1943: Ben Hecht tells you everything you need to know about show business, Jews, and anti-Semites. With jokes.
Hecht, the celebrated playwright and screenwriter, was also a superb journalist, memoirist, and storyteller. In addition to writing more than 70 screenplays (including an uncredited crack at "fixing" the Gone With the Wind script), Hecht became an outspoken critic of America's failure to stop the Holocaust, an advocate for American intervention in WWII, and eventually a champion of Zionism.
Award-winning Chicago playwright/actor James Sherman brings Ben Hecht to life in this one-man show, enacting Hecht's experiences in Chicago, New York, and Hollywood, along with his spiritual journey from assimilated Jew to social activist. The story of Hecht's path to active resistance is as relevant and powerful today as it was in the last century...with jokes.
The Ben Hecht Show will appear on the CoHo stage for 3 performances only, August 24-26. Tickets available now at cohoproductions.org.
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