Teatro Paraguas to Present THE LILAC MINYAN, 5/3-4

THE LILAC MINYAN is an award winning play by Taos playwright Debora Seidman which premiered at the New Works Festival in Brooklyn, New York, in 2000. It was subsequently produced at Immigrant's Theatre Project, New York, New York, and the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.

It recently completed a November 2013 run at Metta Theatre in Taos where it was very well attended and received. The cast included veteran film and TV actor Christopher Maher as Samuel and NYU trained actress Nena Salazar as Alison.

The Lilac Minyan : An aging Holocaust Survivor and a young Jewish woman meet in the hospital where both their partners are dying. Each feels alienated from their tradition, yet feels compelled to say Kaddish ( the Jewish prayer for the dead). The play follows their journey into a friendship that helps each one wrestle with loss, God, and the meaning of prayer, in the face of a legacy that includes genocide and betrayal.

The play becomes a meditation on grief, friendship, the legacy of the Holocaust and the power of prayer. The play is offered in the spirit that the ancient Greeks offered tragedies: if we can face, collectively, as part of a live audience, some of what is difficult to face, we have the opportunity to become better human beings, and better citizens of the world, and better able to face that which is difficult in our world.

Mirabai Starr's endorsement of the play:This play changed my relationship to Judaism, to gender, and to What Really Matters. The irony and wit in The Lilac Minyanmade me laugh aloud, and its tender insight into the human condition brought tears to my eyes. Debora Seidman is exceptionally literate--every line sings with clarity and intelligence--and also stunningly wise. Highly recommended! Mirabai Starr Author of GOD OF LOVE: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity & Islam

Bruce McIntosh (Samuel) trained as an actor in NYC and Los Angeles and has extensive stage experience, and was a Helen Hayes Award nominee in the Outstanding Lead Actor category. He is the founder and artistic director of Metta Theatre and Metta Young Artists in Taos, and works as an actor, writer and director in theatre and film.

Jacquelyn Cordova (Alison) was born in California and moved to her father's family home in Vadito, NM as a young girl. She is a graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, and has appeared onstage at Taos High School and in a number of lead roles at Metta Theatre and is a member of Metta Young Artists.

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