Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Emotionally resonant new plays currently worth catching Off-Broadway: Jonathan Spector’s BIRTHRIGHT, Erica Murray’s THE LOVED ONES

• By drediman
• July 14, 2026
• No Comments

This summer, there are a pair of new plays currently running Off-Broadway that are, in my humble opinion, worth carving out time and resources to catch. Read on for my words of praise for these two emotionally resonant works.

BIRTHRIGHT
MCC Theater
Through August 23

This summer, MCC Theater is presenting the Off-Broadway production of Birthright (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), the thought-provoking and highly ambitious new work by playwright Jonathan Spector (who two seasons ago achieved success on Broadway via his topical play Eureka Day). In short, the piece chronicles the lives of six Jewish American friends, who met on a Birthright trip to Israel, from 2006 through 2024. Thematically, the play stealthily explores the development of the polarizing viewpoints on Zionism and the irreconcilable conflict in Israel — thankfully, in a way that’s illuminating yet completely organic and situational — through the gradual evolution of the characters’ identities and their relationships with each other, as well as technology’s frighteningly fast-paced advancements in the 21st century so far. In many ways, Birthright feels like the logical landing place after the recognition lavished upon epic dramatic works like Tom Stoppard’s Tony-winning Leopoldstadt and Josh Harmon’s sprawling Prayer for the French Republic in recent years. Despite its objectively lengthy three-and-a-half hour running time, the play has been smartly segmented into three easily digestible acts, each of which boasts a distinct theatrical aesthetic, both in terms of writing and staging (the detailed production has been directed with a fine tooth comb by Teddy Bergman). It’s also easy to be engrossed with the playwright’s highly conversational dialogue, which is consistently smart, incisive, and funny. As for the performances by the accomplished cast, they’re spot on from beginning to end. More importantly, they operate like a true ensemble as their characters come into and out of focus. They bring compelling specificity and often times grating modernity to their respective roles, thereby distinguishing Spector’s play from Stoppard and Harmon’s celebrated aforementioned works.

THE LOVED ONES
Irish Repertory Theatre
Through August 2

Also currently running at Off-Broadway’s Irish Repertory Theatre is Erica Murray’s The Loved Ones (RECOMMENDED). Murray’s lovely new play — one of the stronger entries in the Chelsea-based theater company’s season — takes place in an Irish farmhouse in County Clare, which an older woman, Nell, rents out as an Airbnb. As the play commences, we soon find out that Nell’s only child Robin has recently passed away, which attracts the arrival of the deceased younger and very pregnant ex-girlfriend and grieving wife (another character, an unassuming American tourist staying at Nell’s farmhouse, also plays a key role in the proceedings, but no spoilers here). After a somewhat predictable, arguably melodramatic first act that sets up the thematic trajectory of the rest of the play — namely as it relates to grief and empathy — the second act blossoms elegantly and thoughtfully, particularly pertaining to character development. The play’s second half also smartly leaves certain obvious paths untrodden, leaving it up the audience to imagine how the characters’ stories will further unfold, and ending the play on a somewhat hopeful note that doesn’t make any promises or guarantees for its characters. Refreshingly, the work features four equally substantial roles for women, each one flawed but none of them the clear antagonist nor protagonist of the piece. As we get to know each of them and their life predicaments more fully through Murray’s observant writing and the fine performances, they beautifully come together to form a bittersweet tapestry of lives in flux. Despite the sneaky way the play reveals aspects of the characters, each ultimately makes an equally poignant impression, thanks in large part to the sensitive yet finely-tuned performances by the great Maryann Plunkett as Nell, Clare O’Malley as her daughter-in-law, Alana Raquel Bowers as her late son’s secret lover, and Donna Lynne Champlin as the stereotypical American visitor (who is perhaps the production’s secret weapon).