“Abraham’s Daughters” explores religious identity at college
Four students with four different religious backgrounds meet each other in a dorm room and become friends. Then college starts.
That is the premise of “Abraham’s Daughters,” a play by recent college graduate Elissa Lerner, now showing at the New York International Fringe Festival. The play rang true to the experiences of Jews in their late teens and early 20s and examines how religion factors into college romance, friendship and personal growth.
“Abraham’s Daughters” recounts the friendships and romances between Sarah, a Jew; Ranya, a Muslim; Kate, a Christian; and Will, a newly-proclaimed atheist. Soon after they meet on campus, their lives begin to diverge: Kate parties hard, Sarah shuts herself in and Ranya starts dating Will—who has joined a fraternity. But as their lives evolve, they face multiple obstacles, sometimes together and sometimes alone.
As the characters learn about each other’s belief systems, they begin to question their own religious identities and challenge their friends to do the same. Will pressures Ranya to have sex, which Ranya believes is too sacred and serious for their casual relationship. But the issue intensifies, agitating Ranya and leading the two to break up. Kate similarly struggles with how religious values affect her body. After a winter break hook-up with (the apparently virile) Will, Kate realizes she is pregnant. When Sarah encourages her to have an abortion, Kate responds with shock, feeling that “killing her baby” would be a betrayal of her identity.
The characters’ dialogue and thought processes captured the environment of freshman year. Their conversations were realistic and accessible as they struggled with determining and reconciling their religious and secular identities. Instead of finding answers and coming to definitive conclusions on how to act, the friends instead revealed their uncertainty and tried to live within that, a much appreciated reflection of reality.
While Will was not as strong a character as Ranya or Kate, he acted as a foil for their religious values and choices. His character raised questions about the value of religion in our lives, a force that he found to be more destructive and irrational than positive.
The most disappointing character was Sarah, who was passive for most of the play. She did not struggle with how to act Jewishly in the world and did not touch on the tenuous relationship between cultural identity and assimilation, or between tradition and modernity. She did, however, address the interaction between ritual and faith, coming to the conclusion that faith comes with adherence to ritual. But she failed to contribute productively to the larger conversation in this play and her character was for the most part unsympathetic and weak.
“Abraham’s Daughters” painted a realistic picture of religious young adulthood during the first year of college. The most dynamic characters were not Jewish but despite that—or perhaps even because of that—the play works for a Jewish audience. Jewish students will be able to relate to the story’s religious conflicts in spite of cultural differences. “Abraham’s Daughters” addressed some of the most important questions that students face when entering college and encourages viewers to use religion as a positive force in life, no matter the circumstance.
Abraham’s Daughters
by Elissa Lerner
Directed by Niccolo Aeed
The Soho Playhouse
