Keith Surney and Haley Basil Photo by Logan and Candice Conner, Oomphotography

The play, originally developed in 2017, was later revised and composer Richard Jennings added music. That music, executed wonderfully here by violinist Venus Fu, adds tremendously to the piece, shading in the depths of Anna's sweet love story with Benjamin, himself a Jew who heeds the call to heal the world through his work as a gardener and conservationist. The choreography of Benjamin and Anna's romance, too, sets the play up for success, by signaling to the audience that this is more of a folk or fairy tale than it is a straightforward story.

But the music and dance, as well as other elements like mime, other stylized movement, and puppetry pop up at odd intervals, as do more straightforward dramatic scenes. The end result is that what seemed as if it would float along, giving the audience resonant glimpses of Anna's journey as she discovers Judaism first through Benjamin's welcoming family and then through the grave realities of her illness, ends up bumping uncomfortably between the gestural and the realistic, and many points of the story simply are not clear.

This mixture of storytelling forms is further complicated by certain choices within the text itself. The character of the "Foundress," for example, seems at first as if she will simply be a kind of narrator. She often serves that function, but she also interacts with Anna in a kind of dreamscape and across the planes of life and whatever lies beyond. Many of these transitions are relatively successful, at least visually speaking, thanks to simple addition or subtraction of a costume piece (design by Ashley E. Benson). But narratively, the intent of the shifts is not clear.

For example, the actor playing the Foundress shows up as a flesh-and-blood hospital chaplain that Anna has a meaningful spiritual interaction with. Although this could have been something that passed without note, that interaction comes when we are led to understand that Anna has asked Benjamin to give her space, even while she is hospitalized.

Although there are certainly signs that Anna's illness has put a strain on the marriage (quite realistically, of course), it's not clear why she would be open to such an intense encounter with a stranger, when she had first come to Judaism through her relationship with Benjamin. The fact that the actor who plays Benjamin is also repurposed as indistinct hospital personnel and "Charlie," the digital assistant in Anna's phone, also muddies the waters, though to be clear, this is the kind of routine double-casting that works well in many shows, if the text is sufficiently clear.

Whatever difficulties the play itself presents, though, Arts Judaica's production is well done. The set by Viscaya Wilson transforms the black box theater into a swirl of blues and greens that ground the play in the heart of Anna, Benjamin's "Westerly Woman" who is always looking to the horizon. Wilson's construction of Benjamin's live oak offers a nod to a chuppa, and the origami leaves that dangle from it transform with ease into playful, mournful paper boats representing Anna and Benjamin's dashed hopes for a child, supporting the play's dreamlike quality in its best moments. Julie Adams' lighting design is simple, but facilitates easy transitions through moments in both time and space.

Haley Basil (Anna) and Keith Surney (Benjamin) both develop engaging, lived-in characters and their rapport with one another is both charming and touching, so much so that one wishes there were more time in the play devoted to both the complications and triumphs of their relationship.

Margo Chervony has an uphill battle with the character of the Foundress. The character (or more properly characters) is sometimes almost childlike and at others a nightmare figure. It seems clear that Chervony has the chops to play this range, as well that of the down-to-earth chaplain, with ease, but what the play gives the character doesn't provide a firm foundation for performance.

Female, Ashkenazi with a Sewing Machine runs through August 23, 2025, at Berger Park Coach House, 6205 N. Sheridan, Chicago IL. For tickets and information, please visit www.artsjudaica.com.