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San Diego actor, director and playwright Omri Schein. (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nTo placate her helicoptering Jewish-American parents, Sarah Goldman recruits an actor named Bob Schroeder to play a real-life role, that a Jewish doctor by the name of David Steinberg whom she\u2019s passing off as her boyfriend. Complications of the comedic, rom-com variety ensue.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s \u201cBeau Jest,\u201d the 1989 play written by James Sherman that has been a staple of both professional and community-theater productions for decades. Its appeal, says actor\/director Omri Schein, resides in its sheer relatability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is technically a \u2018Jewish play\u2019 but it\u2019s very universal,\u201d said Schein, who is directing North Coast Repertory Theatre\u2019s production of \u201cBeau Jest\u201d in Solana Beach. \u201cAt the end of the day it\u2019s about relationships between parents and their children.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be Jewish, you don\u2019t have to be anything to relate to that story. It continues to be done in theaters all across the United States, even in communities without a large Jewish population.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Diego actor, director and playwright Omri Schein. (K.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Schein has had experience on both ends of a production of \u201cBeau Jest.\u201d In 2017, he appeared as Sarah Goldman\u2019s therapist-brother Joel in a Lamb\u2019s Players Theatre production of the comedy in Coronado, for which he earned a Craig Noel acting nomination from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. He appreciates the opportunity to now direct \u201cBeau Jest\u201d and the differences at the helm from performing in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re in show all you do is basically concentrate on your path as a character,\u201d Schein said. \u201cYou\u2019re not that concerned about the story as a whole. As the director, your job is to tell the entire story and know all the characters\u2019 journeys.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for touch and tone \u201cBeau Jest\u201d requires \u201ctelling the story and keeping it honest,\u201d said Schein. \u201cWhen directing a comedy, especially myself who tends to lean toward shtick sometimes, it\u2019s up to me to make sure it doesn\u2019t go too far. Yes, it has to be funny, but we still have to tell the story truthfully. It\u2019s a romantic comedy about family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the play relies very much on stereotypes, which is a good thing. These (characters) are just people we can all relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The North Coast Rep cast of \u201cBeau Jest\u201d features two local actors \u2013 Sam Ashdown as Bob Schroeder, and Benjamin Cole, who is North Coast Rep\u2019s director of theater school education and outreach, as Sarah\u2019s actual WASP boyfriend Chris Cringle (yes, that\u2019s his name).<\/p>\n
Completing the ensemble are out-of-town actors Josh Cahn (as Joel Goldman), Katrina Michaels (as Sarah) and Joel Polis and Jill Remez as Sarah\u2019s parents Abe and Miriam. All four of the Jewish characters in the play are portrayed by Jewish actors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a charming, talented group of people,\u201d Schein said of his entire cast. \u201cIt\u2019s been smooth sailing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schein will return to North Coast Rep in July but on stage this time when the theater opens its production of \u201cScapin,\u201d an adaptation of Moliere\u2019s commedia dell\u2019arte romp.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually enjoy the going back and forth (between writing, directing and acting) so it\u2019s not repetitive,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a multitasker. That\u2019s one of my strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n
That versatility will be on display in the summer of 2027, too, when North Coast Rep which will stage Schein\u2019s and Daniel M. Lincoln\u2019s musical adaptation of the novel \u201cGene Wilder\u2019s My French Whore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Beau Jest\u2019<\/p>\n
When:<\/strong> Preview, tonight. Opens Saturday and runs through May 17. 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8\u00a0 p.m. Fridays; 2\u00a0 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. and Sundays<\/p>\n