Starring Role

Twenty years ago, a group of former camp counselors decided that the heimish community needed a show industry to combat the appeal of readily available secular content. What started as a couple of low-key productions soon became the biggest brand in the Jewish show business: the Interen Crew, which stages performances combining themes of Torah, emunah, and tefillah with cutting-edge production and technical standards. These custom-costumed, exhaustively researched, original musical dramas are all performed in a rich, flavorful Yiddish. And when you look behind the scenes, you’ll find a heartwarming motivation that’s no less rich or inspiring than the colorful shows filling auditoriums night after Chol Hamoed night.

The Union soldiers have finally cornered the undercover operative for the Confederate Army at the dock. Just before they seize him, he commits one last act of malice: He tosses the golden key into the sea, cackling diabolically as he does it.

Standing among the Union soldiers, Shloime gasps in dismay. This is the key to the chest holding his cherished sefer Torah. As the key descends into the depths, with it go his hopes of ever retrieving his most precious possession. For a moment, Shloime despairs.

But then — his despair is gone. In one swift motion, he plunges into the ice-cold water.

The curtains close, and the 2,700 people sitting in the massive New Jersey Performance and Arts Center auditorium grip their seats in anticipation. Nothing could have prepared them for what they see when the scene reopens less than a minute later.

The giant stage has been transformed into a seabed, swathed in an opaque shade of dark blue. A moldering shipwreck rests at center stage, and coral reefs and sea creatures float lazily through the blue expanse. High above the stage, ripples mark the surface of the water. And then, they see the surface break.

Shloime, played by star actor Leiby Wieder, swims downward from the surface, surrounded by the bubbles escaping his mouth, struggling to overcome the shifting currents as he makes his way deeper into the sea. Every single person in the room is holding their breath along with him.

Finally, Shloime reaches the seabed, having swum downward from 20 feet above the stage. He begins fumbling in the sand, desperately searching for the key. But his lungs can’t take it anymore; with a few rapid strokes, he races back up to the surface, spluttering and gasping for air. The audience is pin-drop quiet. He can’t give up! they’re all thinking. Not now!

But Shloime isn’t ready to give up. He takes a couple of gasping breaths and dives back into the depths once more, continuing his frantic search for the lost key as the tides thrust his body in all directions. And then, just as he appears to be running out of hope, he sticks his hand into a crevice in the sunken ship — and lo and behold, out comes the key!

The crowd immediately erupts into raucous applause, and Leiby Wieder skillfully glides back to the darkness above.

It’s a scene worthy of a sophisticated Broadway play, utilizing high-tech holograms, targeted lighting, and lifelike props, as well as a masterful display of acrobatics. But the actors, producers, and technical staff at this performance are all chassidim with beards and peyos, and the glitzy celebrity culture of Broadway is the furthest thing from their minds. In fact, the entire performance takes place in a rich, flavorful Yiddish, and is replete with themes of emunah, tefillah, and the primacy of Torah.

Their brand is known as the Interen Crew, and their aim is to provide the highest quality entertainment to an audience with uncompromising religious standards. Over the years, the cadre of creatives behind Interen has developed a reputation for producing absorbing, inspiring plays with extremely innovative and ambitious technical standards. But even as they keep raising the bar — with custom-designed costumes, high-tech effects, original musical numbers, and increasingly ambitious stunts — the Interen Crew never forgets the motivation that launched their very first show, and that continues to fuel their creative ventures.