24/6: A Jewish Theater Company to Present A DYBBUK FOR TWO PEOPLE, 12/28

24/6: A Jewish Theater Company and New York's first one dedicated to Sabbath-observant artists, will present A DYBBUK FOR TWO PEOPLE, Bruce Myers's acclaimed two person adaptation of S. Ansky's classic Jewish play THE DYBBUK directed by 24/6's Co-Founding Artistic Director, Yoni Oppenheim. The production will play on December 28th at 3:00 pm, at the JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street New York, NY 10023. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.jccmanhattan.org/cat-content.aspx?catid=2856&progid=31569 or by calling the JCC at 646-505-5708. On the day of the show, tickets will be available at the door.

Romeo and Juliet meets The Exorcist, as brokenhearted Leah and Chonen defy heaven and earth's law for their forbidden love. 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company celebrates the centenary of S. Ansky's classic The Dybbuk, by staging Bruce Myers's acclaimed, funny, and haunting adaptation, A Dybbuk for Two People.

This production of A DYBBUK FOR TWO PEOPLE celebrates both the 4th Anniversary of 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company, which launched in December 2010, as well as the 100th Anniversary of S. Ansky writing THE DYBBUK. Ansky's play is central in the development of both the modern Hebrew and Yiddish theater. Stanislavki's protégé Vakhtangov staged the original Hebrew language production in Moscow by the Habima Theatre, which with this production, would become the National Theater of Israel. The Yiddish language premier became the Vilna Troupe's greatest success. 24/6 performance publically launches the company's Dybbuk Project, which commenced this summer with the ensemble reading versions of The Dybbuk, alongside biographical material on Ansky, and exploring the artistic legacy of the play since its writing. Ansky spent two years on an anthropological expedition researching Jewish life in the Russian Pale of Settlement, the result of which was his play. In 2015, 24/6 will build upon this work to create its own response to the play, examining how it speaks to us today. As we commenced working on the project, we realized that many people our age don't know The Dybbuk, and so we decided to share the story through Bruce Myers' beautiful adaptation. Myers's Dybbuk frames the action around a Sabbath dinner table, at which a man and woman become all the characters in the play. A DYBBUK FOR TWO PEOPLE received great acclaim when first produced in the early 1980s, including a 1981 Obie Award for Bruce Myers. Myers' played the central role of Chanon in Joseph Chaiken's acclaimed Joseph Papp Public Theater/NYSF production in 1977, winning the Obie award for his portray.

A DYBBUK FOR TWO PEOPLE will star Michal Birnbaum as Woman (Leah, etc.) and Leor Hackel as Man (Chonen, etc.)

LEOR HACKEL (Man) as a youth he appeared in the feature films Matilda (Julius Rottwinkle) and The Secret Life of Girls (Monte). Previously with 24/6 he appeared in Sabbath Variations (Heschel/Salaryman), A Doll House (Torvald Helmer), The Victims: Or What Do You Want To Do About It? (Jidi), The Purim Story! (Haman), and Uncle Vanya (The Professor). His other theater credits include performances in Measure for Measure and Julius Caesar (Columbia University); The Lark and The Skin of Our Teeth (Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, LA); The Long Christmas Dinner, Much Ado About Nothing, Tartuffe, and Stage Door (Wildfire Theatre Lab, L.A.), and The Dybbuk (Classical Theatre Lab, LA). He has directed productions of Macbeth, Degas C'est Moi, and The Zoo Story (Columbia University). Leor is a graduate student at New York University pursuing a PhD in Psychology. He is incredibly thankful to his wife Ruthie for her love and support, and is Excited to be part of another 24/6 production!

Michal Birnbaum (Woman) played Sonya in 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company's Uncle Vanya. She made her Off-Broadway debut this November in "You've Been Tartuffed", an adaptation of the classic comedy by Moliere where she played Cleante. She has played Agnes in "The Shadow Box", and Jo in "A Taste of Honey" at The Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute. Later in 2015 you will see her playing the lead in "Lady of the Castle", a play by Leah Goldberg about post World War II life. Birnbaum grew up in an ultra-orthodox community in Israel and served in the Army for three years as a reporter at "Galei Tzahal", the radio station of the IDF. She is an alumna of The Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute and was also trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

Yoni Oppenheim (Director, Co-Artistic Director) is excited to dip his toes in the world of S. Ansky's The Dybbuk. For 24/6, he directed Passover Plays; conceived and directed Uncle Vanya (JCC, NYU, MTC Studios); Sabbath Variations (LimmudPhilly); SHINSAI; The Victims; adapted/directed A Doll House (The Tank); book and lyrics for Nittel Nacht. His work has been seen in the United States, Israel, and Norway. Yoni serves as researcher to playwright Doug Wright on his new play Posterity, which will be receiving its world premiere off-Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company in February. Yoni's translation of At Night's End by Israeli playwright Motti Lerner, received its first production at Knox College following workshops at Israeli Stage in Boston and at The Lark Playwrights Center in New York. Last year, he dramaturged He Who Laughs by Ian Cohen for JCC Theaterworks in New Haven; and was the Theater Faculty for Brandeis University's BIMA Summer Arts Institute. He was a 2012 and 2013 NEA/NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs SPARC (Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide) Grantee. During his 2012 SPARC Residency he created Home of the Brave: WWII Experiences in the Military and on the Homefront, based on oral histories of senior citizens at the Riverdale Y, where he led "Improv for Seniors" for 6 years. In May 2013, he had the opportunity to assist Yossi Yzraely, one of the fathers of contemporary Jewish theater, on his production Bratslav-Beethoven-Bratslav. He is a recipient of the John Dana Archbold Fellowship at the University of Oslo; the Dorot Fellowship in Israel; and the Spielberg Fellowship in Jewish Theater Education. Yoni is the associate editor of the Foundation for Jewish Culture's catalog "Plays of Jewish Interest", has written about the Origins of Jewish Theater and has been the artistic consultant to both the Drisha Arts Fellowship and the inaugural JOFA Dinner/Exhibition "Putting Women Back in the Picture". BFA in Drama: NYU-Tisch/Playwrights Horizons Theater School; M. Phil in Ibsen Studies: University of Oslo. Member: Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.

AVI SOROKA (24/6 Co-Artistic Director) has worked as an Equity Stage Manager, as well as an actor and director, in NYC and around the US for over 10 years. For 24/6 he has acted in Sabbath Variations: The Splendor of Space (LimmudPhilly), played Torvald in A Doll House (The Tank), Bassee in The Victims, Or What Do You Want Me to Do About It?, and Vanya in Uncle Vanya, for which he also wrote a new translation, Abie in Chai Hecht's Freer, Aaron in excerpts from August Strindberg's Through Deserts to Ancestral Lands (Moses), and Tony in Notes on Akiba by Tony Kushner. Directing credits for 24/6 include, Nittel Nacht: a short musical, a reading of Brooklyn Boy by Donald Margulies, and Tongue Play. Some of his career highlights have been with The Arizona Jewish Theater Company, Genesis Rep, Mimum Productions, Plain Clothes Performance Group, The Yeshiva College Dramatics Society, Queens College, American Playwrights Theatre, The Rhetorical Question Players and Black Box Entertainment. Most recently Avi served as Company Manager for Daniel Levin's critically acclaimed Hee-Haw: It's A Wonderful Li e which was chosen as a Critics Pick by the New York Times for the 2009 holiday season.