Israeli Stage to Present Anat Gov's OH GOD

Anat Gov's beloved Oh God gets the Fully Staged Production Treatment at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA, followed by a two-week run (by special invite!) at the Chester Theatre Company in the Berkshires!

In this witty, poignant and touching play, a psychotherapist named Ella, single mother of an autistic child, gets a visit from a new, desperate patient, God. Oh God explores the meaning of God in a secular society - the clash between the Biblical quest for answers from a higher power and the modern day quest for self-analysis with our new deity, the therapist.

Oh God has had a long history with Israeli Stage; the piece was presented as a Staged Reading in September 2013 and has since then toured to over 25 locations in 6 states. Maureen Keiller: "Will Lyman and I have been touring readings of Oh God with Guy Ben-Aharon for two years now, and the audience response is always overwhelmingly positive. People are genuinely moved by this piece and many have told me that the play stays with them and creates dialogue about religion and the nature of God long after they have seen it. As artists, that is the best that we can hope for our audiences."

Producing Artistic Director Guy Ben-Aharon says, "I am so thrilled to have Oh God be our second fully staged production. The show has been a staple of what the company is about - the incredible insight Israeli playwrights can bring to our lives and our struggles in the United States - and a platform for dialogue reflections and lively conversation that bring audience together, a feature that can happen nowhere but the theatre." Each performance will be followed by a Dialogue Reflection, moderated by some of Boston's most brilliant women: including clergy, psychologists and a National Humanities Medal Award Winner.

"Israeli Stage is doing work that no one else in Boston is doing, bringing new and fresh works from playwrights of a completely different culture," says Keiller. "It is so important for us to be exposed to new voices, to be aware of struggles in the world that are not our own. And to realize that though our life experiences may differ, we all have a common thread of humanity. I am thrilled to be a part of a company that recognizes the importance of the world being one and using art to illustrate that."

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