<p>&nbsp; &nbsp;&ldquo;It takes a special leap of imagination&mdash;a leap of faith even&mdash;to look at a mild-mannered Lutheran pastor and see in him Madame Ranevskaya the disastrously sentimental widow of Anton Chekhov&rsquo;s THE CHERRY ORCHARD. Or by extension to compare the current senescence of mainline Protestantism to the destabilizing decline of Russia&rsquo;s landed gentry a hundred and twenty years ago.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;But then Tom Jacobson (OUROBOROS) is no ordinary playwright. His ambitious new THE ORANGE GROVE is inspired by the valedictory tones of Chekhov&rsquo;s final masterpiece and by Jacobson&rsquo;s experiences as a member of Westwood&rsquo;s Lutheran Church of the Master where his play is being staged. The result is a vivid despairing portrait of a community in decline&hellip;<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;Like Chekhov&rsquo;s landowners the church leaders of ORANGE GROVE&mdash;a warm but diffident pastor a touchy choir director a dithering caretaker a selfless volunteer a staunch old-timer&mdash;are in denial about the congregation&rsquo;s mounting fiscal crisis and don&rsquo;t want to hear practical proposals from new member Larry. After all the church is a sanctuary not only for them but for a well-meaning if volatile homeless man and a part-time secretary a Jew who nonetheless relishes the church&rsquo;s ad hoc family.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;This family is fictive but its dysfunctions are real. As an unexpectedly circumspect choir diva observes &ldquo;Almost everyone here is single and that&rsquo;s not a coincidence.&rdquo;&nbsp; Chekhov devotees will find much to savor in Jacobson&rsquo;s deft character composites and references.&nbsp; The most Chekhovian thing about THE ORANGE GROVE though is the sense of real-time rapport&hellip;. We may leave despairing the future of church-bound faith but not the enduring power of theatrical communion.&rdquo;<br />Rob Kendt Los Angeles Times</p>
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