ON STAGE - VOICES FROM A CHANGING MIDDLE EAST FESTIVAL 2006 - 2007
June 23–July 29, 2007
With Israel’s 60th anniversary approaching, leading Jewish, Christian and Muslim authors reflect upon Israel’s complex history, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s impact on Arabs and Jews as well as explorations of modern Islamic identity. We hope that you will join us for multiple shows, listen to all the voices, and join us in conversation both in the theater and on our blog.
Performances will take place at Theater J and Busboys & Poets
For showtimes and venues visit this link
Click here for a PDF one-page calendar
Pangs of The Messiah
English Language World Premiere by
Motti Lerner
Directed by Sinai Peter
June 23-July 22, 2007
Featuring Michael Tolaydo, Laura Giannarelli, Norman Aronovic,
Joel Ganz, Becky Peters, Lindsay Haynes, John Johnston, Alexander Strain
(Photo Credit: Stan Barouh)
Click Here for More Info
Ariel Sharon Hovers Between Life and Death and Dreams of Theodor Herzl
A World Premiere by David Zellnik
directed by John Vreeke
Click here for a listing of Sources
Read about the show on the Theater J Blog
A controversial look at 100 years of Zionist history. Theodor Herzl, father of Zionism, went in his short life from struggling playwright and self-hating Jew to becoming “the Modern Moses.” He dreamed of a land where “weak European Jews” could be turned into “men.” Was Ariel Sharon the ominous culmination of Herzl's vision? Or a best friend? And what of the last chapter in Sharon’s life?
"I was blown away...I confess I was crying at its savage conclusion…."
- NY Observer
Chasing Justice/Seeking Truth: or It's Just Not That Safe Anymore
A work-in progress written and performed by Aaron Davidman
Read an excerpt from this work-in progress
Read about the show on the Theater J Blog
Playwright/performance artist Aaron Davidman explores the pursuit of idealism and the making of martyrs in the Information Age. Taking stock of some of the recent controversies that have divided Americans and American Jews, Davidman untangles the Rachel Corrie controversy, considers the anatomy of anti-Semitism, reflects on the spirit of dissent and what’s left of the Left. Chasing Justice follows one man from America to the Middle East on a quest to answer some of the most provocative questions of our time.
I-Site & In the Crossing
Two performance pieces by Leila Buck
Performance pieces by Lebanese-American author/actress Leila Buck, artistic director of the Nisaa Arab-American Women's Collective. I-Site traces a life lived in constant transit between two worlds. Leila leads her audience on a deeply personal yet ultimately universal journey with comical memories and moving discoveries. In her new piece, In The Crossing, a Lebanese-American woman brings her Jewish husband to Lebanon for the first time. Their visit is interrupted by Israeli bombardments and the two face a series of choices and contradictions between family, responsibility, war and love.
Via Dolorosa
by David Hare
Performance by David Bryan Jackson
Read about the show on the Theater J Blog
A reprise of our acclaimed production of British master playwright David Hare's journey to Israel and Palestine. Still as relevant as it was seven years ago when it launched our Peace Café forum.
"an evening that is urgent, ocassionally humorous and relentlessly probing."
- The Washington Post
“very elegant, very, very intelligent...one of the most penetrating playwrights in English language...went there, listened hard, and brought these voices back."
- Around Town, WETA
From Tel-Aviv to Ramallah: A Beat Box Journey
by Rachel Havrelock
Performed by Yuri Lane
Video projections by Sharif Ezzat
Nominated for a 2004 Charles MacArthur Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play
Read about the show on the Theater J Blog
A reprise of the hip-hop mosaic of Palestinian and Israeli voices performed by solo virtuoso Yuri Lane. The Conflict as woven into a sonic and aural tapestry lived out and expressed by a brand new, hip-hop generation. With accompanying projections by Egyptian-American performance artist, Sharif Ezzat.
"Lane is not only an accomplished mimic, he's also an acrobat with sound."
- The Washington Post
Reading of
Noor
by Akbar Ahmed
Directed by Shirley Serotsky
A kidnapping drama about the crisis of modern Islam set in a modern Islamic capital. Three brothers furiously debate how to respond to a band of militia who've abducted their youngest sister, Noor. Fundamentalist, mystical and modernist Islam hold sway as a family struggles to restore its lost honor.
Special Free Event
The Arab-Israeli Cookbook
by Robin Soans
A Peace Café Community Reading
with Cooking & Eating
Open to all, this free reading will distribute parts on Sunday, July 22 at 9:30 AM at Busboys and Poets and present a rehearsed reading a week later. In a research trip to the Occupied Territories and Israel, writer Robin Soans and directors Rimi Brihi and Tim Roseman interviewed people drawn from the widest possible background of culture, class and creed. In these staged encounters the subjects invite us into their kitchens to share in the life-affirming process of preparing their daily meals.
"This fact-based dramatization ingeniously sidesteps political propaganda to capture moving personal histories, told in the respondents' own words" - The Los Angeles Times