Becoming a man, challenging all for sake of art

Asher Lev, a young teenage boy - a so-called "Torah Jew" who obeys the commandments within rigid constraints and never questions the deity who rules the universe - gets some heartfelt advice as he turns his unhewn gift for making art into a refined talent that will be celebrated in the secular world:

Art is not for people who want to make the world holy.

That is, of course, not true. But it's fair warning for Asher Lev, isolated in a community where holiness will not extend its meaning to the clarity of vision and purpose that great art communicates. It's a warning whose repercussions will tear him up inside.

There is much art in Aaron Posner's exquisite adaptation of the late Chaim Potok's novel, My Name Is Asher Lev, whose world premiere by the Arden Theatre Company opened Wednesday night. Posner plumbs the theatrical aspects of Potok's storytelling to make it over for the stage; there's not an ounce of fat in the script. Two of the book's memorable characters are absent from the adaptation, with no consequence.

The novel has a lovely sweep that Posner - with the oversight of Potok's widow, Adena, who served as artistic consultant - refines and condenses to a 90-minute one-act with its own broad strokes. He retains much of Potok's style and cadence: litany that puts some passages in league with the basic form of ancient prayers, and a back-and-forth that rarely uses contractions, conveying a tradition being not only followed, but resolutely guarded.

Posner knows just how to blend the book's literary qualities with the defining moments of Asher Lev's life, in which the character becomes a man first via bar mitzvah, again later when he challenges every nurtured instinct in his soul with a searing artistic vision.

The play moves through tender moments, beautifully created by a three-actor cast and accompanied by James Sugg's evocative sound design and Thom Weaver's careful lighting. The young actor Karl Miller plays Asher Lev with a blend of reverence and determination that electrifies his delivery; seeing him dissect the character's young life is like watching a piece of every American kid who breaks away from his parents and their ideals even as he clings to both for comfort.

Adam Heller (both the Arden and Broadway productions of Caroline, or Change) deftly wears many hats (and skull caps) as the father, the rabbi and the famous artist who takes Asher Lev on as a student. Gabra Zackman, equally versatile and affecting, plays the mother, a gallery owner and an artist model.

In 1990, Potok turned a small portion of Asher Lev into a one-act called "The Gallery," produced by the now-long-gone Philadelphia Festival Theater for New Plays. Nine years later, Potok's The Chosen, already also a film, was adapted to huge success by Potok and Posner - first for the Arden, then at theaters around the country. This Asher Lev, an Arden commission, is a temporary homecoming for Posner, a founder of Arden and current artistic director of Two River Theater Company in Red Bank, N.J.

A dozen artistic directors are waiting to see how Asher Lev plays out. They can release their collective breath this morning - and start the bookings.

Through March 15 at Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. 2d St. Tickets: $29-$48. Information: 215-922-1122 or www.ardentheatre.org.EndText