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Ethan and I met one sunny morning last week, ahead of opening night of Theater J’s Prayer for the French Republic, to chat about his journey as an actor in and around DC, telling Jewish stories onstage, how art can change the way we think about the world, and why Jeff Goldblum would be a good dinner guest.
Samuel: What brought you to the DMV?
Ethan: I’m from the area! I grew up doing theater here. From second grade onward, this was my hobby, main interest, everything.
Samuel: Was there a show you did that solidified acting as this driving force for you?
Ethan: I think it was the summer after fourth grade, I was the genie in Aladdin at Imagination Stage camp. My grandma still says that that’s her favorite performance of mine, which is starting to get more and more insulting. By the time I was 13, I started doing professional work. I was a newsboy in Gypsy at Signature Theatre and that experience was really awesome for me. I loved learning from the professionals who were older than me – it gave me a real kind of drive to get into those rooms, and I’ve managed to actually do that post-grad, which I’m really glad about.
Samuel: What do you think makes the DMV such a great place for theater?
Ethan: It’s the size and layout and community of the city. People talk about how theater audiences are getting older and older, but I think you find that in areas or neighborhoods where there is a theater accessible or walking distance, you actually have these younger audiences who maybe didn’t grow up going to theatres, who maybe don’t put on a suit and go to the Kennedy Center, but they will take their kids to the little non-Equity house doing a show. They’ll show up for a pay-your-age show. The mark of a thriving town is the art, right? People want to support a vibrant art scene. People want to be living in a thriving town.
It’s funny because wherever you go – Cleveland, Philly, Minneapolis – everyone says that it’s New York, Chicago, and then us. I’m really biased, but I really believe that about DC, in terms of a booming theater scene. Shows go from here to Broadway all the time.
Samuel: As an actor, what’s different for you when you’re working to tell a fundamentally Jewish story, like you’re doing with Prayer for the French Republic? Is that something you seek out?
Ethan: It’s both different and not different in a lot of ways. This is not the first deeply Jewish show I’ve done, which is such a happy accident. I did The Chosen at 1st Stage, which is about a friendship between a young Hasidic boy and a young Orthodox boy in New York, from the time of the Holocaust to the creation of Israel. We opened, and two days later was October 7th. The play is about these two people – who are actually extremely different – finding this compromise and beautiful friendship and brotherhood. It just resonated so loudly with what was happening in the world.
My approach to telling specifically Jewish stories is fundamentally the same as any other thing I do. I do my character work, my script work, research, and that’s what all my work is based in. That doesn’t change. But my connection with the story – which I usually have to develop through all that work I do – is usually already there with a Jewish story.
For example, in Prayer for the French Republic, there’s a scene where my character, who wears a yarmulke, gets jumped for being Jewish. That has never personally happened to me, but I’ve had a physical encounter like that, and I’ve had adversity thrown at me for being Jewish, so when I’m combining those two things, and the Shabbat candles and silver come out [on stage]…it’s no work for it all to go THUNK and hit you. That connection lives in a much deeper place. You have these moments where you can feel the ancestors looking, you know? Onstage, when you really connect to something, you have this feeling of this otherworldly presence. It’s like: somebody is helping me out right now, and when it’s a Jewish story, I’ve got really good ideas about who that somebody is.
Samuel: Jumping back to the idea that a lot of theater audiences are older. What would you say to someone who doesn’t think theater is for them?
Ethan: There’s this thing where people will say theater is dying because of movies or TV. I equate it to listening to something on Spotify, as opposed to seeing the artist in person. There’s something about being in a room with the people telling that story, being able to physically see and hear them. Your body and brain just receive it in a different way.
What plays also do really well is they introduce new perspectives in a way that feels personal. I always say that my favorite thing about being an actor, about being involved in storytelling in general, is the subtle changes you can make to people’s perspectives. If you go and tell somebody “Hey, you’re wrong about this thing!” there’s a slim chance you’ll change their mind. But if you tell them a story, through deep engagement with the characters, they might apply it to their own life. It’s a conclusion they’ve come to on their own. And I always think that’s more effective.
Samuel: What else is resonating Jewishly for you right now?
Ethan: I have three younger siblings, and my youngest brother’s bar mitzvah is coming up. I’m prepping for that right now, and it’s one of those things where he’s the last in the family, and going to be the last [bar mitzvah] in a long time. He’s the baby. What’s really resonating for me is that we, as a family, are going to have some distance from this tradition for a long time. There’s something so beautiful and important about a mitzvah. It’s something that you remember for the rest of your life, and I think about how it’s this tradition that we’ve all done in my family line stretching back hundreds if not thousands of years. That’s why I go to synagogue on the High Holidays – my family has been doing this for who knows how long, and that’s something I find very beautiful about practicing these traditions that are embedded in my family.
Samuel: A few quick ones to close. Do you have a dream role?
Ethan: You’ll laugh, but I would love to be Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Right now though, I’m focused on developing whatever roles I get as best I can. Even if I don’t love a role, I’m going to take it and make it something I love.
Samuel: What are you feeling proud about right now?
Ethan: Honestly, this show, Prayer for the French Republic. I’ve never done a more modern and topical play, and it’s just so relevant. I’m proud of the work we’ve done. We’ve all deeply engaged with the text, with the story, with everything. It’s a very good show.
Samuel: You’re hosting Shabbat dinner and can invite any three people. Who are you bringing?
Ethan: Robin Williams. He’s one of my biggest inspirations – he’s transformative, and I want to become a transformative actor one day. I think he was incredible. Then, Ray Charles. I love everything about him. He really explored all the different facets of the kind of music he was making. For the last one, Jeff Goldblum. He just embodies who he is so well. I strive to be someone like that, who is just so unapologetically themselves. If everybody could be themselves in an honest way, I think the world would be a much happier place.
Samuel: Last one. Finish the sentence: When Jews of the DMV gather…
Ethan: It’s going to be a vibrant, interesting, wild time.
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