Powerful Women Struggle with Sisterhood in DAYS OF ATONEMENT

Dynamic. Aggressive. Funny. Warm. The Ohana sisters force you into their world. With a deep sense of urgency, these four women gather to figure out where and why their mother is missing. Differences of religious beliefs, professions and class clash. And the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) approaches. Experience these four powerful women at their most vulnerable, struggling to reconnect, forgive and forget.

"What a thrilling opportunity to share the voices of these powerful women with Boston audiences," writes playwright Hanna Azoulay-Hasfari. "Last year's residency at Israeli Stage opened my eyes, mind, heart to the possibilities of intergenerational and cross-cultural artistic exchange and dialogue."

This American Premiere production by Israeli Stage will bring NY talent to Boston, featuring voice-over artist (Hillary Clinton's campaign) and actress Gy Mirano and Drama Desk Award winning Sound Designer Tony Meola (Broadway's Wicked and The Lion King). "I am thrilled to be joining Israeli Stage as a designer on Days of Atonement," writes Meola. "I am excited to be collaborating with such a young company, whose mission, as I see it, is connecting artists across borders, oceans, races."

"The desire to experience theatre from around the world will strengthen our compassion and understanding," says Actress Adrianne Krstansky. "These plays come to life with great beauty, humor, intelligence and artistry. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with Israeli Stage and the important mission of bringing cross-cultural work to Boston audiences."

Director Guy Ben-Aharon expressed his admiration for Azoulay-Hasfari's work, "In Days of Atonement, Hanna manages to write both comedy and pathos." Following last year's All Female Playwrights season, Ben-Aharon says, "Days of Atonement is the natural follow-up to Season 6's All Female Playwrights program line. This is a play about four strong women - women whose voices are often unsung - and need to be sung."

"It is so important to sing the unsung stories of the Moroccan-Israeli narrative," writes playwright Azoulay-Hasfari. "It is one that has been under-served in Israel, and practically unheard abroad. Being able to explore Days of Atonement with American audiences, and fostering this relationship with these brilliant Bostonians gives me hope - hope to create a world that is more understanding and more pluralistic."

Playwright Hanna Azoulay-Hasfari is known for being a trailblazer in diversity. An award-winning actress, filmmaker and playwright, Hanna was the 2016 Playwright-in-Residence at Israeli Stage where her three-week long residency culminated in a workshop of a World Premiere entitled Dina and over half a dozen engagements at Boston-area universities, with lectures and dialogues on the topic Identity in Art.

Speaking to the multi-ethnic casting choices for this particular production, Azoulay-Hasfari writes, "The idea of casting multi-ethnic actresses as four sisters has never been done before with one of my plays, and I am curious to see what additional meanings it will have for the play. I am looking forward to my return to Boston, to see its wonderful people, its wonderful artists, and to continue this fruitful relationship."

Days of Atonement by Hanna Azoulay Hasfari // An American Premiere Production

June 1 - 25, 2017 // Deane Hall at the Calderwood Pavilion in Boston's South End

Tickets: $43.50 at IsraeliStage.com

Press Opening: June 4 at 3PM; RSVP with guy@israelistage.com

Ramona Lisa Alexander* (Actor, Fanny) Regional credits: Milk Like Sugar (Huntington Theatre); Barbecue, Saturday Sunday Night (Lyric Stage); Arabian Nights, Harriet Jacobs, Ti-Jean & His Brothers, Moon for the Misbegotten, (Central Square Theater); Seven Guitars (Artist Repertory Theatre, Portland Or.); The Brother/Sister Plays, King Hedley II (Portland Playhouse, Drammy Award); Intimate Apparel, (W.H.A.T); To Kill a Mockingbird, (Montana Rep, National Tour); A Christmas Carol (Berkshire Theatre Festival), Postcards From Earth, (Guthrie Theatre GEx11); 103 Within The Veil, (Company One, IRNE Award), In The Continuum, Joe Turner's (Up You Mighty Race Theatre Co, IRNE Award); In the Blood, (Zeitgeist Stage). Film: Knock Around Kids (adekoje-filmwerks). She holds an MFA from Brandeis University. Israeli Stage: readings of Dina and Fertile.

Adrianne Krstansky* (Actor, Evelyn) Off Broadway: 365days/365 plays at The Public Theater and Luck, Pluck and Virtue at the Atlantic Theater Company. Regional credits include Come Back Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre - Eliot Norton Award), Paradise Lost, Britannicus and Ubu Rock (A.R.T.), A Clockwork Orange, Twelfth Night (Steppenwolf). Boston credits: Tribes, Body Awareness, Snakebit (SpeakEasy); Blackberry Winter, Imagining Madoff, On the Verge, Holiday Memories, Three Viewings, 2.5 Minute Ride, Frozen (New Rep), Gary and Legally Dead (Boston Playwrights) November (Lyric Stage) and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Vineyard Playhouse). Film credits: Cynthia Bibber in Olive Kitteridge (HB0) and Carol in The Company Men. She is the Barbara '54 and Malcolm Sherman Chair of Theater Arts at Brandeis University. Israeli Stage: readings of Make My Heart Flutter and At Night's End.

Gy Mirano (Actor, Malka) is a New York based actress, voice-over artist, and arts advocate, originally from South America. Television and film include: Law & Order, Against the Law, Crime Story, Double Deception, Real Sports, Paragraph 175, Front Line, Dora the Explorer, Les Petites Canailles, 3 Américas, and Rights on the Line. Selected voice acting credits include: Nikon, Avon, Ford, Folgers, Time Magazine, The New York Times, narrations for PBS, HBO, MoMA, Museum of Natural History, El Museo del Barrio, and San Francisco Fine Arts Museums. She was recently the Spanish-language announcer for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and for the campaign of U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. She teaches voice-over technique and the business of the entertainment industry at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. Israeli Stage: Debut.

Josephine Moshiri Elwood (Actor, Amira) was most recently seen in Stoneham Theatre's production of Gabriel. Other Boston credits include Hand to God, The Whale (Speakeasy), Othello, God's Ear (Actor's Shakespeare Project), Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare). Josephine is a graduate of Emerson College, where she received a BFA in Acting. Israeli Stage: Debut.

Hanna Azoulay Hasafri (Playwright) is an actress, playwright, screenwriter, social activist & artist. For the past 25 years, Hanna has appeared as a leading actress on stage and on camera in TV & film. Hanna wrote and acted in "Sh'chur," a film that won the "Best Film Award" at the Israeli Film Academy, a "Special Notice Award" at the Berlin Film Festival, the First Prize Winner at the San Sebastian Festival and "Best Script" at the Troja Film Festival. As a playwright, Hanna has written the Betulot Shiduch, Slihot and Mimuna. Hanna is among the founders of "The Democratic Sephardic Rainbow Coalition," a political activism movement focused on improving Sephardic rights. Israeli Stage: Playwright-in-Residence 2016 (Dina).

Guy Ben-Aharon (Director, Artistic Director) With an understanding that theatre is a global art form, Guy has dedicated himself to working on plays in translation; he has directed, commissioned and edited over 40 translations into English since 2010. This body of work has resulted in tours up and down the East Coast from Atlanta to Toronto, in partnership with over forty institutions. Proud Emerson College alum. Israeli Stage: Ulysses on Bottles and Oh God (Boston and the Berkshires).

Tony Meola*** (Co-Sound Designer) over 50 Broadway shows in including WICKED, DROOD (Drama Desk Award) and THE LION KING (Drama Desk Award). Israeli Stage: Debut.

Scott Pinkney*** (Lighting Design) On Broadway, he designed Harvey Fierstein's Tony Award-winning Torch Song Trilogy. Off-Broadway credits include Vincent, Becoming Dr. Ruth, Majestic Kid, Divine Fire, and The World is Made of Glass. He has designed more than 30 productions for Barrington Stage Company (where he was named an Associate Artist in 2014), including American Son, Enemy of the People, All My Sons, Best of Enemies, The Crucible, Whipping Man, Carousel, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Follies. Other regional designs include Don Juan for The Denver Center (Denver Critics Circle Award),Comedy of Errors for Commonwealth Shakespeare (Elliot Norton Award), Balkan Women for Bristol Riverside Theatre (Barrymore Nomination), and My Fair Lady for TheatreVirginia (Phoebe Award). Internationally, he has designed for Singapore Rep and The Club Mohamed-Ali in Cairo. Mr. Pinkney is a Professor of lighting design at Emerson College in Boston. Slpinkney.com. Israeli Stage: Ulysses on Bottles (IRNE Nomination) and Oh God.

Charles Schoonmaker*** (Costume Designer) is the recipient of four Daytime Emmy Awards for his work in television and the IRNE for best costume design for Venus in Fur at the Huntington Theatre. Additional Boston area theatre credits include God of Carnage and A Long and Winding Road (Huntington Theatre); Tarzan (North Shore Music Theatre); Far From Heaven, The Light in the Piazza, Violet (Speakeasy); Race and The Clean House (New Rep); Grey Gardens, The Legacy of Light, and 33 Variations (Lyric Stage). Credits in the Berkshires include the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Dorset Theatre Festival, Chester Theatre Company, and seven season as the resident costume designer at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Television credits include "Another World," "All My Children," and "As the World Turns." He teaches costume design at Bennington College. Charles-Schoonmaker.com. Israeli Stage: Ulysses on Bottles and Oh God.

Cristina Todesco*** (Scenic Designer) Recent designs include Faithful Cheaters (Trinity Rep), The Who and the What (Huntington Theater), Chill (Merrimack Rep), Hand to God (Speakeasy Stage), The Totalitarians (Gloucester Stage), Staviniski's Soldiers Tale (BSO Tanglewood). Theater companies include Actor's Shakespeare Project, Company One, ART Institute, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Lyric Stage Company, Boston Conservatory, Boston Playwrights, Olney Theater Center, Orfeo Group, Poet's Theater, Stoneham Theater, Harbor Stage, Wheelock Family Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, Summer Play Festival, Opera Boston. She is the recipient of four Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Design: The Clean House (New Rep), Twelfth Night (ASP), The Aliens and The Flick (Company One) and one IRNE award: Appropriate(Speakeasy Stage). She earned a BFA in painting from BU's School of Visual Arts, and an MFA in scenic design from BU's School of Theatre Arts, where she currently teaches. Israeli Stage: Oh God.

Adele Nadine Traub* (Stage Manager) is a Founding Company Member with Actors' Shakespeare Project where she has stage managed 23 shows over the past 13 season. Previous projects include: I Was Most Alive With You with Huntington Theatre Company; Journey to the West, Intimate Exchanges, and Paradise with Central Square Theater; appropriate, A Future Perfect, and the award-winning Tribes and Clybourne Park with Speakeasy Stage Co.; R. Buckminster Fuller at the A.R.T.; It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues with Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany;; That Hopey Changey Thing with Stoneham Theater; Deported/a dream play, Two Wives in India, and The Salt Girl with Boston Playwrights' Theater; Man of La Mancha and 1776 with Lyric Stage Company, and several years stage managing for BU's Dance Theater Group. During her four years as Production Stage Manager at The Boston Conservatory, Adele worked on over 40 productions with the Musical Theater, Dance, Opera, and Orchestra Departments and she returned this season to work with the BFA stage management students. She received her B.A. from Brandeis University and is a professional quilter. (thequiltedchuppah.com) Israeli Stage: Oh God and Ulysses on Bottles.

Zach Williamson (Co-Sound Designer) Broadway work includes Lysistrata Jones, Pal Joey (associate designer), A Little Night Music and The Ritz (assistant designer). Off-Broadway credits: Irish Repertory Theater, 2nd Stage, American Records, among others. Regional credits: Cincinnati Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Kansas City Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, The Ordway, Denver Center, Walnut Street Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, The 5th Avenue Seattle, Clarence Brown, Long Wharf, St. Louis Rep, Syracuse Stage, Vermont Stage, St. Michael's Playhouse, Virginia Stage, Pasadena Playhouse, Goodspeed and Asolo. He is currently the associate sound designer for the Broadway and national tour of Wicked and Event and Production Manager at Burlington City Arts. Israeli Stage: Debut.

ABOUT ISRAELI STAGE

Since its Inaugural Season in 2010-11, Israeli Stage has produced over twenty-five plays in translation, exposing American audiences across seven states to New England, American, and World Premieres. In March 2012, Israeli Stage launched its first tour of the play Apples from the Desert that visited half-dozen universities, and has since toured extensively throughout New England (and Georgia) to over forty venues, including twenty-five academic institutions. Israeli Stage has been profiled in The Boston Globe, The Improper Bostonian, The International Herald Tribune, Ha'aretz and Yediot America for the unique work they do to build cultural bridges between the United States and Israel. For more information, visit IsraeliStage.com.

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