Miami New Drama is back with another world premiere play, “The Zionists: A Family Storm” written by S. Asher Gelman, and directed by NY-based Chloe Treat. The ensemble play features a stellar cast of eight very capable actors, all based in other cities. The set, sound, projections and video design, and lighting were exceptional, among the best of MND’s recent productions. The two-and-a-half-hour drama features one intermission.
When this play works, it is heavy, important, and moody. It’s intimate and inviting; it demands your attention and begs you to ask questions long after the curtain falls.
“The Zionists” will inspire conversations on the car ride home.
The plot is simple. Meet Ruth and Mitchell Rosenberg, a wealthy Jewish family with three kids, Aaron, David, and Bex. The kids all have partners: Dana, Zephyr and Maria.
There was a rupture in the family after the war in Israel began, and the elder Rosenbergs orchestrate a family reunion in Turks and Cacao at a nice bungalow. All eight arrive and the play begins. And like any big family it’s not long before they are arguing. To complicate matters a Tropical Storm is brewing, and they may have to hunker down.
The first act is surprisingly funny and we get two flashbacks, with two couples, giving a little context. But the biggest family argument revolves around what is happening in Israel.
Obviously, this is a lightning rod conversation today.
Miami New Drama, in all of its glory, is never afraid to tackle these conversations.
The Zionists: A Family Storm Review
Unfortunately, “The Zionists” had some holes. Multiple people we spoke to felt the same. It was boring, a two-and-a-half-hour lecture, a bathtub story, no movement, no plot. We are literally stuck with a slightly annoying, very privileged rich family in a bungalo in Turks during a hurricane, just trapped, forced to ride out the storm. Kind of a hackney metaphor.
There is a scene in Act Two where two brothers fight and it ends with one hitting the mom.
That fight scene worked, there was something happening, and it allowed the audience to connect in a way, like okay, I can see my family doing that, or any family. It’s relatable.
Other than that, nothing happens but a debate about Israel and what it means to be Jewish.
Out of the eight characters, one (Aaron) is Pro-Palestinian and wait for it……surprise …….he’s the antagonist.
It’s like the play wants to take us inside of a family, but is afraid to reveal its secrets. We get tidbits of information, in exposition, like the family made its money from “a patent” and the mom (Ruth) was being vetted to be Ambassador to Israel, before Aaron embarrassed the family by funding the Pro-Palestine protests.
This important information is told to us. It would have been great storytelling to see this play out in flashback, in scenes, not exposition. So much of this play is a lecture, especially the politics.
It also felt very autobiographical.
The playwright told our colleague at The Miami Herald: “There were also tensions that brewed within my own family. And then it became clear that I was like, ‘Oh, this is, this is—I need a home for all of this, this frustration and this pain,’ and I threw it into a play.”
This is indeed the plot of the play.
A quick Google search reveals the playwright comes from a powerful family, with connections to the Levi-Strauss fortune, and they have huge political ties, and something exactly like this rupture happened in 2024 in their family.
It’s not a secret, it was world news.
And awesome. Write about your family. Air the dirty laundry.
It’s daring and cathartic. But for whom?
It’s a little like living in a bubble. And that was how this play ultimately felt, especially during these times.
Yet it appears box office sales are robust so what do we know?
Decide for yourself.
“The Zionists” is playing at Miami New Drama until May 3rd. For more info and tickets, click here.
