THE WANDERERS Comes to Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company

Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company will close their 2024-2025 season with the Houston premiere of THE WANDERERS, by Anna Ziegler. This production is the first of two co-productions with the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston.  

The collaboration between Mildred’s Umbrella and the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC began in 2019 when they co-produced a reading series, and evolved as Mildred’s Artistic Director, Jennifer Decker was hired by the JCC to direct Anna Ziegler’s PHOTOGRAPH 51 in 2023, and GHETTO in 2024. Mildred’s Umbrella’s mission is to produce plays by women, and as a nomadic theatre company without a permanent space, we are always looking for collaborative opportunities. The friendship between our organizations has made this collaboration a natural fit.  

Originally commissioned by The Old Globe in San Francisco in 2018, THE WANDERERS is the winner of The Blanche and Irving Laurie Theatre Visions Fund, a recipient of a Laurents / Hatcher Foundation Theater Development Grant, and an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award in 2018, as well as the 2018 San Diego Critics Circle Craig Noel award for Outstanding New Play and Germany’s prestigious Barbara Kisseler Theater Prize in 2023.  

Directed by Jennifer Decker and featuring Christian Tannous, Sarah Sachi, Scott Searles, Nonie Hillard and Samantha Walker.  

Two marriages have seemingly little in common: Esther and Schmuli are Orthodox Jews navigating strictly defined rules and roles, while Sophie and Abe are secular and free to make their own choices. But both couples are growing apart as they strive to balance their individual identities with the families they’ve created. As Esther tests the boundaries of her personal freedom, Abe falls into a correspondence with a movie star that will shake the foundations of his marriage and career. This funny, moving and thoughtful play asks if following one’s truth is worth it, no matter the cost. 

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