Source: philadelphia weekly online
Date: January 21, 2009
Byline: J. Cooper Robb

Stage

Art Imitating Strife Adaptations of novels for the stage are rarely successful, but you wouldn't know it watching the Arden Theatre Company's impressive world premiere of My Name is Asher Lev. Superbly adapted by Aaron Posner (who also directs) from Chaim Potok's celebrated novel, Name is a passionate and poignant coming of age story about family, faith and art. The engaging one-act play follows young Asher Lev (Karl Miller) from childhood to his first major exhibition in a museum. As a six-year-old, Asher shows promise as a painter, but his strict father (Adam Heller), a devout Jew, frowns on the boy's artistic pursuits. As he grows older Asher is tutored by an older Jewish artist who trains the young man in painting nudes and scenes of Christ's crucifixion, a practice that further strains the relationship between father and son. Posner's direction is wonderfully creative. In a production that is as intimate as a family dinner and as vast as a young man's dreams, Posner employs three actors (all of whom are terrific) and few props to imaginatively move the story through time and space. Along the way Asher repeatedly tries to reconcile his devotion to art with his father's wishes. However while his faith, family and art are initially a source conflict, as the one-act play progresses we eventually view the three as interdependent. Boasting a nerve-jangling final scene that shrewdly relies on the audience's imagination, My Name is Asher Lev is the first must-see production of 2009. (J.C.R.)"

Through March 17. $29-$48. Arden Theatre Company, Arcadia Stage. 40 N. Second St. 215.922.1122. ardentheatre.org