Expand / Collapse search
☰

'My Name is Asher Lev' brings powerful family story to Tampa's Stageworks Theatre

By Barry Wong
Published  March 5, 2026 3:02pm EST
Tampa
FOX 13 News
article

The Brief

    • Stageworks Theatre debuts "My Name is Asher Lev," a play about a young artist torn between family expectations and pursuing his passion for art.
    • The production comes from the novel by Chaim Potok and follows Asher’s journey growing up in a Hasidic Jewish family in New York in the 1950s.
    • The show runs in Tampa from March 5–22, with a three-actor cast portraying multiple roles and exploring themes of family, faith and individuality.

TAMPA, Fla. - Honoring family and community versus chasing a dream of art is a debate in a new Stageworks Theatre play, "My Name is Asher Lev."

"This is a play I think that we can all learn a little something from," Stageworks Theatre Producing Artistic Director Karla Hartley said. 

The backstory:

The play is adapted from a novel of the same name by Chaim Potok. It follows Asher's journey from childhood to early adulthood, focusing on his art and Jewish upbringing. 

"There are a lot of stories about challenges between parents and a child. Parents can have certain very strict ideas about how life should be, and they just might have a kid that thinks completely differently than they do, and that's what happens in this show," actor Nicole Jeannine Smith said. "How do you navigate when that happens in a family? And how do you communicate? How do hopefully work through love?"

READ: Man accused of kidnapping, sexually assaulting Temple Terrace teen arrested

The play features only three actors, with two playing multiple roles. Smith plays Asher's mother, Rivkeh. Actor Jaryn McCann plays Asher. 

What they're saying:

"He is stuck with this burning passion of wanting to be an artist," McCann said. "He's really struggling with his community, with his parents, trying to go down a road he's really not supposed to go down."

Asher's community views artistic expression as a waste of time. The community focuses on spreading religious teachings by traveling. Actor Landon Green plays both Asher's father Aryeh and Asher's art mentor, Jacob Kahn. 

"The two main characters that I play are father figures in his life," Green said. "They take up most of his interactions in life."

The play is divided into four sections, with McCann talking directly to the audience in many scenes, helping prompt what time period in Asher's life they are seeing. 

"It's based on these relationships that you'll see defined on stage. It's about a family. It's two parents and their child and trying to understand one another," Hartley said. "I think whether you're a Jewish, Gentile, Muslim, Hindu, any of it, that is something that we can all relate to."

What's next:

The play debuts in Tampa on Thursday, March 5, with shows every Friday through Sunday until March 22. Tickets range from $30 to $50. 

To buy tickets or for more information on the play, visit here.

The Source: Information for this story was gathered from actors and organizers of the play "My Name is Asher Lev."

Tampa