Tony Award-winning playwright Itamar Moses returns to The Public with the world premiere of THE ALLY. When Asaf (Josh Radnor) is asked to sign a social justice manifesto, he expects to be able to do so without hesitation. Instead, he becomes embroiled in an increasingly conflicted web of relationships that challenge his commitments as a liberal, a husband, an academic, an American, an atheist, and a Jew. With tensions at an all-time high, Asaf is forced to confront the age-old question: “If I am only for myself, what am I?” Directed by Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer, THE ALLY is a passionate, provocative, and unflinching new play about the vanishing line between the personal and the political.
Yet, for all the issues and viewpoints Moses brings up, the salient takeaway of “The Ally” is that no one really has the so-called “winning argument” and that we owe it to both ourselves and others to listen to -- with open ears if not open arms -- political points of views that differ from own. Then and only then can we do what we believe is truly right.
Cuttingly, Farid calls him and his ilk “the sympathetic ear.” Moses similarly beckons an audience which, despite the city and the Public’s ostensible reputation for open-mindedness, is still fairly monolithic in its receptive attitudes. What he, and this production, have managed to do in the current political climate is almost heroic in its thematic resoluteness. It doesn’t reach conclusions, but suggests that the boldest enemy an ally-to-all has lives within.
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