Not That Jewish

Review by Mavis Manus

NOT THAT JEWISH continues to pack in audiences at the Braid Performance Art Space. It opened for a five-week run last April, it is finally closing at the end of January – ten months later. Written and performed by Monica Piper and directed by Eve Brandstein it is a very funny and touching one-woman show. Piper, a seasoned comedian and Emmy-winning TV writer (Rugrats), looks back on her life in largely self-deprecating fashion. She talks about the love and support for and from her parents and her adopted son. But she also bravely confronts the dark side of her life – two failed marriages, pain-ridden death of her parents, her own bout with cancer. Somehow she always found the humor to allow her to survive and continue. When she told her son about her cancer diagnosis he said four words she had never heard him say in his 15 years, “I’ll do the dishes”. Piper grew up in a household where humor was the coin of the realm. Her parents had toured the country doing a record act and her feisty grandmother loved bawdy jokes. Piper tells her story in such an honest way that it becomes not just compelling but universal.

Jewish Women’s Theatre, 2912 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica. 310 315-1400.

www.atthebraid.org.