Divisions among Jewish Americans flare up in Jack Canfora's brilliant comedy-drama "Jericho," at the Highland Park Community Theater, the final offering of Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company's 20th season.

It's New York City, four years after Sept. 11, 2001. Beth (Anna Sutheim) lost her husband, Alec, in the Twin Towers attack and now has an easygoing Jewish boyfriend, Ethan (Max Polski). Beth's father was born in Palestine but she doesn't identify with his homeland.

Ethan's brother, Josh (Ryan M. Lindberg), escaped the towers during the collapse. This compelled him to become a firebrand for Zionism. Obsessed with news reports on terrorism and carnage, he sees Jews as constantly under attack. Josh incessantly derides his wife, Jessica (Miriam Schwartz), for her grammar, her preference for television entertainment over news, and mostly for not wanting to move to Israel.

When Ethan brings Beth to Thanksgiving dinner at his mother's home in Jericho, a Long Island town, Josh rails against Palestine. But it's not Beth who reacts, it's Jessica. The dynamic Schwartz is scathing in her attack.

Director Warren C. Bowles' riveting cast captures the emotional volatility triggered by religious/political bullying. Maggie Bearmon Pistner charms as the brothers' guilt-tripping mother and Michael Torsch is likable as Beth's therapist — a man who reminds her of her late husband. Lindbergh and Sutheim give soulful performances that culminate in final poetic passages that movingly cap a powerful work of theater.

(7:30 p.m. Wed.-Thu., 8 p.m. Sat., 1 p.m. Sun. Ends May 10; Highland Park Center Theater, 1978 Ford Pkwy., St. Paul; $19-$28, 651-647-4315 or www.mnjewishtheatre.org)

Ryan M. Lindberg and Miriam Schwartz play a New York couple in “Jericho” at Highland Park Community Theater.

'Next to Normal'

In the 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical "Next to Normal," 18 years have passed since Diana and Dan suffered the loss of a baby. To curb her subsequent depression and bipolar disorder Diana was medicated into a state of continual abstraction. Loyal Dan has become her caretaker. Teenage daughter Natalie has been emotionally neglected.

Composer Tom Kitt and lyricist/book writer Brian Yorkey's domestic musical well suits Yellow Tree Theatre's intimate space in Osseo. Director Benjamin McGovern has emphasized the conflict between science and the individual's right to grieve. Propelling this hypnotic production are Jessica Lind Peterson's luminous performance as Diana and the mercurial Lucas Wells as Gabe, a spirit figure.

Jeremiah Gamble as Dan and Andy Frye as the musical's doctor characters reveal the fixation on pharmaceuticals as ultimate solutions to grief and mental disorders. One wonders if these men have become hooked on standard beliefs and approaches to medicine to the exclusion of actual healing.

Eli Schlatter's all-white set with a lone medicine cabinet overlooking it all menacingly underscores a coldly antiseptic atmosphere.

Libby Anderson's Natalie is touching but unfortunately, no passionate sparks fly between her and Grant Sorenson, who plays her boyfriend.

Kyle Picha's music direction and Montana Johnson's sound design are richly evocative but at times they overpower the cast's splendid voices.

(7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends May 17; Yellow Tree Theatre, 320 5th Av. SE., Osseo; $18-$25, 763-493-8733 or www.yellowtreetheatre.com)

John Townsend is a Minneapolis writer.