The Tony-nominated director Eleanor Reissa is set to helm New Yiddish Rep's contemporary staging of Sholem Asch's notorious drama "God of Vengeance" at La MaMa this winter. The Yiddish language production's Off-Broadway opening is on Christmas Day, Sunday December 25 at 7:30pm with previews beginning Thursday December 22. It will run for five weeks and 33 performances through Sunday January 22.
Considered one of the most psychologically revealing plays of the first half of the 20th century, and still highly explosive for its conflicted view of Judaism, "God of Vengeance" is frequently translated and adapted and is the basis of
Paula Vogel's "Indecent," which enjoyed a critically acclaimed extended run last spring. (Plans to bring "Indecent" to Broadway this season have been announced.)
"Got fun nekome," tells the wrenching story of a brothel owner's attempt to marry off his daughter to lead a dignified religious life, only to have her drawn back into the life of sin in which she grew up. The show is credited with presenting the first lesbian kiss on Broadway in 1923 at the
Apollo Theatre on West 42nd Street.
NYR's production features several veterans of the Yiddish underground theatre scene:
Shane Baker in the role of the brothel owner Yankel;
David Mandelbaum as marriage broker Reb Eli, and Caraid O'Brien as Hindle, a sex worker. Reissa, who plays Sarah, Yankel's wife, received a Tony nomination for direction in 1991 for "Those Were the Days," the last time Broadway sustained a production in Yiddish. An actress and singer, Reissa is currently touring with klezmer giant
Frank London in their duo concert project "Vilde Mekhaye."
"God of Vengeance's" cast also includes a number of young actors who receive intensive training from NYR to perform in Yiddish. Some of these under-30 actors (both men and women) include former members of New York's insular Orthodox communities. Playing the young ladies who fall in love are
Shayna Schmidt (as Rivke the daughter) and Melissa Weisz (as Manke the prostitute).
Full casting will be announced.
This extraordinary opportunity to experience this play authentically in its original language is presented by the internationally acclaimed New Yiddish Rep, which is known for presenting modern theater for diverse contemporary audiences (especially non-Yiddish-speakers) in Yiddish. Its acclaimed productions of "Waiting for Godot" (2013 & 2014), and "Death of a Salesman" (2015) -- nominated last season for two Drama Desk Awards (Best Revival of a Play and Best Actor in a Play for
Avi Hoffman as Willy Loman) -- were credited with shedding new light on two modern theatre classics.
David Mandelbaum is NYR's artistic director.
"Got fun nekome" premiered on East 4th Street in 1907, in what is now La MaMa's
Ellen Stewart Theater, next door!!! (The premiere starred the legendary
David Kessler in the role of Yankel.) This is the first Yiddish production to be seen in the United States in decades.
"God of Vengeance" went on to become a major sensation in many languages, performing throughout the Continent: in German (European premiere Berlin 1910) directed by
Max Reinhardt; in Italian; Polish; Russian and Norwegian.
Isaac Goldberg's 1918 English translation premiered at the Provincetown Theatre in 1922, and was produced on Broadway by noted early civil liberties attorney
Harry Weinberger, who also helped produce the plays of Eugene O'Neill. That production, which was assailed by members of the Jewish religious and cultural establishment, and others, was charged with obscenity. The producer and company members were arrested and found guilty, though the production remained open, not to mention a hot ticket.
Performed in Yiddish with English supertitles, "God of Vengeance" ("Got fun Nekome") runs from December 22, 2016 to January 22, 2017 in the First Floor Theatre at La MaMa, 74A East 4th Street. Tickets are $36. For tickets and more information, you can visit
www.newyiddishrep.org, or
www.lamama.org, or call
646/430-5374
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