Ironically, while MRT scoured the country and interviewed four finalists for the position, Leon comes from right down the road in Cambridge – the American Repertory Theatre, to be exact. He’s been assistant general manager for six years at the prestigious Harvard Square theater and has a 30 year career in theater, including directing, lighting design and management duties, on his impressive resume.

He’s a Chicago area native and married to painter Sarah Leon. He replaces Tom Parrish, who left MRT in early February to head the GEVA Theater Center in Rochester, N.Y.

The press release includes kudos for Leon from such big names in American theater as Bob Brustein, founding director of the ART, and Rob Orchard, former executive director of the ART and current executive director of Boston’s ArtsEmerson.

Leon found a lot to like about Lowell on his four official visits here. But it’s the quality of work on the MRT stage that first attracted him to the job, he said.

Unbeknownst to Charles Towers, MRT’s artistic director, Leon has been in the audience for several  MRT productions in recent years and praised Towers’ talents and eagerness to present new works.

It sounds like a match made in theatrical heaven, and both Towers and Leon seemed ecstatic about the prospects of working together during phone interviews yesterday.

“It ’s better than we could have ever expected,” said Towers.

“I’m thrilled to be coming to the Merrimack Rep,” said Leon.

He officially begins the job at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1. But he’s already in the email loop and will be officially introduced to the community at MRT’s annual meeting on June 28.

And that is indeed what it seems on the surface as Will LeBow and Jerry Kissel, both master comedic actors, cavort on stage. At times it’s like the best comic banter of, say,  a Bud Abbott and Lou Costello or Alan King and Billy Crystal, or any of the other borscht belt comics who make people laugh with their perfectly-timed, perfectly targeted one-liners.

In fact, I felt like going “ba-da-bing” as Kissel or LeBow uttered the punch line and the lights and bombs bursting offstage kept time to the joke.

But there’s more to Two Jews than just silly set-ups and  funny lines. This is a story that is  based on the truth. It’s about the last two Jews remaining in Kabul, Afghanistan and their determined efforts to keep their temple afloat even as the bombs burst in the air about them.

But the punch line here is that these two guys,  Zeblyan, perfectly played by Kissel, and Ishaq, played to equal perfection by LeBow can’t stand each other’s guts. There were really two Jews left in Afghanistan that inspired this story and Rozin took the concept and ran, making a funny, telling, yet poignant play about them.

The premise revolves around their determination to re-create the Torah, the five books of Moses that is central to the Jewish religion, and then, hopefully, repopulate their congregation so it becomes strong again.

Zeblyan does the writing on a blood-stained scroll (not exactly kosher, but God makes exceptions in dire situations, they figure) and Ishaq does the dictating. Their snappy discussions on the stringent rules of Judaisim set down in Leviticus is  worth the price of admission and keeps the banter moving along rapidly in the 90-minute, one-act production.

But, along with the comedy, there’s a tender heart to Two Jews as well, one that anyone, Jewish or not, can relate to. It’s about the importance, no necessity, of working together, even with the enemy, and about the resiliance of the human spirit in times of peace and times of peril.

Two Jews Walk Into A War will make you laugh, for sure, but it will also make you thing – and that is what good theater is all about.

Through April 10. Visit www.merrimackrep.org for tickets.

That’s one of the  questions Bob Clyman poses in his new play The Exceptionals,  now playing in a spell-binding world premiere production at Merrimack Repertory Theatre. 

But Clyman also delves into other timely topics –  ethics, eugenics, parenting, competition – in his well-crafted play that’s as current as today’s headlines.

Set in the office and waiting room of a prestigious sperm bank, we meet two moms – Gwen and Allie – who’ve been called in  to discuss their five-year-old sons, Michael and Ethan, and what could lie ahead for these two exceptional little boys, whose biological fathers are from the center’s  catalogue of  ”platinum” donors. 

Gwen, ably played by Carolyn Baeumler, is a single mom, uptight, controlling, terribly dependent on her son. Allie, played to sassy perfection, by Catherine Eaton, is loud, bossy, a bit rough around the edges. Still married to Tom (Joseph Tisa), her nice guy, albeit average husband, they think it might be time to give their boy a baby sister.

Claire, the frosty, controlling assistant to the center’s director (another great performance by MRT vet Judith Lightfoot Clarke), runs the meeting and proposes that they give the boys the chance to become truly exceptional by attending a new school the center is creating for its most outstanding children.

The moms recognize it’s in the kids’  best interest. Or is it? And then there’s Tom’s desire to have a child who is simply “average” like him. And Claire’s admission about her own aversion to becoming a parent. And the nasty bickering between Gwen and Allie that amazingly turns to a bonding friendship, of sorts, at the play’s frightening conclusion.

Charles Towers directs the production. Clyman is here on a regular basis, watching audience reaction as he tweaks the script.. It’s a great opportunity to watch the world premiere of a play that is sure to have a life in other theaters around the country.  

Funny, poignant, heart-breaking, disturbing,  The Exceptionals is one you shouldn’t  miss at MRT. Runs through  March 6. Visit www.merrimackrep.org for  times and ticket information.

And, during Lowell Women’s Week,  get $10 off the price of a ticket with a LWW button, available button, at all Women’s Week events, beginning  Monday, Feb. 28. Visit www.lowellwomensweek.org for details and check the cover story on LWW  in the Lowell Sun Steppin’ Out section on Thursday, Feb. 24

That’s what you’ll find in Beasley’s Christmas Party, a tender,  bittersweet ode to Christmases past playing only through Sunday at Merrimack Repertory Theatre.

Adapted by C.W. Munger from an early 20th-century novella by Booth Tarkington, the production, originally produced by the Keen Company in New York City and directed by Keen Company’s artistic director Carl Forsman, is a story about an eccentric bachelor – David Beasley – and the sweet, simple boy who lives with him as his ward. The youngster, the orphaned son of Beasley’s cousin and friend, inhabits a fantasy world that he allows all to enter, including Beasley, who loves to go along with the game.

The story, which moves along with narrative by Booth, a journalist living in a boarding house next-door to Beasley’s, is a lively one, filled with marvelous language, vivid images and, ultimately, the true meaning of Christmas that shines through.

The production only features three actors, the sublimely talented Joey Collins, Crystal Finn and Tony Ward. Ward’s job is the easiest, since he’s Booth all the way through. Collins and Finn have the most fun, since they take on numerous roles – the boy, the spinster math teacher next door who has a history with Beasley,  a fellow lawyer who knows Beasley well, a couple of political operatives and another young reporter.

Finn is especially joyous as the boy, frail, fragile, all eyes and mouth staring out at the world from his wagon. Booth is a marvel in all the parts he plays, but  particularly as Beasley, dancing and cavorting with the numerous characters the young boy has conjured in his mind.

Sitting in the audience Tuesday with students from Lowell, Lawrence and Groton, it was a joy to see how the play, with its rich, lovely language and sweet, simple story, took  young people in. They laughed, clapped and were totally immersed in the story, despite the lack of costume changes or props.  The story and the actors who told it said it all.

Beasley’s Christmas Party is sweet, sentimental and a perfect alternative to other holiday shows that show up so often on local stages each holiday season.  This is a Christmas carol you’ll remember time and again, like every tradition we hold near and dear.

On through Sunday, some seats remain. Call MRT at 978-654-4MRT or visit www.merrimackrep.org for tickets