Summer brings lazy days - and edgy plays

The Berkshires troupe opens its two-month season next Wednesday with “Dov and Ali,’’ a new play by Anna Ziegler exploring the culture clash between a Jewish high school teacher and a Pakistani Muslim immigrant student as each struggles with his own beliefs.

“I think that we have a comfort zone doing these kinds of plays - small-cast plays on provocative and thought-provoking themes,’’ said company artistic director Byam Stevens recently. “On the other hand, if you asked us to put on a big musical we might be a little at sea, because it’s not what we do. We as a team are good at engaging our audience in questions of some scope.’’

Dov (Benjamin Pelteson) is an English teacher in a Detroit high school, Ali (Manish Dayal) a student who comes to him with questions about “Lord of the Flies.’’ Each is bound by his own traditions, which explode in passionate arguments between them. But it’s Dov’s girlfriend, Sonya (Heddy Lahmann), and Ali’s sister Sameh (Lipica Shah) who pay the highest price for the men’s beliefs.

The company’s lineup of plays “is informed by my belief that theater functions as a forum in society in which we can look at issues that affect society,’’ said Stevens. “Therefore the plays we do here may be a little political, may be issue-oriented, may be darker and more provocative than they are at most summer theater companies.

“The relationships between religious groups are part of our everyday life,’’ said Stevens. “Every day you pick up the paper and you’re reading about confrontations between Catholics and Protestants, Jews and Muslims, whatever. It’s a fact of life. What’s fascinating is that this play looks at that issue less in a geopolitical kind of way - it’s not set in the Mideast or whatever - but looks at it in a more cultural kind of way.’’

All four of the company’s plays this season look at questions of identity, Stevens said.

“This looks at identity from an ethnic and religious point of view. ‘Love Song’ is about a man whose identity is profoundly changed when he falls in love for the first time,’’ Stevens said. “ ‘Railroad Bill’ looks at racial identity in this country, particularly the African-American [identity]. And the last play of the season, ‘A Body of Water,’ is about a middle-aged couple who wake up in a house one day and they don’t know who they are. It looks at the idea of identity and its relationship to memory. If you can’t remember the stories you tell about yourself, then who are you?’’

“Dov and Ali’’ premiered in England last year. Stevens thought Chester would have the US premiere, but a production running now at New York’s Cherry Lane Studio “has sort of beat me to the American premiere by about three weeks,’’ he said. Thus: “New England premiere.’’

The play came to Stevens through Michelle Tattenbaum, a young director who is a friend of Ziegler. Last fall, Tattenbaum passed Stevens the play, which she will now direct.

“Dov and Ali’’ has received positive to mixed reviews in London and New York, with the negatives tending to focus on its schematic aspect.

“It’s certainly something I had my eye on in the beginning, and I talked to Anna about it and said we’ve gotta make sure this doesn’t turn into a debate play,’’ Stevens said. “She did a set of rewrites I think really improved the play. . . . [The challenge] is getting the balance of it correct, between the political aspects and the personal aspects.’’

Still, such material could be a tricky sell with many audiences looking for sure things. After ticket sales, about 40 percent of Chester’s budget has to be raised each year from donations and grants. And still it’s putting on a play about arguing Muslims and Jews for the summer vacationers of the Berkshires.

“Yes, things are tight, and yes, we’re worried. We did downsize our budget across the board,’’ Stevens said. “We’re trying to keep a really tight ship. To me, the main thing is I believe we have developed an audience over the last 20 years that is interested in what we do. You create a brand, you’ve gotta stick by it.’’