Play Review: Becoming Dr. Ruth [SPOILERS]

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One of the last things I did before everything shut down in March 2020 was see a play at the DC JCC. I am thrilled that they have re-opened and that theater is BACK!

I bought a mini-subscription to Theater J since there were several performances I want to see. The first one was Becoming Dr. Ruth, which was actually going to open in 2020 but was postponed for nearly two years because of COVID-19. I believe I had watched a documentary about Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer previously, because I already knew much about her life. I think it was good that I already had some background on her, because then I could enjoy the play as a work of art, as opposed to focusing on the plot or where the story was going. 

First of all, this is a one-woman show. For 90 minutes, Naomi Jacobson is on stage, all alone, telling the story of Dr. Ruth. And she is fantastic! She truly embodies the energy and the positivity of the famous radio sex therapist, and she nails the one-of-a-kind German-Israeli-French-American accent. She actually played this role before in 2018, and since then has met Dr. Ruth in person; she said meeting the celebrity helped shape the role this time around, especially when it came to making fierce eye contact with the audience and miming the kind of connection Dr. Ruth had with anyone she spoke with. 

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And as usual, Theater J did not disappoint with its set. I love their use of minimal sets that make a big impact. Jacobson was surrounded by white boxes, which represented both moving boxes as Dr. Ruth packed up her apartment, but also contained her memories. Throughout the show, Jacobson would open a box to reveal a tiny doll house or replica of a place where Dr. Ruth had spent her life: the barn where she slept after the Kindertransport took her to Switzerland; the Kibbutz where she worked in Palestine; the apartment she had with her family. The boxes also secretly hid items like copies of her books and her radio switchboard. You never knew what she would unveil next!

The white boxes were also used as the backdrop for projected images. Sometimes they showed photographs of members of her family, but other times they helped set the mood for that moment of the story. When they projected images of swastikas while playing sounds of marching, chills went up my spine; when the backdrop became the Wailing Wall with melancholy singing in the background, my eyes welled up with tears. When the set alone can move someone to feel those things, that's a work of art.

My favorite part of Dr. Ruth's story is her resilience. From losing her family in the Holocaust to gaining an education as a single mother and becoming a one-name superstar: how many people can do that?! She has truly had an amazingly interesting life, and at 93, she's still going strong. You can watch her to this day on YouTube! I greatly admire her optimism and fortitude, and I will support anything related to Dr. Ruth. Movies, shows, books...sign me up!

Tickets are still available! It's not too late to see this great show!