By Rita Charleston

The Philadelphia Theatre Company continues its 45th season with a powerful drama about forgiveness set in the Pennsylvania Amish Country. “Everything is Wonderful,” written by Chelsea Marcantel and continuing through March 8 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St., deals with contemporary issues like consent but also explores timeless topics like family fissures and unmet expectations.

In this new work, an Amish couple exhibits an act of unfathomable forgiveness after their two sons are killed in a car accident. Upholding the tenets of their faith, they take in Eric, the wayward young driver of the car. Germantown's J. Hernandez (He prefers just using the initial J.) stars as Eric. Originally from Texas, the local actor admits theater was always what he enjoyed doing.

“There were quite a few musicians in my family, and I had intended to follow in their footsteps,” said Hernandez, 39, “but there was something about theater that seemed much more immediate to me and something it could do like telling a story that appealed to me. I found that my artistic  passion led me to theater and where I found my complete satisfaction in what I wanted to do.”

And so, to better prepare himself for his future career, Hernandez first attended the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico on scholarship, eventually receiving his BFA in Theatre. He next received his Master's Degree in Directing from Texas State University before finally getting his Master’s Degree in Acting from the University of Virginia.

“One day, while I was doing a Shakespeare play in North Carolina, I met an actor from Philadelphia who suggested I come up to Philly to audition for a role in the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre,” Hernandez remembers. “I took him up on that and arrived in Philly for the first time ever in 2012. I ended up getting the part, and from there I decided to move here full-time.”

Today, Hernandez and his fiancée have happily settled in Germantown. “We love it here,” he insists. “I had first seen Germantown when I came out to Mt. Airy to see a production of 'Hamlet' at Quintessence Theater Group. And of course, on the way to Mt. Airy you have to pass through Germantown, and I just fell in love with this area. We used to live in South Philly, but we sort of outgrew it. So off we came to Germantown and found ourselves a space by Wayne Junction. So here we are, basically still in the city proper, but it's not as loud, and we're afforded so much more space here. There's a wonderful community feeling and it's the best of both worlds.”

Whenever Hernandez is not on stage, he does a one-person show at the National Constitution Center called “Freedom Rising.” He also works as a standardized patient at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. “In fact, there's a lot of opportunity in Philadelphia for folks in the arts,” the actor said, “including the show I'm in now.”

Indeed, Hernandez admits, he loves doing new plays, “and this is a new play, a play that Philadelphia has never seen before. And it's a great little play with a lot of big issues in it. The basic thing we are tackling in this play is just the notion of forgiveness, what it is to forgive and what it is to accept that forgiveness. My character is well-meaning, but he does have his issues.”

Hernandez is a multiple Barrymore nominee and was also a nominee for the F. Otto Haas award for an Emerging Artist. “Truth be told, I don't get a lot of opportunity to play this kind of role. Even just playing an American. It doesn't call into question my last name. It doesn't call into question my nationality None of those things. Not that I don't enjoy doing those roles that do call into question my culture. But this is just a muscle that I don't get to flex a lot. But I do get to do it here, and that's just great.”

For ticket information to “Everything is Wonderful,” visit philadelphiatheatrecompany.org