Berkshire on Stage

Ari’el Stachel, playwright and solo performer in his one-man show at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn, describes his motivation for writing this script:

“When I started writing OUT OF CHARACTER six years ago, I had no idea where it would lead.  All I knew was this:  as a Yeminite-Israeli-Ashkanazi-American- Jewish actor, no role would ever fully speak to my experience unless I wrote it myself.”  (Instagram @arielstachel, weekly series)

Playing over forty characters in this production, Stachel not only reveals his towering strengths as an actor, but also demonstrates how crucial it has been for him to immerse himself in these roles as a means of concealing his lifelong battle with a severe anxiety disorder.  But in this autobiographical portrait of the artist, Stachel has decided to add a narrator—himself—as he steps out of character and confronts his illness in public.   Through laughter, tears, and a whole lot of sweating, Stachel invites us to join him on this journey, beginning at the height of his career as a Tony award winner for Best Featured Actor in THE BAND’S VISIT, then catapulting backwards to the childhood struggles that led him to this point.

OUT OF CHARACTER  has been performed three times before this iteration:   in 2023, Tony Taccone, then Artistic Director of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, helped Stachel to focus and shape his play, leading to a full production at the Rep; last summer Berkshire Theatre Group included it as a developmental work in their New Jewish Play Festival; and there was a collaborative production in Washington, D.C. this past winter.  Taccone has come to the Berkshires to sharpen the Berkeley Rep Production that he brings to the Berkshire Theatre Group.   According to Stachel’s Instagram posts, its next stop is New York City.

As a child of six, Stachel was diagnosed with OCD, ADHD, and a generalized anxiety disorder, for which he was prescribed medication.  In the course of his play, we come to understand the roots of this anxiety as a Middle Eastern boy who spent his youth trying to erase both his Arab and Jewish identities.  The boys in his Hebrew School viewed him as an Arab (he was especially abused after 9/11), while the antisemitic students in a different school bullied him because he was a Jew.  Black students in Harlem were more accepting as he adopted their speech patterns and culture.   A Ugandan girlfriend saw him as white, while casting agents only offered him the chance to play terrorists.  He seemed to change schools as often as we change our clothes.  

After his parents separated, Stachel avoided his father, a Jewish Israeli from Yemen with an easily identifiable accent, for eight years.   Stung by antisemitism, Stachel pretended that this loving man was not his father.  Writing this piece helped the playwright in his healing process, as evidenced in a recent posting on Instagram, where, in an open letter to Zohran Mamdani (winner of the Democratic Primary for Mayor of New York), he urged the politician to condemn antisemitism in the strongest terms.

 During his Tony speech, Stachel, in tears, decried the many events he skipped with his parents over the years because of his need to distance himself from his Middle Eastern identity.   But he expressed his pride in having been offered the opportunity to deliver a positive portrayal of a character of his own race in THE BAND’S VISIT, as he looked out at his beaming, supportive parents.  

It is nearly impossible to describe the infinite amount of energy displayed by Stachel in this tour de force performance.  He admits that it takes everything he has—and he has everything.   He’s a singer, a dancer, an actor who is equally adept at comedy and raw confession.  His impersonations are spot on; his rapport with the audience is uncanny:  watch him as one look towards us conveys a torrent of words; seduced by his smile and yes, his OCD sweat, we can’t help but be drawn in by this incredible artist –by his bravery, his struggles, his honesty, his boundless talent.

Director Taccone has assembled a magnificent group of designers who have created a whole world for Stachel to play in though the stage is empty except for a chair!  Scenic Designer Afsoon Pajoufar and Alexander V. Nichols (who provides both lights and projections) have fashioned a pink lit upstage wall, looking like a large envelope, and a single pink square spotlight on the stage floor.  When Stachel needs a prop, it is either available through a small door in the wall or someone throws it in from backstage; when he needs to be in a smaller space he moves the chair to one side and lights create a room around him; lighting also helps with transitions, so essential in a one-person play;  projections are used cleverly throughout as are the sounds that go with them, thanks to Sound Designer Madeleine Oldham, who also provides the lively music.  Taccone’s direction keeps the seventy-five minute play moving at breakneck speed, with ingenious use of the stage and even the audience.  It seems to be over in the blink of an eye. 

Given the intense subject matter, Stachel reassures us: “But don’t worry, it’s not all trauma.  There are tons of characters.  And yes, it’s funny.”  Indeed it is.  A word to the wise:  catch this one before it leaves the Berkshires.  

OUT OF CHARACTER runs from June 30-July 26 at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre, 6 East St., Stockbridge.  For tickets call 413-997-4444 or online at www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org

Berkshire Theatre Group presents The Berkeley Repertory Theatre Production of OUT OF CHARACTER by Ari’el Stachel.  

Director:  Tony Taccone.  Cast:  Ari’el Stachel.  Scenic Designer:  Afsoon Pajoufar; Costume Designer:  Maggi Yule; Lighting and Projection Designer:  Alexander V. Nichols; Sound Designer/Dramaturg:  Madeleine Oldham. 

Production Stage Manager:  Tina Shackleford.

The performance runs 75 minutes with no intermission.