Onstage: All Things Equal – The Life & Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I was disappointed that I spotted only one child in the audience at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center’s M&T Bank Exchange in Downtown Baltimore. There should have been lots of students there on a field trip, given the educational content of this stage play about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Granted, it would be a late night for those with early bedtimes, but it would have been worth their missing some sleep.

The evening I was there, it did seem that a majority of the audience was Jewish. A show about a prominent and influential Jew who shaped US history would obviously attract that demographic. But I hope individuals from all backgrounds will experience this play.

According to the play’s production company (www.scottstander.com), the show will be performed next in Burlington, Vt. and Orono, Me. If you don’t get to see it, there’s always the important but not as thrilling documentary or a large selection of books about this outstanding Supreme Court justice.

Despite the competition from an off-Broadway performance in the adjoining and much larger Hippodrome Theatre, our theatre was mostly full. The almost two-hour show was performed without intermission – which was surprising, considering that the star and only actor in the show, Michelle Azar, took only one 30-second break.

According to her credits, Azar is an accomplished actress of stage and television, so perhaps this was not as big a deal as I thought. Incidentally, she happens to be Jewish, the product of an Ashkenazi Jewish mother and an Iraqi Jewish father. And she is married to a rabbi!

Just as Ruth Bader Ginsburg was considered “small but mighty,” so too was this portrayal. It was a modest production, not only because of the cast of one, but also the production team was not very large either. There were no set changes, as the play was set in the judge’s chamber throughout.

The giant floor-to-ceiling screen behind Ginsburg’s desk, however, when not displaying artwork and bookshelves, transformed into photo montages, historical video footage and other descriptive props. Equally impressive was the sound design with its use of music, off-stage voices, voice overs and more.

If you want to give everyone the chance to know Ruth Bader Ginsburg intimately, this was the way to do it. Azar spoke directly to the audience the entire time and it felt as though she was speaking directly to me.

The audience learns early on that Ginsburg is supposedly directing her reflections, explanations, answers and recollections toward a young friend of her granddaughter –a student who is interested in political science.

Justice Ginsburg always had a good sense of humor, which comes through in this play – especially when she tells this student that her granddaughter thought all bubbes (Yiddish word for grandmothers) were on the Supreme Court.

Tony Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes takes many lines from the justice’s actual speeches, interviews, writings and appearances. For example, Azar recites  part of a speech Ginsburg gave at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004: “My heritage as a Jew and my occupation as a judge fit together symmetrically. The demand for justice runs through the entirety of Jewish history and Jewish tradition. I take pride in and draw strength from my heritage, as signs in my chambers attest: a large silver mezuzah on my door post, a gift from the Shulamith School for Girls in Brooklyn; on three walls, in artists’ renditions of Hebrew letters, the command from Deuteronomy: ‘Zedek, zedek, tirdof’ – ‘Justice, justice shall you pursue.’ Those words are ever-present reminders of what judges must do that they may thrive.”

During the play, Ginsburg’s entire life story is covered, and when she tears up and reaches for a tissue, so does the audience. Everyone agrees that this woman was truly remarkable in how she battled cancer five times but never stopped working, managed a taxing career while taking care of a sick husband and raising her daughter, pulled all-nighter study sessions, maintained her dignity and determination in the face of sex discrimination, managed to be first in her class at Columbia Law School and made the Harvard Law Review. She was truly an inspiration, and no one will dissent to that!

The author does not speak on behalf of Hadassah and the views expressed herein are the author’s own and not necessarily those of Hadassah.

Diane is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place. It’s where they celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts. Hadassah members are proud of their Zionist mission and their role as keepers of the flame of Jewish values, traditions and beliefs as well as advocating for women’s empowerment and health equity for all. Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 800 columns in The Times of Israel Blogs and other Jewish media outlets. Interested in writing? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.