THE HANGOVER REPORT – Karen Hartman’s sturdy, cleverly-framed new drama THE LUCKY STAR affectingly excavates one family’s elusive history

A scene from The Directors Company’s production of “The Lucky Star” by Karen Hartman at 59E59 Theaters (photo by Cory Pattak).

This week at Theater A at 59E59 Theaters, I caught Karen Hartman’s The Lucky Star. The play dramatizes Richard Hollander’s book Every Day Lasts a Year: A Jewish Family’s Correspondence from Poland, which tells the involving true story of the author’s family, which was torn apart by World War II, and the letter correspondences that kept them together in spirit if not in person. The production is part of 59E59 Theaters’ VOLT Festival 2022, which in its inaugural outing is celebrating the works of Ms. Hartman, whose plays until now have been under-represented in production in New York (other plays in the festival include the playwright’s New Golden Age and Goldie, Max and Milk).

The play – which was formerly titled The Book of Joseph – has been making its rounds at regional theaters, having played Chicago Shakespeare Theater (which commissioned the piece) and the Everyman Theatre in Baltimore. Although it breaks no new ground, the work arrives in New York with a confident sense of purpose and theatrical storytelling. Ms. Hartman’s play is sturdily written and features a clever framing device, allowing the narrator – based on the author Richard Hollander himself – to evolve his relationship with his family over the course of the play. The piece begins as an informative but surface-level lecture on Richard’s book, which depicts his elusive family history neatly at arm’s-length. When his son enters the scene (at the end of the first act), he encourages Richard to pull up his sleeves in his excavation of the past, resulting in a more personal and painful engagement with his forebears and their often traumatic experiences.

Director Noah Himmelstein’s seamless production is imminently watchable. The staging is well-paced, ensuring that the audience’s attention doesn’t wander as the eventful play unfolds. The production boasts sharp ensemble work that requires its actors to skillfully perform multiple roles throughout the evening. Overall, The Director’s Company’s production of The Lucky Star is finely acted, notably with respect to the ensemble’s vivid, quick-change characterizations and an earnest and ultimately affecting central performance by Steven Skybell (who was so terrific as Tevye in the 2015 “Yiddish” revival of Fiddler on the Roof) as Richard Hollander.

RECOMMENDED

THE LUCKY STAR
Off-Broadway, Play
The Directors Company at 59E59 Theaters
2 hours, 10 minutes (with one intermission)
Through June 12

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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