Ryan London Levin Photo by Sarah Whiting

Edelman first presented and starred in Just for Us in 2018 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He brought the show to New York for an Off-Broadway run in 2022, winning awards there before moving to Broadway in 2023, where it again thrived and for which Edelman was awarded a Special 2024 Tony Award.

The play–and while it starts off feeling like schtick, it quickly turns out to feel like a play of the solo variety, rather than an extended comedy monologue–relates Alex Edelman's actual experience showing up, on a whim, at a meeting of a white supremacist group in Queens, New York. Yes, Queens, America's most diverse county, where a white supremacist is challenged by the agony (for them) of being faced with people of diverse races, speaking diverse languages, practicing diverse religions, and engaging in diverse kinds of sex on a daily basis. Alex shows up knowing that they will not be happy to have a Jew in their midst, and enters in trepidation, lest they find out. Just for Us gives us a blow-by-blow of Alex's experience, with many insights, all extremely funny as he reports them, though part of us sits in the audience thinking, "That's not funny, that's horrifying." Still, we laugh.

Edelman weaves a significant amount of backstory about his family, his upbringing, and his relationship with his own Jewishness into the narrative, all of which inform his experience listening to the rantings of white supremacists who would sooner kick a Jew in the groin than sit next to one. Of course, he conceals his background to the group, which proves to be not such an easy thing to pull off. But Alex has an irrational confidence in his ability to win people over. As he tells the audience at one point, as a comedian, being charming is his job–"I am a professional charmer."

Alex speaks about empathy, which he considers to be an outgrowth of his Jewishness, and ponders whether empathy should be extended even to the white supremacists who have not a morsel of tolerance for him. His ruminations on empathy lead him into a side-bar tale about his mother's deep empathy, that led her to create a full-blown Christmas celebration–something their Jewish family had never dreamed of before–in order to provide a bereaved Christian friend a place to go for the holiday. The tale is deeply touching, quite hilarious, and a warm counterbalance to the white supremacist gathering.

I have enjoyed watching Ryan London Levin develop in every way as an actor over the past dozen years or so, in everything from A Year with Frog and Toad at Children's Theatre Company, to serious fare like Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing, to lead roles in musicals like She Loves Me and The Last Five Years. I have come to expect to be in good hands when he walks out on stage. Still, with his portrayal of Alex in Just For Us, he steps another rung up the ladder.

It is a monster role. Levin is alone on stage for well over an hour, constantly talking, usually gesturing or pulling facial expressions and often moving about, a couple of tiered levels giving him someplace to go. At the start, he presents Alex as rather smarmy, trying too hard to ingratiate in the manner of many a stand-up comedian. As he moves more deeply into the recitation of his escapades, Levin becomes the authentic Alex, delivering a sense of tension as he relives his experience, while still drawing out its comical and, at times, surreal aspects. He is a stitch demonstrating the racist group members shaking their heads and gruffly shouting out, "It's an outrage!" each time some perceived affront to their whiteness is reported, and though I have never been at such an event myself, I have no doubt that his take is one hundred percent on the money.

Director JC Cutler can be credited with giving Levin a game plan, for the play decidedly feels like it is following a set course, from its wide-open start (with a joke involving Robin Williams and a gorilla) through Alex's self-revealing account, to a tightly focused conclusion. The abstract, wide open set, with its background of 3-D polygons in tones of blue, grey and mauve, along with its raised tiers, is the work of Brady Whitcomb. Todd M. Reemtsma designed the lighting that alters the emotional tone in accordance with Alex's journey, and Anita Kelling designed the sound, including an upbeat walk-in soundtrack and ambient sounds that help bring Alex's account to life.

In his play, Edelman raises an interesting perspective on antisemitism, namely that, unlike other hateful prejudices practiced by white supremacists that seek to present the object of that hate as being grossly inferior, antisemitism attributes remarkable (and patently absurd) power to Jews, claiming that despite their very small population in the context of the human race, Jews control world finances and are responsible for stirring discontent among other non-white communities, leading to chants of "They will not replace us," at white supremacist rallies.

He also ponders–and this is, in part, his rationale for showing up at that meeting in the first place–whether exposure to the object of hatred, in this case, Jews, in unthreatening situations could moderate that hatred, maybe even put it to rest completely. His experience does not actually generate a lot of hope, at least not at this moment, but in that sense, the play feels authentic and not an attempt to cover up the very real challenges that face our society with platitudes or wishful thinking.

Just for Us is, without question, a comedy that triggers a stream of hearty laughs. It is also a thoughtful piece, raising challenging questions that we ignore at our peril. Last, and not at all least, it is an opportunity to catch a stellar performance by Ryan London Levin, one that lifts the talented and accomplished actor up even higher in stature.

Just for Us runs through November 10, 2024, at Six Points Theater, Highland Park Community Center, 1978 Ford Parkway, Saint Paul MN. For tickets and information, please call 651-647-4315 or visit www.sixpointstheater.org.

Playwright: Alex Edelman; Director: JC Cutler; Scenic Design and Technical Director: Brady Whitcomb; Costume Design: Bo Rainford; Lighting Design: Todd M. Reemtsma; Sound Design: Anita Kelling; Stage Manager: Miranda Shunkwiler; Assistant Stage Manager: Becca Kravchenko.

Cast: Ryan London Levin (Alex Edelman)