\u2014Esther Perel<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Is anyone really happy? Or is man preprogrammed to forever look for something else, something more, something different? And is that nagging gap between what we have and what we think we want even real?<\/p>\n The search for meaning is the major theme of Anna Ziegler\u2019s engaging and fascinating \u201cThe Wanderers,\u201d in its world premiere through May 6 at The Old Globe\u2019s White Theatre. The show is helmed by The Old Globe\u2019s artistic director Barry Edelstein.<\/p>\n Ziegler, whose play \u201cThe Last Match\u201d debuted at the Globe a few seasons ago, takes a similar approach here, giving us a glimpse into the lives of two widely divergent couples.<\/p>\n Newlyweds Esther (Ali Rose Dachis) and Schmuli (Dave Klasko) are Orthodox Jews trying to navigate that awkward first night \u2014 and later, the meaning of Hasidic orthodoxy and woman\u2019s place in it. In a larger sense, they search for what it means to be Jewish.<\/p>\n The other pair is secular. Abe (Daniel Eric Gold) is a successful novelist and nonobservant Jew while his wife Sophie (Michelle Beck) is half Caucasian\/Jewish and half African-American. Sophie, who has published one book that wasn\u2019t exactly a blockbuster, is beginning to question whether she\u2019s a writer.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Abe begins to question the life he\u2019s living and wishes his dad had been more prominent in his life.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a fifth character here too: Julia Cheever (Janie Brookshire). Cheever is a movie star Abe met on one of his book tours, who later emails the writer. They have become email pals, much to Sophie\u2019s annoyance, though she is trying to believe there\u2019s no more to it than that.<\/p>\n This is one of the most inventive stagings ever seen at the White Theatre, each couple often acting as if alone, as well as overlapping with the others both spatially and conversationally, sometimes operating from the stage, other times from the aisles. The White Theatre\u2019s stage area sports a huge rectangular table. Here the couples eat, talk, sit, argue and even stretch, as the script requires.<\/p>\n Gold\u2019s Abe starts out the most certain of himself \u2014 until a family emergency puts him in a more pensive mode.<\/p>\n Sophie has found that it\u2019s hell being a frustrated writer. Being married to a successful one doesn\u2019t help her confidence level, and neither does Abe\u2019s pen pal Julia. But Beck is convincing \u2014 even heartbreaking \u2014 as Sophie, dealing with all this and continuing to try to reach Abe. Brookshire\u2019s Julia seems to be just what Abe\u2019s mind\u2019s doctor ordered. She\u2019s beautiful, funny, smart and, best of all, likes him.<\/p>\n Dachis and Klasko seem totally natural and real as Esther and Schmuli, navigating the difficulties of maintaining Jewish Orthodoxy in an increasingly secular world.<\/p>\n Ziegler has a way with engaging dialogue that keeps this from becoming either a \u201960s-style encounter group session or a stuffy philosophical discourse about meaning. Yet, she still leaves you with many things to think about.<\/p>\n You may want to grab a few friends and head for the coffee shop after your encounter with \u201cThe Wanderers.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Searching](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/table-group.jpg\")
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