Ruth, Roots and Reaching Out: Theater That Connects
For the incoming SCDS President, summer is go-time, which means the summer is spent reading tens of plays, searching for one that is fit for the SCDS Fall Production. When I first started searching for a play, I knew I wanted something Jewish. We, as YU students, are part of a community that has so much to offer, and I wanted to put that on display. But very quickly, I realized how hard it is to find a play that reflects my Judaism, one that feels central to young Jewish women in our modern age. So many Jewish stories on stage center around tragedy: assimilation after the Holocaust, antisemitism or Jewish pain. Those are powerful and necessary stories, but I wanted something different. I wanted something that reflected the Jewish values that guide me every day: self-reflection, growth, learning and strength.
I didn’t want a play that looked backward. I wanted one that looked inward and forward.
So I got to work, and read everything I could find. I began with the classics of Yiddish theater, such as “The Dybbuk,” with its haunting portrayal of love and possession, and “The Golem,” with its elaborate sets and philosophical questions about creation and purpose. Both are deeply rooted in Jewish folklore and are full of symbolism and spirituality. They connected to my niche interests of consciousness and personality (read Dan Brown’s “The Secret of Secrets” for an interesting take on “The Golem”), but they were not appealing to me as the President of SCDS. They didn’t feel like stories that young Jewish women could genuinely see themselves reflected in.
Then I moved on to more modern works. I read “Awake and Sing!,” Clifford Odets’s depiction of a struggling Jewish family in the Bronx, and “Everett Beekin,” Richard Greenberg’s generational play that showcases the evolving American experience through the ages. They were thought-provoking, but they still missed something essential. They spoke about being Jewish, but not about growing as a Jewish person, nor did they speak about the personal process of learning and transformation that defines our tradition.
That was what I wanted most. I wanted a play about growth. Something that would challenge the people performing it, not just entertain the audience, something that asked questions rather than answered them. I also didn’t need a play where everyone was Jewish and happy at the end. That is not a reflection of real life, which is full of struggles and dissenting opinions.
That’s when “Journey Through Ruth” found me.
It felt different right away. Written by Stern College’s first theater major, Amy (Gordon) Guterson (SCW ‘86), “Journey Through Ruth” is about five diverse women who take a tour in Israel to learn about the biblical story of Ruth and Naomi. As they study the story, history comes to life in the locations that they travel to. While they are fully engrossed in the experience, a miracle occurs, and the past and present meet. Each modern woman stumbles upon Ruth or Naomi, and their interactions make a lasting impact on their past, present and future.
Guterson originally developed this play for her theater group, Kol Isha Theater, when they were studying the Book of Ruth. The group consists of Jewish women from all walks of life and observance, and the play’s main characters were built from the women’s connection to the biblical story.
In an interview, Guterson elaborated that she wanted to explore themes that the women brought up in the groups, such as belonging, finding a place to call home, believing in Hashem and fearing that the belief is not enough. These ideas resonated with me as a young Jewish woman; themes that I wanted to explore as a group.
Here was a story about women — strong, layered and complex — who are Jewish, but whose identities aren’t reduced to their Judaism. Our characters are women navigating loss, choice and community. They are learning to see their own strengths and to find strength in each other.
That message of individual growth feeding collective strength resonates deeply with me. It’s how I see Jewish peoplehood: a people who thrive together because each person is striving to grow. My outlook on life strongly aligns with Guterson’s aims when she wrote the play. She explained, “We all, at any age, are always growing and finding our talents and purpose, and we recreate ourselves at different ages and stages.”
Choosing a play was not just about finding a good script. It was about deciding what conversation I wanted to start. I wanted our play to be empowering without being preachy, and spiritual without being overly sweet. “Journey Through Ruth” offered that balance. It spoke to resilience, kindness and courage from a woman’s perspective. It spoke to being Jewish in a world where there is no one way to be Jewish, and there are different values that different Jews can adhere to. These are values I wanted to uphold both personally and as part of our theater community.
Once rehearsals began, it became clear that this play would be more than a performance. The cast isn’t just memorizing lines; they are dissecting choices. Why are each of the characters embarking on this Israel trip? What personal motivation are they driven by? Each cast member has had to create a story for their character. Every rehearsal became a kind of study session, a midrash in motion.
Theater doesn’t hand you a textbook; it hands you a human being to become and values to embody. When we perform stories like “Journey Through Ruth,” we’re not just teaching the audience; we’re teaching ourselves. We’re learning about identity, faith, and courage, not through lectures, but through embodiment.
In the end, “Journey Through Ruth” isn’t just about putting on a show. It is about becoming more thoughtful people, asking who we are, and who we choose to be, especially as young Jewish women. It reminds me that theater isn’t only about applause or performance (though of course those things are important). It’s about connection and growth. It’s about creating a space where art, faith and learning meet.
That’s what this play is doing for us. It is helping us grow together by learning together.
And that, to me, is what it really means to be part of a community — and to be part of a story that keeps unfolding.
“Journey Through Ruth” will be performed in the Schottenstein Theater on Dec. 7, 9 and 10. Tickets can be purchased on Campus Groups.
Photo caption: Cover of the “Journey Through Ruth” script
Photo Credit: Talia Feldman
