Judah Maccabee, The Gay Teenager
by Ted Merwin Special To The Jewish Week
Is it possible to care as deeply about total strangers as about those who are near and dear to us? In Dan Fishback’s new play, "You Will Experience Silence," directed by Stephen Brackett, a gay teenage Judah Maccabee (played by the playwright himself) visits a new Hellenistic gymnasium with his friend, Ezra (Max Steele). When a Greek soldier (Joseph Keckler) takes a shine to them, Judah must decide if his own sexual satisfaction takes precedence over defeating the Greco-Syrian oppressors. Meanwhile, a gay Jewish activist named Ian (also played by Fishback) pesters the White House with complaints about what he sees as the evils of American society.
The director told Time Out New York that Fishback has a "wicked sense of humor" and noted that