Israel @ 60: Onstage!
Venue:
Studio Theatre, Lincoln Hall, Portland State University
July 1, 8, and 15, 2008
Plays Presented:
The Master of the House by Shmuel Hasfari
Tea by Roni Pinkovitch
Pangs of the Messiah by Motti Lerner
Directors:
Sacha Reich & Mary McDonald-Lewis
Actors:
David Berkson*, Elizabeth Garrett, Todd Tolces, Wendy Wilox, Suzanne Owens-Duval, Richard Garfield, Mark Loring, Andy Hillstrom, Lato Buchanan, Michael Biesanz, Emily Simon, Nathan Gale, Jonah Weston, Sam A. Mowry, Jamie M. Rea, Michele Mariana*, Richard Mathews*, and Richard Sanders.
*Member of Actor's Equity Association
Partners/Sponsors:
The Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies, Consulate General of Israel San Francisco, the Institute for Judaic Studies in the Northwest, The Institute of Israeli Drama, the Oregon Israel Fund of the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation and Portland State University
July 1, 2008
The Master of the House
By Shmuel Hasfari
Translated from the Hebrew by Anthony Berris
If we play to win, we are already losing. We must find a way to reconcile our differences, overcome our grief and forge a future together. While each of the characters in Master of this House tackle this challenge on a personal level this is a dilemma Israeli Society faces, torn between dreams of the past, ravaged from loss, looking for a brighter future.
You laugh until you tremble with loss. Hasfari's unflagging humor throughout the play deserts us finally as the cost of pitched battle becomes apparent.
Program (PDF)
July 8, 2008
Tea
By Roni Pinkovitch
Translated from Hebrew by Evan Fallenberg
Our TV and radio bring us daily evidence that War is a dehumanizing force. It dislocates people and leaves them deeply scarred. Over a steaming cup of tea, with equal parts humor and bite, playwright Pinkovitch explores how we recover our humanity and our faith in each other.
Program (PDF)
July 15, 2008
Pangs of the Messiah
By Motti Lerner
Translated from Hebrew by Anthony Berris
Set in a West Bank settlement on the eve of a monumental peace accord involving territorial compromise, Pangs of the Messiah imagines how this scenario will play out. "Lerner plunges us into territory we are likely to feel polarized about, either to the right or left," observes JTC founder Sacha Reich. "Slogging through this existential crisis with the Berger family, we come to understand them. Regardless of where we stand on the issue, I think we are then able to engage in the kind of dialogue that will perhaps prevent such a nightmare scenario from realization." For playwright Lerner and JTC, that would be mission accomplished.
Program (PDF)