|
KOSHER LUTHERANS
A comedy by William
Missouri Downs
November 10 - 21, 2010
Hanna and Franklyn are a seemingly
perfect couple who desperately want to have a child of their
own, but can't. As the couple begins to wonder if they'll
ever become parents, they have a chance encounter with a
young woman from Iowa, pregnant and God-fearing, who offers
to let the couple adopt her out-of-wedlock baby. Just before
the adoption papers are signed, Hanna and Franklyn realise
that she doesn't know they're Jewish. Knowing the revelation
could throw a ratchet into the whole works, the couple poses
as Lutherans—but how far are they willing to go to have a
family?
William Missouri Downs - Playwright
Bill Downs has authored 20 full-length plays, including:
• INNOCENT THOUGHTS (winner, National Playwrights Award)
• JEWISH SPORTS HEROES AND TEXAS INTELLECTUALS (first place,
Mill Mountain Theatre's Festival Of New Plays)
• SEAGULLS IN A CHERRY TREE (winner, Larry Corse Prize for
playwriting)
• KABUKI MEDEA (winner, Bay Area Critics Award for best
production in San Francisco, and Jefferson Award for best
production in Chicago)
Bill has had nearly 100 productions of his plays from New
York to Singapore and from Israel to South Africa, including
LORT theatres like the Kennedy Center and the Berkeley Rep.
He is a full voting member of the Dramatists Guild of
America (DGA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA).
Bill is co-author of several books including:
• SCREENPLAY: WRITING THE PICTURE (Silman/James)
• NAKED PLAYWRITING: THE ART, THE CRAFT AND THE LIFE LAID
BARE (Silman/James)
• PLAYWRITING: FROM FORMULA TO FORM (Harcourt)
• THE ART OF THEATRE (Wadsworth)
In Hollywood he was a staff writer on the NBC sitcom MY TWO
DADS (which starred Paul Reiser). He also wrote for AMEN
(Sherman Hemsley) and FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR (Will Smith).
He also won the Jack Nicholson Award for screenwriting.
Bill holds an M.F.A. in acting from the University of
Illinois and an M.F.A. in screenwriting from U.C.L.A. He was
trained in playwriting at the Circle Rep in New York City.
|
|
|
|
|
|
HARD LOVE
By Israeli top playwright
Motti Lerner
January 5 - 16, 2011
In this fiercely romantic drama, Hannah
and Zvi are reunited after divorcing twenty years earlier.
Raised in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim, the couple
ended their marriage when Zvi turned his back on Judaism and
Hannah did not. Now the teenage children from their second
marriages have become romantically involved, forcing Hannah
and Zvi back into each other’s lives.
“HARD LOVE packs a powerful emotional punch,” writes David
Cooper in the New York Jewish Culture Examiner. “The play
bring to the front the compromises that are necessary in any
marriage… giving it play its emotional depth and power; Zvi
is too emotionally wounded to meet Hanna half-way. Zvi is
haunted by God; his professed atheism seems like an attempt
to flee a God he blames but can never elude.”
Hard Love was translated form the Hebrew by Anthony Berris
adn had it's English language premier at Theater Or in
Durham North Carolina.
Motti Lerner – Playwright
Motti is a playwright and screenwriter, born in Israel in
1949. American productions of his work include:
• THE MURDER OF ISAAC (Centerstage Theatre, Baltimore, and
also as part of the New York Now festival at the Public
Theatre in NY)
• EXILE IN JERUSALEM (Williamstown Festival with Julie
Harris in the title role, Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Detroit,
La Mama Theatre, NY, and Theatre J, Washington DC)
• HARD LOVE (Theatre Or, Durham NC, Victory Gardens,
Chicago, and JTS in Atlanta)
• PASSING THE LOVE OF WOMEN (Theatre J, Washington DC)
• COMING HOME (Golden Thread Theatre, San Francisco)
• PANGS OF THE MESSIAH (Theatre J, and Silk Road Theatre
Project in Chicago)
• BENEDICTUS (Golden Thread Theatre, San Francisco, LATC in
Los Angeles, the Lark Playwright's Week in NY, and at
Theatre J)
His play PANGS OF THE MESSIAH was nominated for the Helen
Hayes Award for the best play of 2008. His feature film
SPRING 1941, with Joseph Fiennes and Claire Higgins in the
title roles, was released in October, 2008. He is a
recipient of the Meskin Award for Best Play (1985), and the
Israeli Motion Picture Academy award for Best TV Drama in
1995 and in 2004. In 1994 he won the Prime Minister's Award
(Israel) for his creative work. His plays have been produced
in the US, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and
Australia. Other plays include: KASTNER, PAULA, and POLLARD,
all produced by the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv; and AUTUMN
at the Beit Lessin Theatre, Tel Aviv.
He has written screenplays for the films LOVES IN BETANIA,
THE KASTNER TRIAL, BUS NUMBER 300 and EGOZ, and the TV drama
series THE INSTITUTE, A BATTLE IN JERUSALEM and THE SILENCE
OF THE SIRENS. His TV feature film ALTALENA premiered at the
Jerusalem Film Festival in July 2008.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A HAMBURGER IN A PITA
A comedy by Nina Shenhav
March 2 -13, 2011
The Liebermans are typical Canadian
secular Jews. The Noys are typical Israeli secular Jews—and
now, neighbours to the Liebermans. Differences of mentality
and mannerism lead to tensions, but when their children, Tom
and Sharon, fall in love with each other and with Judaism,
the parents find that they have much more in common than
they thought. At the same time, Jenny, the Liebermans’ older
daughter is dating a non Jew to the disapproval of her
parents, but her boyfriend is more of a mystery than they
expected.
Nina Shenhav – Playwright
Nina has written ten scripts for television and has
published three books. She has held the position of editor
in chief, and editor in six national magazines. Nina is a
nominee for Lifestyle Magazine’s editor of the month, and
also for the best scriptwriter of the month at the Israeli
Educational TV.
Her work stands on its testimonials. As one fan puts it,
“You’ve long forgotten you’re watching a play or reading an
article. All you know now, is you’re participating in the
vivid story itself. You breathe, laugh and cry with the
characters, while they’re heading through their life’s
journey.”
Nina has been acting on TV and in theatre for 20 years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
