. (More later about the script’s deliberate father-son juxtaposition and its meaningful relation to the work at hand.)
Though Chava is expecting both parents, only Tati (Richard Schiff, properly autocratic) arrives, claiming he insisted his wife remain home for such a tepid occasion on such a hot day. He thinks he’s been asked to a place he refuses to regard as a synagogue—and Jonah as a legitimate rabbi—for an apology. He’s present in a patriarch fashion to forgive his son’s recent family absences as well as to learn why Chava (whom he doesn’t yet know, of course, as Chava) won’t be attending his brother’s forthcoming wedding.
The set-up then is a father-son—no, more accurately a father-daughter—discussion. For the confrontation Chava, who entered in a minidress singing Ariana Grande’s here relevant “Break Free” has changed to a more genderless outfit (Enver Chakartash, the costumer.)
Hardly by the way, before Chava finally reports her news, what’s transpiring in the present is interrupted by several flashbacks filling in Chava’s life from birth. Featured, among others, is her Mami (the always welcome Judy Kuhn), showing love for her child, even singing to him. During these flashy scenes (representative lighting by Ben Stanton, sounds by UptownWorks) Chava, still speaking, is always represented by Amanda Villalobos’s puppets. In one of the scenes, Fraidy (Tedra Millan), whom Chava married when still a man and with whom she had a son, gets to speak. In perhaps the most touching of the sequences, three-year-old puppet Chava tells his mother he doesn’t want his hair cut. “I wanna be like my sisters,” he begs.
So, when Chava finally blurts her news, the ensuing scenes ingeniously demonstrate what might be expected to happen. Tati, steeped in Biblical doctrine, isn’t about to acquiesce to Chava’s explanations, explanations that incorporate radical notions of men born with women’s souls and vice versa. (Audiences may very well understand his resistance.)
Possibly, Tati’s refusal is expressed most adamantly when Chava tells Tati the name he’s taken—Chava’s English counterpart being Eve. He replies, “You’re kidding! Chava? Eve? Ha! The arrogance of this kid. Eve! If he’s a woman, he has to be the first woman who ever lived.”
While Becoming Eve centers on Chava’s attempt to reconcile with her father and, in absentia, her mother, playwright Weinstein also includes provocative ruminations on the meaning(s) of the Bible’s Abraham-Isaac section. Always (usually?) regarded as a tale about God’s test of Abraham’s obedience, these characters suggest a different motive.
What that is won’t be revealed here for reasons having to do with Becoming Eve as too intriguing a delve into the mysteries of the Old Testament. Weinstein’s interest in traditional religious practice in contrast with current alternative approaches—the tug-of-war between the ingrained and the reexamining—constitutes a significant part of the production’s appeal.
Becoming Eve opened April 7, 2025, at Abrons Art Center and runs through April 27. Tickets and information: abronsartscenter.org
