Two plays about the epic conflict of faith, hope and despair - one existential and one disturbingly real and circumstantial - will be seen in tandem at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, in December.
Beginning December 16, Theater for the New City (
Crystal Field executive director), in association with New Yiddish Rep, presents the US premiere of "Land of Fire," the Argentinian playwright Mario Diament's riveting, based-on-real-events drama about the reconciliation of an Israeli woman with the terrorist who attacked her some 23 years earlier.
Directed by the internationally acclaimed director Moshe Yassur, "Land of Fire" begins previews Wednesday December 16 at 8pm, and plays through Sunday January 3 at 3pm. The opening is set for Sunday December 20 at 7pm.
The Yassur-directed "Waiting for Godot" in Yiddish - New Yiddish Rep's internationally acclaimed production -- will be restaged for a special holiday encore during the run of "Land of Fire." Joining original cast members
Shane Baker and
David Mandelbaum will be the popular Russian performance artist
Psoy Korolenko, as the megalomaniacal Pozzo, and New Yiddish Rep regular and noted cabaret artist
Ilan Kwittken, as Lucky. "Godot" performs three times -- Wednesday and Thursday December 23 & 24 at 8pm, and Friday December 25 at 3pm.
Based on real events and people, but fictionalized for the stage, "Land of Fire" fearlessly confronts the moral quagmire that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The play had its world premiere in Stockholm in 2012, with subsequent productions in London (Calder Theatre), and Montevideo. "Tierra Del Fuego" is now in its third sell-out season in Buenos Aires, where it opened in 2013, and where it earned many awards, including Argentina's top playwriting prize, the ACE. It opens in Madrid in April of 2016.
In 1978, an El Al passenger jet was commandeered in London by two PLO-linked terrorists. 23 years after the attack, one of the Israeli stewardesses, Yulie Cohen, decides to write the attacker, Fahad Mihyi, and visit him in the London prison where he is confined. Driven to find out what led this man to do what he did, Cohen discovers how flawed and craven our assumptions are about the complexity of ethnic hatreds. As her character tells the attacker in the play, "I think if we keep talking, we will understand each other one day. But if we keep killing each other, there won't be anyone left to listen."
Cohen detailed her complex experiences with forgiveness by contacting Mihyi in the documentary, "My Terrorist."
"Land of Fire," which is performed in English, features a cast of six, including Dagmar Stansova, in the role of Yulie (Yael in the play); Mihran Shlougian as Mihyi (here named Hassan); Scott Zimmerman as Ilan; Naci Baybura as George, Marilyn Lucchi as Geula, and
David Mandelbaum as Dan.
Sets are by
Mark Marcante, lighting is by
Gertjan Houben, and sound by
Ellen Mandel. The translation from Spanish is by Simone Zarmati Diament.
An Argentinian-born Jew, Diament is a leading South American playwright and journalist. He is a three-time winner of the Argentores Award, and the 2014 recipient of Argentina's distinguished Konex Prize (which named him one of the five best playwrights of the decade). His play "Blind Date" was produced in more than 20 cities in 15 countries, including Paris, New York, Stockholm, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles and Washington DC. Diament lives in Florida where he teaches journalism at Florida International University.
Under the artistic direction of
David Mandelbaum, New Yiddish Rep produces modern theatre for diverse audiences, tapping into the enduring potency of Yiddish as a language and cultural mindset. The company also combines languages with Yiddish such as English and Russian when such combinations can serve the work and add to its impact. This is the first time New Yiddish Rep, which was founded in 2007, has produced a work entirely in English. According to Mandelbaum, "'Land of Fire' meets our mandate to mix and juxtapose languages and cultures to discover tensions and commonalities that can bring us closer."
Under artistic director
Crystal Field, Theater for the New City nurtures and develops writers for the American stage. Theater for the New City looks for diverse writers, especially those that are emerging and yet to be discovered. Theater for the New City also moulds emerging young talent in its after-school program. It presents a number of festivals and plays that are admission-free to our growing public.
"Land of Fire" (in English): Wed/Thur/Fri/Sat December 16, 17, 18, 19 at 8pm; Sunday December 20 at 3pm & 7pm; Saturday December 26 at 3pm & 8pm; Sunday December 27 at 3pm & 8pm; Wed/Thur December 30, 31 at 8pm; Fri Jan 1 at 8pm; Saturday January 2 at 3pm & 8pm, and Sunday January 2 at 3pm.
"Waiting for Godot" in Yiddish: Wed/Thur December 23 & 24 at 8pm, and Fri December 25 at 3pm.
For tickets, which are $18 for both "Land of Fire" and "Waiting for Godot," call SmartTix at
212/868-4444, or visit www.smarttix.com. For more information visit
www.newyiddishrep.org.
