EDGE San Diego

Jonathan Caren’s new play The Recommendation is, at its core, a play about friendship. Coincidentally, it grew out of the real life friendship and creative relationship of Caren and Amdie Mengistu, who met at a dinner party in 2009.

The Recommendation is a bold and candid look at modern friendship from an ex- citing new theatrical voice. Aaron is smart, charming and over-privileged. Iskinder, his new college roommate, comes from a middle-class immigrant family and is under-connected.

Brought together as roommates at Brown University, Iskinder is initially dazzled by Aaron’s confidence, wealth and ease at opening doors that would otherwise be closed to the Virginia-born son of a middle-class Ethiopian immigrant.

Soon the best of friends, Aaron takes Iskinder under his wing, sharing his world of favors and fortune. But the safe haven of college only lasts so long. After a chance encounter with an accused felon sets off a chain of events that puts Aaron’s life at risk, the two men are forced to rethink the meaning of friendship.

The cast of The Recommendation features Jimonn Cole (Dwight Barnes), Brandon Gill (Iskinder Iudoku) and Evan Todd (Aaron Feldman).

Caren said Mengistu’s experience as a pro bono public defender in Staten Island has greatly inspired this work.

"Amdie has offered invaluable insight on race, immigration and the prison system, his knowledge has made the characters real," Caren said of Mengistu’s extensive advice and fact checking."By no means are we the characters, but it reflects certain experiences we’ve shared and is an exciting process to write a play that pulls from those experiences,"Caren said.
"I think there’s a reason why there’s an appetite for legal drama. The legal world offers the most poignant and acute moments in life and people find themselves fac- ing their most dramatic experiences at the hands of a judge,"Mengistu says,"But this play is more about the human drama that just so happens to be in a legal setting."

Caren says his own experiences growing up in Los Angeles have informed much of his playwriting. As a teen, he found himself both attracted to and repulsed by the Hollywood lifestyle, the insatiable desire to climb to the top of the social and professional ladder, even if you’re stepping on others and that characters battling with the moral and ethical compass often are found within his plays.

"I grew up in L.A. in a world where I didn’t understand that the moral compass was off.Butatthesametime,therewasthisdesiretobeinthatworld,"hesaidonhisblog. The Old Globe Theater is unique in its layout, as it stems from the historical Shake- speare-era round-staged theaters. Performing"in the round"is a creative challenge for playwrights and directors. Caren credits his creative team with making this play a success in this non-traditional setting.

"I never intended to do this in the round, but the structure of the play lends itself
to the stage, something about it enhances it by giving it many different perspec- tives. Each transition and new location feels like going on a ride and they’re never expected," Caren said of the work of set designer Alexander Dodge and lighting director Phillip Rosenberg.

Caren is a recent graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School. His plays have been featured at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, Ars Nova, as well as the Lark Play Development Center, The Flea Theater, Berkshire Playwrights Lab, Elephant Theatre Company and The Old Vic in London.

The Recommendation runs through Sunday, February 26, in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. The Old Globe offers a once a month "Out At The Globe" LGBT mixer, on Thursday, February 9, the evening will feature a hosted wine and martini bar, appetizers and desserts. Admission is $20 per person in addition to the theatre ticket and can be purchased online at theoldglobe.org, by phone at 619.234.5623 or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.