HOW DO YOU JEW?
Life is tough for Geoffrey Giraffe Jr.
Barbie dumped him for G.I. Joe, his father disowned him, and he’s living in an abandoned Toys "R" Us warehouse. But you know what they say? “When Hashem closes a door, he opens a window!” With the help of his foul-mouthed co-host Mr. Potato Head, Geoffrey is determined to stay positive and produce a public-access TV show for Jewish boys.
A four episode web series based on original research into the little-known Jewish history of the American toy industry.
Now available on Youtube!
co-created by Mason Rosenthal and Paul Kruse
conceived, researched, and performed by Mason Rosenthal
Barbie dumped him for G.I. Joe, his father disowned him, and he’s living in an abandoned Toys "R" Us warehouse. But you know what they say? “When Hashem closes a door, he opens a window!” With the help of his foul-mouthed co-host Mr. Potato Head, Geoffrey is determined to stay positive and produce a public-access TV show for Jewish boys.
A four episode web series based on original research into the little-known Jewish history of the American toy industry.
Now available on Youtube!
co-created by Mason Rosenthal and Paul Kruse
conceived, researched, and performed by Mason Rosenthal
Episode 1: MR. POTATO HEAD
Mr. P chronicles the Jewish American toy “cabal-lah'' and Geoffrey receives some very bad news.
Episode 2: SUPERMAN
Geoffrey shocks Superman by revealing the Man of Steel’s Jewish origins.
Episode 3: G.I. JOE
Geoffrey invites his ex-wife’s new fiancé onto the show to discuss conflict resolution.
Episode 4: HE-MAN
Geoffrey’s television show, and all of his problems, come to an explosive climax in this final episode featuring up-and-coming political candidate, He-Man.
Total runtime: 67 minutes
Captions available
Mr. P chronicles the Jewish American toy “cabal-lah'' and Geoffrey receives some very bad news.
Episode 2: SUPERMAN
Geoffrey shocks Superman by revealing the Man of Steel’s Jewish origins.
Episode 3: G.I. JOE
Geoffrey invites his ex-wife’s new fiancé onto the show to discuss conflict resolution.
Episode 4: HE-MAN
Geoffrey’s television show, and all of his problems, come to an explosive climax in this final episode featuring up-and-coming political candidate, He-Man.
Total runtime: 67 minutes
Captions available
ORIGINS AND RESEARCH
How Do You Jew? emerged from Rosenthal’s research into toys, driven by the question: “What might changes in American toys reveal about larger changes in American identity?” He began by interviewing dozens of individuals of all ages and backgrounds about their childhood playthings.
Early on he was shocked to discover the large number of American toys with a Jewish connection. Why were so many Jews in the toy business? While there is a great deal of scholarship on the relationship between Jews and the American comic book industry, Rosenthal’s research into the toy industry was unique. As his work on How Do You Jew? continued, the series became a more personal investigation into his specific experience of Jewish American masculinity through the fictionalized character of Geoffrey Giraffe Jr., son of Geoffrey Giraffe, the Toys 'R' Us mascot.
How Do You Jew? grapples with inheritance: the legacies of late stage capitalism, whiteness complicated by Jewishness, toxic masculinity, and the environmental impact of the post-World War II plastic boom.
Early on he was shocked to discover the large number of American toys with a Jewish connection. Why were so many Jews in the toy business? While there is a great deal of scholarship on the relationship between Jews and the American comic book industry, Rosenthal’s research into the toy industry was unique. As his work on How Do You Jew? continued, the series became a more personal investigation into his specific experience of Jewish American masculinity through the fictionalized character of Geoffrey Giraffe Jr., son of Geoffrey Giraffe, the Toys 'R' Us mascot.
How Do You Jew? grapples with inheritance: the legacies of late stage capitalism, whiteness complicated by Jewishness, toxic masculinity, and the environmental impact of the post-World War II plastic boom.
BIOS
Mason Rosenthal is an original performance maker, director, actor, and teacher raised in Skokie, Illinois. He is a founding co-director of the award-winning Philadelphia-based theatre company Lightning Rod Special. LRS’ recent work includes The Appointment (NYT' "Best Theater of 2019") and Underground Railroad Game (2016 Obie Award for “Best New American Theatre Work,” selected by NYT in 2017 as one of the “25 Best Plays of the Last 25 Years”). Mason's work has been supported by The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep and by residencies and grants from Austin Cultural Arts Division, Wyncote Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Network of Ensemble Theaters, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, White Pines Productions, The Orchard Project, and New England Foundation for the Arts. He holds a BFA in Drama from NYU and was on faculty at NYU's Atlantic Theater Company Acting School from 2007 to 2011. In 2020, he completed his MFA in Performance as Public Practice with UT Austin. Mason is currently on faculty at Virginia Tech's School of the Performing Arts as part of a Post-MFA in Applied Performance.
Paul William Kruse tells Queer love stories. As a playwright and media artist from Western Wisconsin, his work flows from his Catholic roots and ever-evolving experience of family. He is a founding member and resident playwright of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective, co-founded with Adil Mansoor and Nicole Shero. Paul often writes collaboratively, drawing from his years of experience as a videographer and documentarian. He is a cohort member of Audible’s third Emerging Playwrights Fund. His work has been produced by Adjusted Realists in Brooklyn, NY; Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA; the Vortex Theater in Austin, TX; and in high schools around the country. Paul has developed work at The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Yaddo, the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, and Middlebury College. Paul recently completed his MFA at UT Austin where he was a fellow with the Michener Center for Writers.
Paul William Kruse tells Queer love stories. As a playwright and media artist from Western Wisconsin, his work flows from his Catholic roots and ever-evolving experience of family. He is a founding member and resident playwright of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective, co-founded with Adil Mansoor and Nicole Shero. Paul often writes collaboratively, drawing from his years of experience as a videographer and documentarian. He is a cohort member of Audible’s third Emerging Playwrights Fund. His work has been produced by Adjusted Realists in Brooklyn, NY; Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA; the Vortex Theater in Austin, TX; and in high schools around the country. Paul has developed work at The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Yaddo, the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, and Middlebury College. Paul recently completed his MFA at UT Austin where he was a fellow with the Michener Center for Writers.
Q & A WITH MASON
How does your identity and experience inform the show?
I was raised in a secular Jewish household in Skokie, a suburb of Chicago with one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel. My family was not religious, but because my mother worked daycare at a local Jewish Community Center, she was surrounded by more observant families. When it came time to enroll my brother and me in school my parents decided the best option was a local Solomon Schechter Jewish Day School. Half my classes were in Hebrew and very quickly, even at a young age, we were the family expert in all things Jewish. Later, I wound up in a public high school, and I’ve only recently come to understand the influence my Jewish education had on me at that young age.
How was HDYJ developed?
How Do You Jew? began as a solo theatrical work inspired by the rich tradition of toy (or miniature) theatre. It included puppeted toys and projections from live cameras operated by remote controlled LEGO trains. The theatrical work was developed with a Ground Floor residency at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and as part of my MFA at UT Austin. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Paul and I adapted the show into a web series with the support of Austin-based theatre company, The Rude Mechs.
In making this show, what surprised you?
Two things stick out. One, I was constantly surprised by the number of Jews in the toy business. Wherever I looked, there seemed to be a Jewish influence! I had no idea that Mr. Potato Head, G.I. Joe, and He-Man all had Jewish creators. It felt right to have Mr. P deliver a Borscht Belt style stand up comedy set, and I only later realized that his inventor was a Brooklyn-born Jew!
Second, after reading Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man by Daniel Boyarin, and learning more about the archetypes of the manly “Muscle Jew” and the effeminate “Diasporic Jew,” I came to realize that a lot of my personal relationship to masculinity had been shaped by these two competing constructs. I had always been described as a “shy,” “sweet,” and “sensitive” boy interested in the arts, and at the same time felt pressure (especially from my very fit father) to assert myself through training in weightlifting and martial arts.
What's next for HDYJ?
We are looking for opportunities to share HDYJ? at festivals, conferences, museums, and other venues. We’re also seeking individuals and organizations interested in presenting HDYJ? or supporting future work on the project.
Paul and I left the series with an open ending that lends itself to more episodes. We’ve imagined a second season where Mr. Potato Head takes on the role of Geoffrey’s executive producer and, in lip service to DEI, pushes the show to be less “Jewish.” In season two, Mr. P brings on a co-host that opens up the series to explore other non-male, non-white, non-Jewish identities through toys. Paul and I are working with collaborators that will bring their own individual perspectives to this second season.
I also hope to one day return to a live theatrical version of HDYJ. The conceit of a coming-apart-at-the-seams public access television show for kids played to a live adult audience feels dangerous and exciting!
I was raised in a secular Jewish household in Skokie, a suburb of Chicago with one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel. My family was not religious, but because my mother worked daycare at a local Jewish Community Center, she was surrounded by more observant families. When it came time to enroll my brother and me in school my parents decided the best option was a local Solomon Schechter Jewish Day School. Half my classes were in Hebrew and very quickly, even at a young age, we were the family expert in all things Jewish. Later, I wound up in a public high school, and I’ve only recently come to understand the influence my Jewish education had on me at that young age.
How was HDYJ developed?
How Do You Jew? began as a solo theatrical work inspired by the rich tradition of toy (or miniature) theatre. It included puppeted toys and projections from live cameras operated by remote controlled LEGO trains. The theatrical work was developed with a Ground Floor residency at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and as part of my MFA at UT Austin. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Paul and I adapted the show into a web series with the support of Austin-based theatre company, The Rude Mechs.
In making this show, what surprised you?
Two things stick out. One, I was constantly surprised by the number of Jews in the toy business. Wherever I looked, there seemed to be a Jewish influence! I had no idea that Mr. Potato Head, G.I. Joe, and He-Man all had Jewish creators. It felt right to have Mr. P deliver a Borscht Belt style stand up comedy set, and I only later realized that his inventor was a Brooklyn-born Jew!
Second, after reading Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man by Daniel Boyarin, and learning more about the archetypes of the manly “Muscle Jew” and the effeminate “Diasporic Jew,” I came to realize that a lot of my personal relationship to masculinity had been shaped by these two competing constructs. I had always been described as a “shy,” “sweet,” and “sensitive” boy interested in the arts, and at the same time felt pressure (especially from my very fit father) to assert myself through training in weightlifting and martial arts.
What's next for HDYJ?
We are looking for opportunities to share HDYJ? at festivals, conferences, museums, and other venues. We’re also seeking individuals and organizations interested in presenting HDYJ? or supporting future work on the project.
Paul and I left the series with an open ending that lends itself to more episodes. We’ve imagined a second season where Mr. Potato Head takes on the role of Geoffrey’s executive producer and, in lip service to DEI, pushes the show to be less “Jewish.” In season two, Mr. P brings on a co-host that opens up the series to explore other non-male, non-white, non-Jewish identities through toys. Paul and I are working with collaborators that will bring their own individual perspectives to this second season.
I also hope to one day return to a live theatrical version of HDYJ. The conceit of a coming-apart-at-the-seams public access television show for kids played to a live adult audience feels dangerous and exciting!