Israeli Play Reading
Pangs of The Messiah
June 7, 2008 • 8:30 pm June 8, 2008 • 2 pm
.jpg "Israeli Play")
|
General public $12 |
To purchase tickets: |
Stonehill Auditorium
The Mandel JCC
26001 South Woodland Road
Beachwood 44122
In celebration of the 60th birthday of the State of Israel, The Mandel JCC will present the work of contemporary Israeli playwright, Motti Lerner. Guest director Seth Gordon, Associate Artistic Director of The Cleveland Play House, will direct local actors in the reading of Pangs of The Messiah, translated from Hebrew into English.
Pangs of the Messiah is a harrowing yet humane depiction of an extended family of eight West Bank settlers who resist the dismantling of their settlement and an impending Peace Accord between the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority. Set in 2012, Motti Lerner’s play reveals the widely divergent responses within a family of religious Zionist pioneers as Rabbi Shmuel Berger, an esteemed and charismatic leader of the settlement movement, is forced to reckon with the legacy of violence that his holy teachings have unwittingly fostered. The English language world premiere of Pangs of the Messiah was produced last June by Theater J in Washington DC.
Click here for Part 1 of the preview of the short documentary featuring playwright Motti Lerner.
Click here for part 2 of the preview of the short documentary featuring playwright Motti Lerner.
Motti Lerner, playwright and screenwriter, was born in Israel in 1949. He teaches "Political Playwriting" at Tel Aviv University. He has been a member of the peace movement in Israel since 1973. He frequently lectures at European and American Universities on playwriting, the Israeli theater, and especially on the Israeli theater and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His feature film Spring 1941 is currently in production in Poland starring Joseph Fiennes and Claire Higgins. He is a recipient of the Meskin Award for the best play (1985), and the Israeli Motion Picture Academy award for the best TV drama in 1995 and in 2004. In 1994 he won the Prime Minister of Israel's Award for his creative work.
Seth Gordon is enjoying his seventh season as Associate Artistic Director of The Cleveland Play House. His directing credits with The Play House include Doubt, The Chosen, Dinner with Friends, Proof, Forest City (world premiere), Vincent in Brixton, Tuesdays with Morrie, A Christmas Story, The Wind in the Willows, RFK, Of Mice and Men, and Ferdinand the Bull. NEW YORK THEATRE: Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theatre for the New City, many others. REGIONAL: Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Bay Street Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre. CLEVELAND: Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, Beck Center for the Arts. INTERNATIONAL: Arabic premiere of Our Town in Cairo. EDUCATION: High School of Performing Arts in New York and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Mr. Gordon previously served as Literary Manager and then as Associate Producer of Primary Stages in New York. He has also directed and lectured at various universities, including Case Western Reserve University. He received the Northern Ohio Live Awards for excellence in theatre in 2004 and 2006. He considers himself a lucky man.
Director Seth Gordon
Cast For Pangs Of The Messiah Reading
Shmuel George Roth*
Amalia Elizabeth Ann Townsend *
Menachem Joel Hammer *
Avner Andrew Narten
Tirtzah Bernadette Clemens *
Nadav Bob Russell
Chava Elizabeth Kahl
Benny Adam Day Howard
*Actors appear courtesy of Actors Equity Association
Click here to read the Cleveland Jewish News article about Pangs of the Messiah.
