Tovah Feldshuh to Lead Holocaust Remembrance Reading of ANDA'S LOVE at The Old Globe

The Old Globe will participate in the National Jewish Theater Foundation - Holocaust Theater International Initiative - Remembrance Readings 2017 in Honor of Elie Wiesel.

The Globe will present a reading of Anda's Love by Joshua Sobol, directed by the Globe's Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, featuring Globe favorites Tovah Feldshuh (Golda's Balcony) and Natacha Roi (The Winter's Tale), with Talley Beth Gale (M.F.A. student in The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program) reading stage directions.

Translated from the Hebrew by Roland Rees and Sobol, adapted for American audiences by Edelstein, the reading will take place on Monday, April 24 at 7:00 p.m. on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

Tickets are currently available for subscribers and donors and go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, April 11 at 12:00 noon. Tickets are $15.00 for the general public and $10.00 for subscribers, donors, students, and groups. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

From Israel's most prominent living playwright comes the first English-language reading of a moving drama about the ongoing legacy of the Holocaust. 2002: As violence continues to shatter lives in Israel and the Occupied Territories, Petra, a German war correspondent still reeling from a recent tragedy, visits Anda in her Tel Aviv flat. The two strangers talk into the night over coffee and cognac and discover a surprising and deep bond between them, dating back to World War II.

"The Globe is honored to commemorate a tragedy by joining our sister theatres around the country in this special series of Holocaust Remembrance Day Readings," said Edelstein. "We believe that the theatre has a unique ability to help us comprehend events and experiences that defy understanding, and with anti-Semitic and other hate crimes on the rise worldwide, such comprehension is needed more than ever. Joshua Sobol is not only one of the world's great playwrights, but his is one of the world's most powerful voices of conscience. It is an honor to have his work on our stage, especially as interpreted by our friends, the great Tovah Feldshuh and Natacha Roi. We look forward to sharing Anda's Love with the community."

National Jewish Theater Foundation - Holocaust Theater International Initiative at University of Miami Miller Center Remembrance Readings is composed of simultaneous events drawing upon the power of theatre to honor Holocaust victims and survivors. This effort will stimulate an appreciation of how the art of theatre can and must be used as a tool to deepen the understanding of the Holocaust and its lessons in contemporary society.

Joshua Sobol (Playwright) was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is a multiple-award-winning playwright, writer, and director whose work has been seen in theatres in Israel and abroad. His international career started in 1983 when the Haifa Theatre production of his play Weininger's Night was invited to participate in the Edinburgh Festival. Between 1983 and 1989, Mr. Sobol wrote three related plays: Ghetto, Adam, and Underground, which constitute together The Ghetto Triptych. Its Haifa world premiere in May 1984 won the Israeli David's Harp Award for Best Play, followed by Peter Zadek's acclaimed German premiere that July at Freie Volksbühne Berlin, which was chosen by Theater Heute as Best Production and Best Foreign Play. Nicholas Hytner's 1989 production at the National Theatre won Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Theatre Awards for Best Play and was shortlisted for the Olivier Award in the same category. Ghetto has been translated into more than 20 languages and performed by leading theatres in more than 25 countries. Since 1995, Mr. Sobol has worked with director Paulus Manker on projects exploring new forms of the theatrical experience. In 1996 they created the polydrama Alma, based on the life of Alma Mahler, for Wiener Festwochen in Purkersdorf, Austria. Between 2001 and 2010, Alma was performed in Venice, Lisbon, Los Angeles, Vienna, Berlin, and Jerusalem. His many other Best Play accolades include four more David's Harp Awards, David Pinski Award, Meskin Award, Issam Sirtawi Award, Tokyo's Mainichi Art Prize, Yumiuri Shimbun Grand Prize, and Yoshiko Yuasa Prize. He has also been honored with the 2003 Rosenblum Award for Contribution to Israeli Theatre, 2009 Israeli Theatre Award for Life Achievement, and 2013 Golden Medal of the Land of Vienna for Meritorious Achievements. Mr. Sobol's novel Shtika (Silence) was published in 2001 and received a Sapir Award nomination. His second novel,Whisky's Fine, was published in 2005; the English version was published under the title Cut Throat Dog in 2010. His education includes degrees from Israel's Oranim Academic College, Paris-Sorbonne University, Paris's École Nationale Supérieure d'Informatique, and Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science.

Barry Edelstein (Director, Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director) is a stage director, producer, author, and educator. Recognized as one of the leading American authorities on the works of Shakespeare, he has directed nearly half of the Bard's plays. His Globe directing credits include The Winter's Tale; Othello; The Twenty-seventh Man; the world premiere of Rain; and Picasso at the Lapin Agile. He also directed All's Well That Ends Well as the inaugural production of the Globe for All community tour. As Director of the Shakespeare Initiative at The Public Theater (2008-2012), Mr. Edelstein oversaw all of the company's Shakespearean productions as well as its educational, community outreach, and artist-training programs. At The Public, he staged the world premiere of The Twenty-seventh Man, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, and Steve Martin's WASP and Other Plays. He was also Associate Producer of The Public's Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino. From 1998 to 2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company. Mr. Edelstein's other Shakespearean directorial credits include The Winter's Tale at Classic Stage Company; As You Like It starring Gwyneth Paltrow; and Richard III starring John Turturro. His additional credits include the Lucille Lortel Award-winning revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons; the world premiere of Steve Martin's The Underpants, which he commissioned; and Molière's The Misanthrope starring Uma Thurman in her stage debut. Mr. Edelstein has taught Shakespearean acting at The Juilliard School, New York University's Graduate Acting Program, and the University of Southern California. His book Thinking Shakespeare is the standard text on American Shakespearean acting. He is also the author ofBardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions. He is a graduate of Tufts University and the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

The Old Globe is located in San Diego's Balboa Park at 1363 Old Globe Way. There are numerous free parking lots available throughout the park. Guests may also be dropped off in front of the Mingei International Museum. For additional parking information visit www.BalboaPark.org. For directions and up-to-date information, visit www.theoldglobe.org/plan-your-visit/directions--parking/detailed-directions.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Tovah Feldshuh (Anda) portrays Mrs. Bunch, Rachel's domineering mother, on The CW's award-winning musical series "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," which was recently renewed for a third season. Ms. Feldshuh is widely known for her starring turn as Deanna, the head of Alexandria, on AMC's hit series "The Walking Dead." Prior to that, she recurred on the Starz ballet series "Flesh and Bone" as ballet master Ivana. Ms. Feldshuh received her first Emmy Award nomination for playing Helena, the Czech freedom fighter, in the NBC miniseries Holocaust, and her second nomination for her continuing role as defense attorney Danielle Melnick on NBC's "Law & Order." Ms. Feldshuh starred opposite Tommy Lee Jones in The Amazing Howard Hughes, James Woods in Citizen Cohn, Bill Cosby in "The Cosby Mysteries" and "Cosby," Richard Dreyfuss in "The Education of Max Bickford," Piper Perabo in "Covert Affairs," America Ferrara in "Ugly Betty," and Julianna Margulies in "The Good Wife," among others. Ms. Feldshuh recently displayed her theatre skills as Berthe in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Pippin. William Gibson's Golda's Balcony, in which she starred, became the longest-running one-woman play in Broadway history. She later reprised the role at The Old Globe in an acclaimed 2010 production. She also starred in Yentl, Sarava, Lend Me a Tenor, and Irena's Vow on the Great White Way. For her work on the New York stage, she has earned four Tony nominations and won four Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, an Obie Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Lucille Lortel Award. Film audiences recognize Ms. Feldshuh from Kissing Jessica Stein (for which she won a Satellite Award), A Walk on the Moon, The Idolmaker, Lady in the Water, Just My Luck, Brewster's Millions, The Blue Iguana, and others. Ms. Feldshuh more recently appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way with Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, Angelica with Janet McTeer and Jena Malone, Baked in Brooklyn, The Life, and, in the title role, Glinda, which was selected as Best in Fest at the 2014 Palm Beach Film Festival. Ms. Feldshuh, long known for her commitment to social justice causes, is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and has taught at Yale, Cornell, and New York Universities. She was awarded two honorary doctor of humane letters degrees and is the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award, Hadassah Mother of the Year Award, and Israel Peace Medal.

Natacha Roi (Petra) last appeared on stage performing the role of the mother in Spring Awakening at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts with Deaf West Theatre. Her last appearance at The Old Globe was playing the role of Hermione in The Winter's Tale directed by Barry Edelstein. She was seen at Geffen Playhouse as Marie Curie and Marguerite Borel in Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie and as Mara in Extraordinary Chambers. Some of her other theatre credits include Juno in Hercules (Not Man Apart), Aphra Behn in Or, (Magic Theatre), and Emilie, The Real Thing, and Vesuvius (South Coast Repertory). Her Broadway credits include Sixteen Wounded, Closer, and Wait Until Dark. Ms. Roi has also performed in many more productions Off Broadway and in regional theatres across the country. Her film and television credits include Children of Eden, The Last Four Years, "The Young and the Restless," "Castle," "The Beast," "Journeyman," "ER," "Bones," and "Without a Trace," to name a few.

Talley Beth Gale (Stage Directions) was recently seen in Love's Labor's Lost and Macbeth at the Globe. She is a second-year M.F.A. student in The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Her professional credits include understudying Picasso at the Lapine Agile, Red Velvet, and The Last Match (The Old Globe); understudying This is Our Youth (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); and EL Stories: Love Train (Waltzing Mechanics). Her M.F.A. credits include The Two Gentlemen of Verona, As You Like It, The Seagull, Ajax, and Acquainted with the Night. Ms. Gale received her B.F.A. in Acting from Ball State University.

ABOUT REMEMBRANCE READINGS 2017:
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah)

On Sunday, April 23, and Monday, April 24, 2017, arts-related organizations across the country, including major theatres, universities, memorial museums, cultural centers, and embassies, will unite to honor victims of the Holocaust by joining in the third annual National Jewish Theater Foundation - Holocaust Theater International Initiative - Remembrance Readings for Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah), honoring Elie Wiesel. This event was conceived and launched by the National Jewish Theater Foundation (NJTF) as a way to use the unique power of theatre and playwriting as a means to honor the victims of the Holocaust, their memories and stories, and the lessons that must never be forgotten. It draws on information from over 600 plays made accessible in their newly created Holocaust Theater Catalog (HTC).

This pioneering program, involving a wide range of cultural and educational organizations, uses theatrical content to create live events at simultaneous times and dates in venues throughout the United States. In 2016, the program's second year, participation increased by 50 percent to include theatres, memorial museums and organizations, libraries, consulates, colleges and universities, secondary schools, and JCCs from 11 states, including the celebrity involvement of Ed Asner and Jayne Atkinson reading The Soap Myth at Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts in New York City.

This year's program honors the late Elie Wiesel for his playwriting. His three scenes titled Dialogs have been made available to participating theatres through NJTF with the blessing of his widow and translator, Marion Wiesel, and the Elie Wiesel Foundation. Wiesel also wrote another Holocaust-related play, The Trial of God. The Lincoln Center Library and University of Miami have already committed to programs honoring this great man and artist.

The following is a partial list of participating organizations and their play selections: San Diego, CA: The Old Globe - Anda's Love by Joshua Sobol; Solana Beach, CA: North Coast Repertory Theatre - Gabriel by Moira Buffini; Pasadena, CA: Pasadena Playhouse in partnership with the Jewish Federation of San Gabriel Valley -Righteous by Jeff Cohen; Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Repertory Theatre - Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin; San Rafael, CA: San Rafael First United Methodist Church -Dialogs by Elie Wiesel; New York, NY: New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, The National Jewish Theater Foundation - Holocaust Theater International Initiative in association with Burke- Cohen Entertainment - Premiere play reading of Righteous by Jeff Cohen; New York, NY: Untitled Theater Company No. 61 - Cabaret in Captivity, Songs and sketches from Terezin; Buffalo, NY: Temple Beth Tzedek/Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel; Houston, TX: Main Street Theater - TBA; Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Jewish Federation/Temple Adath Yeshurun - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel; Sarasota, FL: New College of Florida/The Windmill Theater Company - Nightwords: A Liturgy on the Holocaust by David G. Roskies; Miami, FL: University of Miami Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies with Gable Stage - The Trial of God by Elie Wiesel; Melbourne, FL: Eastern Florida State College - Dreams of Anne Frank by A. Frank; New York, NY: Center for Jewish History/Remember the Women Institute - Women and Resistance - Women, Theatre, and the Holocaust; Rochester, NY: Monroe Community College/Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Project with Sixth Act - Good by Cecil Philip Taylor; Birmingham, AL: Levite Jewish Community Center -The Informer and The Jewish Wife by Bertolt Brecht, Dialogs by Elie Wiesel; Birmingham, AL: Samford University Theatre for Youth - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel; Columbia, MO: Stephens College - Traces in the Wind; Round Lake, IL: Round Lake High School Theatre - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel; Elon, NC: Elon University - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel.

Arnold Mittelman, the NJTF Founding President and Project Director of its Holocaust Theater International Initiative, stated, "I sincerely hope that Remembrance Readings with plays selected from the NJTF Holocaust Theater Catalog engenders participation, education, identification, and empathy that only live theatre exemplifies and delivers in such a profound way. I trust that the use of theatre in this manner and education can and will provide an artistic moral compass for future generations."

The HTC was funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and private donors and is housed online at the University of Miami Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies. Please visit www.NJTFoundation.org for a complete list of participating organizations, information about this initiative and the HTC, and excellent media coverage received for the inaugural 2015 and 2016 Remembrance Readings.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 80 years. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre's artistic and arts engagement programs. Numerous world premieres such as the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star,Allegiance, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.