Molly Ephraim – Bad Jews

By: Lisa Steinberg

Q) Bad Jews comes out on June 9th. What are the recent projects you are working on?

A) I’m going back for a fifth season on “Last Man Standing.” I don’t start that until August and it will be on TV in the Fall again.

Q) What made you want to be a part of the play Bad Jews?

A) I come from a largely theatre background and have done a lot of plays and musicals in New York as a teenager and after graduating college. I really love theatre and “Last Man Standing” has been so great. It’s given me so many opportunities, but there is really nothing like doing live theatre. I took a meeting with the casting director over at The Geffen Playhouse a couple years ago and what is difficult about our TV schedule is we are working August to about April. So, if we want to find other projects (especially theatre, which is very time consuming) it has to fit into our hiatus. She had mentioned there was a play coming out, which I might enjoy reading. She sent me the script and I was crazy about it. It wasn’t for a while that I had the opportunity that I had the opportunity to audition for Matt Shakman (the director), but it had been lodged in my brain for a while that I wanted to do it.

Q) Please tell us the premise for the play and about your character Daphna Feygenbaum.

A) It’s about a Jewish family, but I think it speaks to a lot of issues that aren’t just about American Judaism. There are threes cousins and two of them are brothers. The older one is Liam, the younger one is Jonah and then there is Daphna. The play takes place in one night, the night of their grandfather’s funeral. The grandfather was a Holocaust survivor and a pretty prominent person within the Jewish community. So, tensions are already running high. Their grandfather had an incredible life story, but a lot of it had to do with this one memento that his father had given him that he holds on to during the Holocaust. Daphna, my character, considers herself to be the most religious person in her family and for that reason she believes she is the most deserving the family heirloom. Unbeknownst to her, Liam wants to use the medallion to propose to his non-Jewish girlfriend, Melody. It’s about family, religion and what it means to be Jewish right now in America. What makes someone a good Jew or a bad Jew? What makes someone a good person or a bad person? At t he end of the day, it’s just about family that is coming to terms with their grandfather’s death. But it’s a comedy! It doesn’t sound funny, but it is darkly funny in a lot of ways.

Q) Where did you draw from for portrayal of the character?

A) I was raised in a Jewish household, but not a very religious one. That’s when it comes down to different distinctions between cultural Judaism or religious Judaism. Are you a Jew because your mother is? Are you a Jew because you practice? I grew up celebrating all of the holidays, but both my brother and I were teased mercilessly. We dealt with it in different ways and I think I kind of detached. Although, when I went to college I became a Religious major because I was interested in studying religions from kind of an outsiders point of view and understanding my own religion from that standpoint. My brother went in a different direction. He became very religious for an amount of time. He chose to go to a Jewish high school and embrace that aspect of his life that he was being teased about. He and I butted heads for a little bit because I think I didn’t understand why something that didn’t mean a lot to him before meant a lot to him now. That is a lot of what my character is in some ways. It’s a new definition of herself because of this person in her life, her grandfather, and her attention to that kind of tradition.

Q) How have you prepared for the role?

A) We rehearse every day. The rehearsal process for the play is pretty intense. There is only four of us in the play and I have these great big monologues. I haven’t had to memorize this much dialogue in a while! I have to rant and rave for a page and a half. We’ve been having a great time feeling it out and getting down and dirty in the room, seeing what works and what doesn’t. We’ve also been having those discussions about what all of the issues of the play mean to us and what is happening outside.

Q) What kind of guidance and advice has director Matt Shakman been giving you?

A) He’s really fun. He’s kind of like a peer of ours. So, we’re having a really delightful time, all five of us, goofing off and joking around. I think he has a great eye. He hasn’t been one of those directors that comes in with a very set in stone idea of what he thinks the play should be. He has been really kind of up for anything and i think he has a great sense of comedy. I’m coming off of a sitcom, which I do regularly now. So, I’m used to doing something for laughs and doing something kind of silly. He’s been great at sort of reeling me back in and saying, “This is going to be funny, but don’t look for the laughs. Just play the truth of the dialogue, which is intense, intelligent and schtick. Just use the words and don’t rely on schtick.” 

Q) Are you looking forward to the instant fan response you will be receiving from a live audience?

A) I’m very used to it because I’ve doing theatre since I was a kid. I prefer having an audience as opposed to acting in a vacuum. Our sitcom is filmed in front of a live studio audience so there is a facsimile of an theatre there that I have enjoyed. By the same token, when you’re doing a sitcom and you’ve done a couple of takes in a row, the audience still has to react and laugh along with you. I’ve been nervous that I’ll have a false sense of bravado doing the play because I’m just out there and I don’t have any do-overs. I don’t get to call out for a line. I just have to get on the train and go. It doesn’t make me nervous to have an audience. It makes me more nervous if I can see people and the lights are up. I never like seeing the people. If it’s nice and dark out there I don’t have a problem with it.

Q) What is it about the play that you think will draw in viewers?

A) As I said, I think it is a natural choice for Jews – but that is not the only audience by a long shot. I think it is a play that speaks to anybody’s family dynamic. People get a little ugly when someone in the family dies and their stuff is up for grabs. They just turn into different animals and that is a pretty universal issue, I think. I’m hoping that young people will come and check it out and enjoy it because it is for all ages. It’s a little more biting then what some people might expect though. It’s probably not for kids!

Q) Do you have any rituals you will be doing before the play?

A) Hopefully, by then I’ll have it all memorized and be off of book. One of the extras I am working with is my best friend. We always like to have a little dance party before the show. So, maybe there will be some dancing before the show and then after some celebratory dances.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure fans know about the play?

A) I know that the Geffen Playhouse has all sorts of events like having the cast on stage so the audience can ask questions about what they were thinking during the play. It’s always helpful to get feedback in that way.