By Kenneth Jones
09 Nov 2009

High Holidays stars Rengin Altay and Keith Kupferer

Goodman Theatre's world premiere of Alan Gross' coming-of-age drama, High Holidays, about a Chicago family facing change in 1963, opens Nov. 9 after previews from Nov. 1. Max Zuppa, Ian Paul Custer, Rengin Altay and Keith Kupferer are featured.

Performances continue to Nov. 29 at Goodman's Owen Theatre in Chicago.

Owing to the sudden death of lighting designer Michael Philippi, the original first preview (Oct. 31) was canceled. The Goodman's resident lighting designer, Robert Christen, assumed work on High Holidays.

Gross, a Chicago native, drew on his own family experience for the play. Steven Robman directs the production.

*

According to Goodman, "At the center of this four-character drama — inspired by Gross' own life and family experience — is young Billy Roman (Max Zuppa) and the anxiety-riddled preparations for his Bar Mitzvah in 1963 north suburban Chicago. When Billy's older brother Rob (Ian Paul Custer) returns from college for the High Holidays, he further elevates household tensions by bringing along his own ideas about his future — and the boys' parents Essie (Rengin Altay) and Nate (Keith Kupferer) must face some difficult truths about coming-of-age in America."

Set designer Kevin Depinet creates a "hometown-influenced realistic backdrop for the action." The production team also includes Birgit Rattenborg Wise (costume designer) and Ray Nardelli and Joshua Horvath (sound designers).

Alan Gross is a native of Evanston and grew in Skokie. After studying journalism at the University of Missouri, he worked in improvisational theatre with Byrne Piven, Del Close and Paul Sills. In an attempt to merge those improvisational techniques with the structure of the "well-made play," he wrote his first play, Lunching, in 1977. Subsequent plays included The Phone Room, La Brea Tarpits, The Man in 605, The Houseguest, Morning Call and The Secret Life of American Poets. After a stint in Hollywood in the 1980s, Gross worked on several novels, then returned to playwriting with High Holidays, on which he began work in 2005. His play Push Comes to Shove will be seen in a staged reading at Indiana University this winter, and he has begun work on his latest play, A Little Madness in the Spring.

Gross stated, "I am all four of the characters in High Holidays. "When my mother died, we had the shards of our family given to us: her collections, our photographs, our books of vacations, as well as my Bar Mitzvah book. I put all of these things together and what emerged was a story about growing up-all of its joys, challenges and disappointments — and ultimately, what it takes to become a man."

For ticket or information, call (312) 443-3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org.

Keith Kupferer, Rengin Altay, Max Zuppa and Ian Paul Custer in High Holidays
photo by Liz Lauren