[Mendele] Mendele Personal Notices and Announcements--Jacob Gordin's "The Jewish King Lear" in New York, April 27-May 27

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Mendele Personal Notices and Announcements
Date: March 29, 2018

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From:amkseigel at yahoo.com
Date: March 29, 2018

Metropolitan Playhouse
Presents

Jacob Gordin’s “The Jewish King Lear”
from April 27 through May 27

One of the most famous Yiddish plays of all time

In a new production infused with humor, music and celebration of life!

Obie Award winning Metropolitan Playhouse (220 E. 4th Street) presents
Jacob Gordin’s The Jewish King Lear, one of the foundational works of the
“Golden Age” of American Yiddish theater, in a new English translation by
Ruth Gay, from April 27 through May 27, 2018. The play, which had its Lower
East Side debut in 1892 and was written as a star vehicle for Jacob Adler,
one of the greatest actors of the New York's Yiddish stage. Metropolitan
Playhouse welcomes back director Ed Chemaly (The Easiest Way, The Spirit
House) to helm the production.

The Jewish King Lear is credited with establishing the popularity of
“serious” Yiddish theater in America. Not a translation of Shakespeare’s
Lear, but a retelling of the story in 1892 that is farcical, introspective,
and politically pointed all at once. Reb Dovidl Moysheles seeks to divide
his estate among his three daughters before his move to Israel. The
youngest, whose unflagging devotion to him is unrecognized, and her
rabbinical student boyfriend doubt the wisdom of his plans, comparing him
to that great writer Shakespeare’s character, King Lear.

The two eldest self-centeredly misuse his largess with their respective
husbands--one a Hasid, the other a Misnagid--and ultimately turn him out of
their house when he returns, disenchanted, from the promised land. For
years he wanders alone but for his devoted, irreverent servant.


Previews begin Friday, April 27 at 7:30pm

Opening Thursday, May 3 at 7:30 pm

Closing
Sunday, May 27 at 3pm

Press Previews:

Sunday, April
29 at 3 pm

Monday, April
30 at 7:30 pm

Thursday, May
3 at 7:30 pm


(Press also welcome at any performance from April 27 through May 27)

Performance
Schedule

April 27 –
May 27

Thursday –
Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm; and Sunday afternoons at 3:00 pm

Additional
performances

Monday, April
30 at 7:30 pm (Pay What You Will)

Wednesdays,
May 16 and May 23 at 3:00 pm

Tickets:
$30 general; $25 seniors/seniors; $10 children, and may be purchased online
at www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/tickets or by phone (800)
838-3006

Metropolitan’s is the premier production of Ruth Gay’s 2007
translation, which has previously received only a reading at Washington’s
Shakespeare Theatre Company in January.

The cast for The Jewish King Lear features Kelly D. Cooper, Katie Hahn,
Deanna Henson, Tyler Kent, Olivia Killingsworth, Clara
Kundin, Jeremy Lawrence, Joel G. Leffert, Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel,
Tori Sicklick, Jack Sochet, and Diane Tyler.

The production team includes Traci Bargen, stage manager; Mario Alonso, set
design; Sidney Fortner, costume design; Scott Andrew Cally,
lighting design; Brianna Fernandez, assistant stage manager; and Max Frank,
production apprentice.

“The Yiddish Theatre’s commission of this adaptation of what is arguably
Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy emerged from a heartfelt need to
have the themes of that monumental play speak to the immigrant population
that was their loyal and eager audience,” states director Ed Chemaly.
“While Jacob Gordin’s retelling of the story addresses issues of wealth,
assimilation and the role of women in society, it is ultimately an
impassioned plea for forgiveness.  In a time when today's Americans of
diverse backgrounds are realizing our own desperate need to find common
ground, I am thrilled to join with The Metropolitan Playhouse in their
mission to discover how these themes can speak just as passionately to
today’s audience.”

According to Sophie Glazer, daughter of translator Ruth Gay, discovering
Gordin’s own manuscript YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, her mother was
struck by the major differences between Jacob Adler's performance text and
original, and was so inspired to create a new translation. The Metropolitan
Playhouse production will feature Gordin's original ending, with its moving
celebration of the transcendent power of scientific knowledge over
superstition.

Joel Berkowitz, author of Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage, says
“More than any other play in the history of the Yiddish theatre, Jacob
Gordin’s The Jewish King Lear ushered in a new epoch. Ruth Gay’s
translation has been rendered with care and intelligence.”


METROPOLITAN PLAYHOUSE explores America’s theatrical heritage through
forgotten plays of the past and new plays of American historical
and cultural moment. Now in its 26th season, the theater received a 2011
OBIE Grant from The Village Voice for its ongoing productions that
illuminate who we are by revealing where we have come from. Called an
“indispensable East Village institution” by nytheatre.com and "invaluable"
by Back Stage, Metropolitan has earned accolades from The New York Times,
The Village Voice, and The New Yorker. Other awards include Outstanding
Performing Arts Group from the Victorian Society New York, and 18
nominations for NYIT Awards since 2010, with winners Lenore Wolf for short
script, Sidney Fortner for costumes, Frank Anderson for lead actor.  Recent
productions include A MARRIAGE CONTRACT; ON STRIVERS ROW; LEAH, THE
FORSAKEN; END OF SUMMER; O’NEILL (Unexpected); WALK HARD; ALISON’S HOUSE;
INJUNCTION GRANTED; THE MAN OF THE HOUR; ICEBOUND; WITHIN THE LAW; THE
HERO; A MAN'S WORLD; BOTH YOUR HOUSES; THE HOUSE OF MIRTH; DEEP ARE THE
ROOTS; THE JAZZ SINGER; ONE-THIRD OF A NATION; UNCLE TOM'S CABIN; and
DODSWORTH; as well as the Alphabet City and East Village Chronicles series.

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