For people at Ari’el Stachel’s one-man show hoping to see his prowess in musical theater, you’re in luck: he does sing a bit. At one point, when he gets a second chance to audition for The Band’s Visit, he sings an a cappella version of his solo from that musical, “Haled’s Song About Love.” In the context of his life story, it means much more than just a song in an audition. Stachel proves that he was always good enough for the part and uses the song to remind us to connect and love. It makes for a comforting and powerful moment.
This is just one example of Stachel’s beautiful openness as a performer, in tandem with a beautiful script that he’s written himself. There’s a lot to love in Out of Character at Theater J, co-presented with Mosaic Theater Company. Tony Award-winning actor Ari’el Stachel has written and performed a brutally honest autobiographical play of unexpected extremes, dealing with mental illness and ethnicity. It’s like if Dear Evan Hansen had accountability and was a one-person play in Anna Deavere Smith “playing all the roles” style. It explores Stachel’s life from childhood in Berkeley, California, to adulthood as a working actor as he fights against his anxiety (personified as “Meredith”) while not knowing how to live with it, and reconciles mixed feelings on his Ashkenazi and Yemeni ethnicities in a post-9/11 and October 7 world. With direction from Tony Taccone, the production flows energetically, cohesively, and authentically.
Stachel is wholly himself with impressive physicality and emotional range, from playful abandon to spiraling anxiety attacks, and chameleon-like in playing the roles of everyone in his life. Standouts include his portrayal of his father Ab, short for Abba; Aziz, an actor friend who keeps it real; and the many characters he plays back-to-back in the first scene after winning his Tony for The Band’s Visit, when he spends most of the night trying to hide in the bathroom. He uses accents in portrayals of Jewish, Black, and Brown people in his life, including some of his first friends in school, committing to a style of autobiographical theater to portray people as they truly were.
What this show truly is, is a show about anxiety. The recurring motif of how his anxiety manifests in sweat is an effective throughline; as he performs, you really do see him sweat. His fight with the aforementioned Meredith anchors the show, with an ominous character that suggests a darker person inside him, yet also personifies his drive toward creating art. “Square of anxiety” light effects on Stachel and projections of images like the 9/11 attackers and his social media posts supporting Brown Jews post-October 7 gone wrong, designed by lighting and projections designer Alexander V. Nichols, heighten these emotions. On a sparse wall creating limits to the space (scenic design by Afsoon Pajoufar), as Stachel tells his story, warm reds and oranges are projected. In some moments of anxiety, they’re greens and blues.
This anxiety comes with Stachel’s deep-seated lies stemming from feelings about his ethnicity, which are messy and scary because he was messy and he was scared. But he bravely lays himself bare to scrutiny to tell his personal journey fully, even if he has to include moments that, if taken at face value, could make him look bad. The moments when he takes accountability and takes space as the person he really is are integral.
One ugly truth: in middle school, high school, and the beginning of college, he alternated between pretending to be white and pretending to be Black (the latter, for longer). But Stachel didn’t see many other Brown people growing up and didn’t know how to deal with his anxiety healthily. When he returns to NYU, he sings a Jewish hymn for an autodrama assignment and introduces himself as Yemeni/Ashkenazi, after lying to his classmates the previous year. Later, Aziz condemns Stachel’s feigning of Blackness — pivotal, as Stachel actually names how anxiety makes him go to extremes via Aziz.
In another ugly truth, he denied his father’s existence for years, out of shame that Ab “looks like bin Laden.” But he had friends who met his father and got scared. When he reveals this and apologizes to his father in adulthood, he recommits love for his family and his roots.
It helps that while Stachel does “relive” past events, he narrates the story in the present as someone who is more removed from those parts of his life now. He tells a multi-dimensional story of messing up, growing up, making amends, and coming to understand and accept who he is a bit more. But not everything in his life as told onstage has a nice tied-up resolved ending. It’s a realistic take on mental health and doesn’t leave us with all the answers.
In the end, Out of Character promotes a continual healing process, despite hurt and pain, even if it’s not all figured out yet. And it is fun and insightful along the way. That’s what makes such a wild ride worth seeing.
Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission.
Out of Character plays through January 26, 2025, presented by Theater J and Mosaic Theater Company of DC at the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater in the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th Street NW, Washington, DC. Purchase tickets ($49.99–$79.99, with member, student, and military discounts available) online or by calling the ticket office at 202-777-3210 or by email ([email protected]). Learn about special discounts here and accessibility here.
The program for Out of Character is online here.
Content Advisory: Drug use and strong adult language, including use of the “n” word (spoken by an Ashkenazi/Yemeni person, not used pejoratively). References mental health issues.
COVID Safety: Theater J’s complete Health and Safety policy is here.
Out of Character
Written and performed by Ari’el Stachel
Directed by Tony Taccone
A Berkeley Rep production co-presented by Theater J and Mosaic Theater Company of DC
Scenic Designer: Afsoon Pajoufar
Costume Designer: Maggi Yule
Lighting and Projections Designer: Alexander V. Nichols
Sound Designer and Dramaturgy: Madeleine Oldham
Properties Artisan: Pamela Weiner
Assistant Scenic Designer: Sara Beth Hall
Associate Projections Designer: Ahren Buhmann
Production Stage Manager: Shayna O’Neill
Assistant Stage Manager: Grace Carter
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SEE ALSO:
Ari’el Stachel on seeking a self ‘Out of Character,’ at Theater J (interview by Ravelle Brickman, January 13, 2025)