INTERVIEW: Michael Takiff tries to answer the ‘big questions’ in NYC play
Photo: Michael Takiff wrote and performs in Jews, God, and History (Not Necessarily in That Order). Photo courtesy of Pablo Calderón Santiago / Provided by Emily Owens PR with permission.
Michael Takiff’s new one-person show — called Jews, God, and History (Not Necessarily in That Order) — is an exploration of the “big questions” that relate to religion, according to press notes. He covers Judaism, science, the Bible and the communities who still practice ancient religious traditions.
Takiff wrote the piece and performs it at the Siggy Theater at The Flea in New York City through June 5. Brian Lane Green directs. Takiff’s résumé is quite varied, including a degree in history from Yale University, 10 years as a stand-up comedian and one other solo show, called Black Tie: A Son’s Journey Through the Death and Life of His Father.
Hollywood Soapbox recently exchanged emails with Takiff about his new show. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
How would you describe the show to someone looking to buy a ticket?
The show looks at the ways modern humans live with ancient traditions. Our religious customs and beliefs date back thousands of years. Since then, we’ve learned a thing or two. Copernicus told us that the sun doesn’t revolve around the Earth. Darwin told us that life on Earth was created over billions of years, not lickety-split in six days. Yet we still say the ancient prayers, tell the ancient stories, practice the ancient rituals. Why? How?
The show deals with the big questions — good and evil, tradition vs. modernity, God. It contains many serious sections, but it’s also full of comedy — sketch comedy, stand-up comedy, high comedy, low comedy. The show is thought-provoking but also guffaw-provoking.
It’s also important to say that while the show is about Jews, it’s not only about Jews. And it’s not only for Jewish audiences. People from all sorts of backgrounds and with all sorts of beliefs have seen and enjoyed the show.
How is the piece both “reverent and irreverent”?
I have enormous respect and love for our Jewish tradition — and those feelings are evident in the show. I take Judaism — and religion in general — seriously. But let’s face it, there’s a lot to laugh about in our traditions. One example is circumcision. When a Jewish boy is born, a week later we gather our friends and family together, mutilate his private parts, and then … have a party! Can we agree that that practice is just a bit weird? That it merits some ridicule?
This show is not for people who are easily offended. I like to say that it contains rude language and ruder theology.
The show questions our beliefs, particularly when it comes to our faith in the God who presides over such an imperfect world, but I think that the act of questioning, the apparent irreverence, is actually a sign of a deeper reverence. I care enough about the tradition to ask those questions. I question the tradition — laugh over it, rage over it — but I don’t dismiss it.
Would you classify yourself as a religious person? Did you grow up with religion?
It’s funny — I never used to consider myself a religious Jew, but here I am with this show all about being Jewish. I grew up in a house that was Orthodox by affiliation but not by practice. We attended synagogue on major holidays, but not every Saturday (Shabbos). We avoided pork and shellfish but were not officially kosher. But I did attend Hebrew school and was bar mitzvahed, and the Orthodox synagogue we attended was led by a magnificent, charismatic rabbi — the longest scene in the show is a recreation of Yom Kippur in that sanctuary.
I fell away from it for a while as a young adult, but when our son was born, my wife and I resolved to raise him in the tradition. When he was 4, we started going to a Conservative congregation near our home on the Upper West Side. First, we took our son to the kiddie service on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The leader was an engaging young man, singing lovely songs about “the birthday of the world.” This is great, I thought. Then he mentioned God … and I remembered why I hadn’t been inside a synagogue (except for the occasional wedding or bar mitzvah) for the previous 20 years.
But a few years later we started attending the adult service on the High Holidays, and I found the experience deeply moving. Especially during the singing, I found myself brought back to attending services with my father when I was a boy. And I’ve continued to go, not because I take the words in the prayer book literally, but because being there is a way of saying, “Yeah, I’m in. I’m part of this tribe. I’m a member of the Covenant. I’m an inheritor of the tradition that goes all the way back to Abraham.”
Do you feel that religion is an important topic to understand and explore in 2022? It seems that the world is still fractured, sometimes along religious lines.
Religion is too often a tool of intolerance — you can see this dynamic now in our own country, where one Christian faction is seeking to impose its views on all of us and, in so doing, reverse decades of progress on extending human rights and dignity to all Americans.
Religion still exerts a powerful influence on human thinking and behavior, so we should try to understand and explore religion if for no other reason than to better understand and explore our world. But I hope there’s more we can take from religion. And by “religion,” I don’t mean just the belief, or non-belief, in a supernatural being. I mean the fullness of the many religious traditions, which, at their best, encourage us to practice tolerance, love and respect, to seek righteousness in our everyday lives.
Is the piece comedic or serious, or a little of both?
A lot of both. I want people to leave the theater both entertained and thinking. There are plenty of laughs, but at times the show is so serious to be shocking. I’m proud to say that it pulls no punches.
What’s it like to perform in a one-person show? Tiring?
Exhausting. I come off the stage drained — and also starving. There are over 50,000 words in the show — delivering them each night requires megawatts of energy. In the past, when I’ve done this show as a single performance, I’ve needed a day to recover, but here I’m doing it six days a week. So, I’m careful to get an hour’s rest in the afternoon before it’s time to head to the theater. And there’s always a glass of bourbon as my reward when I get home.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Jews, God, and History (Not Necessarily in That Order), written and performed by Michael Takiff, continues through June 5 at the Siggy Theater at The Flea in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
