DAUGHTER OF THE WICKED Comes to New York City Center in April

Lions Bay Productions announced that it will present the New York premiere of DAUGHTER OF THE WICKED, an original new solo play written and performed by Shanit Keter Schwartz that details her return to her homeland Israel in search of her missing sister - a victim of the Yemenite Children Affair. She journeys through her past, reflecting on her strength, loss, perseverance, independence, and her homecoming. We experience the struggles of the Jewish people that came to build the new state of Israel.

Ella Jane New, Resident Director, will stage the production, which begins previews on Saturday, April 15th at 2:00pm, and have its official opening night on Thursday, April 20th at 7:30pm, and run through Sunday, May 14th at New York City Center, Stage II (131 West 55th St). Tickets are now on sale. https://www.nycitycenter.org/pdps/2022-2023/daughter-of-the-wicked/.

DAUGHTER OF THE WICKED features original cello music by nine-time Oscar-nominee and Grammy & Emmy Award-winning Composer James Newton Howard, whose credits include The Hunger Games, Maleficent, and The Dark Knight, among others.

"It has been my great honor to contribute music to Shanit Keter-Schwartz's remarkable one-woman show, Daughter Of The Wicked," says James Newton-Howard. "I tried to musically reflect the passion, pain, vulnerability, and power of this incredible story - a composer's dream."

DAUGHTER OF THE WICKED tells the story of Shanit Keter Schwartz returning to her homeland in search of her missing sister, a victim of the Yemenite Children Affair. She looks back at her upbringing as a Yemenite Jewish girl in the newly formed country of Israel, paying special tribute to her Kabbalistic mystical Rabbi father, as she comes to terms with her tumultuous past. This riveting new play features an original soundscape of authentic Yemenite tin drums and flutes composed by Israeli composer Lilo Fedida to transport us from the sands of Yemen to the tin huts of the Israeli settlement camps to life in the projects. James Newton Howard's cello composition will support the Kabbalistic texts that guide audiences through the story.

In the 1950s, in the newly founded state of Israel, thousands of babies and toddlers of mostly Jewish immigrants from Yemen went missing. The government told the parents of these children that they had died. Advocates for the families of these missing children believe the number could be in the thousands - and many of the families of these missing children are still looking for them, in some cases, exhuming buried bodies and identifying them through DNA testing. It is a collective trauma and nightmare that has plagued thousands of families for over a half century.

"It's said that when experiencing the loss of a sibling, you have lost some of your past, present and future", says the show's Resident Director Ella Jane New. "This play takes us on an emotional journey, intertwining deeply personal familial relationships, and the historical voyage of the Jewish people as they came to build Israel."


Playwright and performer Shanit Keter-Schwartz says, "This is an immigrant story that many audience members will relate to - the essence of that spirit that brought us all to this country and help to define it in the most beautiful way. I want to connect with those who have experienced the pain of loss, and with those who may have been discriminated for the color of their skin."

She adds: "Going back to my roots, revisiting the past, it is an act of forgiveness. By writing this play, I was able to forgive and accept the past. I hope that when audiences see my play they come to terms with their own history, and that they feel a sense of what it means to be free, and the challenges that confront us in maintaining that freedom."

DOTW first premiered in Los Angeles in 2022, and was directed by Zeke Rettman, who received the NAACP Award for "Best Direction" of the critically acclaimed production of Ragtime at The Hudson Theatre.

DAUGHTER OF THE WICKED features Yemenite themed music by Lilo Fedida, lighting design by Daisy Long, and media & sound design by Fritz Davis. The Production Stage Manager is Allison Goldhammer. Marketing and advertising are by Katie Rosin/Kampfire, and the production's Press Agent is Dan Demello. General management is by Evan Bernardin Productions.

Performances of DAUGHTER OF THE WICKED are on Wednesday - Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 2:00pm and 7:30pm, and Sunday at 3:00pm.

Tickets start at $35 and available online at https://www.nycitycenter.org/pdps/2022-2023/daughter-of-the-wicked/ - at the box office, or by calling the City Center box office at 212-581-1212.

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