Michael Lopetrone and Annie Keris in JET’s “Handle with Care.”

A Christmas romantic comedy about two Jews? Though this might sound like an improv comedy prompt, it also aptly describes Jason Odell Williams’ play Handle with Care, now being staged by Jewish Ensemble Theatre.

Set in a dingy motel room in Goodview, Virginia on Christmas Eve, the drama begins with an aggravated Israeli woman, Ayelet (Annie Keris), dressing down a baffled package delivery man, Terrence (Dan Johnson). The two have no way to communicate with each other, yet have a desperate need to, so Terrence calls on his childhood friend, Josh (Michael Lopetrone), for help, assuming that Josh “speaks Jewish.”

 Josh arrives and explains to Terrence that he only took a crash course in Hebrew leading up to his bar mitzvah; but as Ayelet continues speaking, he picks up on the word “grandmother” (Henrietta Hermelin Weinberg), and this sets a fateful series of events – and many stilted conversations – in motion. READ THE REST HERE