Ari’el Stachel’s autobiographical solo show, Out of Character, now playing at Theater J, opens with what, in any other showbiz biography would be seen as a career highlight: The cymbals, fanfare, and shimmering lights that accompanied Stachel’s 2018 Tony Award win for playing Haled in The Band’s Visit. Instead of celebrating, he finds himself in the grips of anxiety. Attempting to hide from groupies and industry people, he retreats to the restroom where he collapses.
From this point, Stachel moves through his life mostly chronologically, starting with the first meeting of his parents at an Israeli folk-dancing event: his mother, an American-born Ashkenazic Jew studying medicine, and his father, an American immigrant born into Israel’s Yemenite Jewish community. (Though Stachel will elsewhere mock his attempts to learn ballet and hip-hop, in scenes where he plays his father, he proves to be a capable folk dancer.) He portrays his childhood self beginning to struggle with anxiety and obsessive compulsiveness; at a young age, he personified his anxiety as “Meredith,” named after the evil stepmother in the 1998 film The Parent Trap.
At his Jewish day school, his Yemenite heritage means he is noticeably darker than his mostly Ashkenazi classmates (Ashkenazim trace their ancestry to Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe, and constitute the majority of Jewish Americans). To further stand out, young Ari spends an entire school year speaking only in the Israeli accent he copied from his father.
He spends his childhood transferring between various public schools. At one he presents himself as White; at another school he passes as Black. But each time his new friends meet his father, he’s immediately ostracized: In the wake of September 11, 2001, his father is perceived to resemble Osama bin Laden. Young Ari’el lacks both the vocabulary and a receptive audience to address the xenophobia and explain the multiplicity of Jewish identity (most Israeli Jews, like Stachel’s father, trace their family histories to the Middle East or North Africa).
While attending a performing arts high school, Ari’el is accepted into the musical theater program at NYU, where again he passes as Black. Years go by before he owns his Middle Eastern identity as part of a class assignment about performing honestly, but he still isn’t completely open about being Jewish too.
After NYU, and many small parts, he’s cast in the role that eventually earns him a Tony. But the casting causes tension between himself and his Arab American actor friends; he’s castigated as a Jew who took a job they think should have gone to an Arab. Out of Character presents this as a step in Stachel’s personal growth but the political element goes unexplored. Instead, Stachel’s retort alludes to Yemen’s ancient Jewish community forced to flee to Israel as refugees. However, it gives the impression that either Stachel is not ready to address this part of his family’s traumatic history or that it simply wouldn’t fit within the play’s story arc of overcoming personal adversity and finding success in show business.
Scenic designer Afsoon Pajoufar has enclosed Stachel inside a minimalist set characterized by four smooth red surfaces that meet at the back of the stage forming a corner of some huge polyhedral chamber. On these featureless surfaces Alexander V. Nichols projects tiled walls, rectangles of light, and abstract geometrical shapes. Are those surfaces meant to appear like facets of a gemstone—a metaphor for the facets of Stachel’s character? Or are the projections a metaphor for the way others have projected identities onto him?
At NYU, Stachel learns an actor is “a poet, an athlete, and a scholar.” In Out of Character, Stachel’s compelling exploration of the contradictions of his identity might make him a poet. His ability to sustain an energetic 80-minute performance where he physicalizes an entire supporting cast might make him an athlete. But if gaining insights by placing these experiences into a context greater than himself is what makes him a scholar, then he’s not there yet.
Out of Character is very much a work in progress, as much as both the author and subject are works in progress. Initial brainstorming between Stachel and director Tony Taccone began shortly after his Tony win, which led to the show’s premiere at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in June of 2023. New scenes have been added to the current production to reflect upon the latest war between Israel and Hamas, somewhat disrupting Stachel’s intended happy ending of coming to grips with his anxiety and accepting his identity. After the war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, Stachel, like a number of Jewish people, wanted to do something. He believed that as a prominent Middle Eastern Jewish American he could use his social media presence to promote dialogue between communities; instead, he found himself unprepared for the online abuse that followed. Out of Character portrays this episode vividly, but it defies any effort Stachel might make to incorporate it into the story of his overcoming and healing, making it an uncomfortable sidebar. One wonders if this will be the work of the next iteration of the show, or even a show yet to be composed.
Theater J and Mosaic Theater present the Berkeley Rep production of Out of Character, written and performed by Ari’el Stachel, directed by Tony Taccone, at Theater J through Jan. 26. theaterj.org. $39.99–$79.99.