The Invasion of Skokie CHICAGO DRAMATISTS
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Steven Peterson’s uneven comedy-drama, The Invasion of Skokie, begins on June 24, 1978, the eve of the planned march, and carries into the following day. It takes place in the fenced-in backyard of the Skokie bungalow belonging to Morry and Sylvia Kaplan, observant Jews who have the usual appurtenances of suburban life, including new patio furniture and a vague sense of disappointment. (Grant Sabin’s set appears to have been airlifted directly from the Carter years.) They’re having some people over for dinner tonight: daughter Debbie, a liberal, tart-tongued corporate attorney; Charlie, their synagogue’s former shabbes goy (a non-Jew who does tasks the faithful are prohibited from performing on Shabbat); and Howie, family friend and born loser.
Eviscerating moments like that not withstanding, much of the dust-up plays out—both in Peterson’s script and Richard Perez’s Chicago Dramatists staging—like an extended episode of All in the Family, with Morry blowing a gasket and Debbie sounding like an op-ed. (“If we only defended the speech we agreed with, it wouldn’t be free speech!”) She and Charlie come across basically as prods, designed to provoke a crisis in Morry.
