– By Cate Marquis –
New Jewish Theater’s “Job” is a searing two-person drama set in San Francisco in January of 2020, just as the Covid 19 pandemic was beginning. The title might bring to mind the Biblical figure but it refers to employment, what one does for a living, although there is an element of that other meaning there too. In this taut 90 minute drama with no intermission, sparks fly and shocking revelations reverberate, when a young woman visits a therapist as a requirement to retain her job at a tech company where her vague job title, “customer care,” obscures the difficult work she actually does there.
“Job” opens with a shocking scene, really a series of quick snapshot vignettes, that has a young woman, Jane (Kristen Lindvedt) pointing a gun at the middle-aged therapist, Loyd (John Contini). Neither the therapist nor the audience know why she is doing that, and the therapist, while clearly shocked and nervous, tries to calm and diffuse the situation. Slowly, it does diffuse, although the young woman sends mixed messages, by saying that she isn’t a “gun” person, and that she means no harm, while continuing to point the gun at him. At some points in the defusing of tensions, she seems to forget she has the gun, although the therapist does not, nor does the audience.
Written by young playwright Max Wolf Friedlich at the age of 29, the drama deals with toxic sides of our digital world as well as inter-generational issues between these two characters, a Boomer therapist and a Gen Z tech company employee, who is some ways live in different worlds but which intersect in other ways.
The drama’s action takes place on a simple but effective set that represents the therapist’s San Francisco office. There is a couch, some chairs, a desk with a few personal items. There is a fair amount of generational miscommunication and gaps in communication style between the Boomer therapist and his Gen Z client, which adds an tension about the potential for misunderstandings.
Setting this drama on the cusp of the Covid 19 pandemic adds another layer of tension, as these characters do not know what truly is soon to come, despite the early warning signs.
In this 90 minute drama with no intermission, things remain tense and unclear as to why, and even what in some ways, until fairly late in the drama. That revelation is a disturbing and a turning point that clarifies several things that preceded it. What we do know is that Jane must get a letter from a therapist that clears her to return to work – something she is desperate to do. The reason it is required is a subject Jane dances around but finally admits to a workplace meltdown and incident. Jane feels she must be allowed to return to her job, one to which she feels deeply committed but which is so stressful she nearly exploded, and will do nearly anything to make that happen.
Jane specifically chose this therapist for this certification, and eventually we find out why. What she specifically does at work, which we learn fairly late, is shocking, but as awful as it sounds, this is a real job in her industry. While the task sounds horrifying, the play makes clear why it is important.
Boomer therapist Loyd’s one-L version of his name is likely a choice, one of the details that marks him of his generation. Jane’s sometimes circular, deflecting and sometimes defensive (vehemently asserting she is not a “gun person” while holding the weapon) manner of speaking marks her as of her generation. The chance for misunderstanding due to communication style is pretty darn high, not ideal in this kind of incendiary situation.
Therapist Loyd is dressed casually, in a way that suggests an old hippie youth, which feels very San Francisco. In the course of the play, we also learn the therapist is divorced and has children. We learn very little about the personal background of his Gen Z client Jane, who seems to live only for her high-stress job.
The play jumps back and forth in time, so that the level of emotion and fear, as well as a kind of balance of power, in a scene can switch rapidly. Unanswered questions dominate everything that happens in most of the play, until late in the drama when several things are revealed. That means the tension is high for most of the 90 minutes, and without an intermission, that becomes rather taxing.
What sustains the audience, and is the real strength of this production, is the cast. Both Kristen Lindvedt and John Contini are excellent in this emotional drama. The pair spar and dance, with Contini’s trying to keep a cool professional balance, and Jane bouncing between being a threat to realization that she has to convince this man she is rational if she wants that letter to return to her job, both which she is both passionate about and being consumed by. Late in the play, a table is turned and the balance shifts yet again. Contini and Lindvedt keep all this on an electrifying plane.
New Jewish Theater’s “Job” is on stage at the Jewish Community Center’s Staenberg Family Complex theater, 2 Millstone Campus Dr., Creve Coeur, MO, through Aug. 23, 2026.
© Cate Marquis
