The new play Becoming Eve has announced its full cast. The play by Emil Weinstein, based on the memoir by Abby Chava Stein, will begin performances at Off-Broadway's Abrons Arts Center March 19, with opening night set for April 7, for a limited run through April 27. New York Theatre Workshop is the producer.
As previously announced, the cast will be led by Tommy Dorfman (Romeo + Juliet) as Chava, a rabbi who shocks her Hasidic community when she comes out as trans. The newly revealed cast includes Judy Kuhn (Fun Home) as Mami, Tedra Millan (Leopoldstadt) as Fraidy, Rad Pereira (Betty) as Chesky, Justin Perkins (Shank’s Mare) as Puppeteer, Emmy Award winner Richard Schiff (The West Wing) as Tati, Tony Award winner Brandon Uranowitz (Leopoldstadt) as Jonah, and Emma Wiseman (Three Houses) as Puppeteer.
The play has been a conversation starter since it was announced. Becoming Eve was initially supposed to be presented at the Connelly Theater. But following new content guidelines from the Connelly's landlord, the Archdiocese of New York (which shied away from works that discuss gender issues, including trans rights), NYTW was told they had to find a new venue for Becoming Eve.
The real-life Stein is considered the first openly transgender woman raised in a Hasidic community, and is a direct descendant of Hasidic Judaism's founder, the Baal Shem Tov. In 2015, she founded one of the first support groups nationwide for trans people with an Orthodox Jewish background who have left Orthodox Judaism. Stein is the first woman, and the first openly transgender woman, to have been ordained by an Orthodox Jewish institution, having received her rabbinical degree in 2011 before her coming out.
Becoming Eve will feature scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado (Yellow Face), costume design by Enver Chakartash (Romeo + Juliet), lighting design by Ben Stanton (Maybe Happy Ending), sound design by UptownWorks' Daniela Hart, Noel Nichols, and Bailey Trieweiler (Blood of the Lamb), puppet design by Amanda Villalobos (Wolf Play), and music by Daniel Kluger (Oh, Mary!). Claire Yenson is the casting director, and Jason Kaiser (Monsoon Wedding) will serve as stage manager.
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