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Long Live Jewish Theatre

by David Chack, President of AJT

I write this piece while I wait for my flight to Israel to participate in the Mandel Teacher Educators Institute, where I will be doing a workshop with Moti Sandak and Motti Lerner on the complexities of Israel as seen through theatre. I arrived at O’Hare Airport in Chicago early so I could chill and mentally prepare for my journey. I am reading a book about the history of journeys in England going back to the Roman period. As you can imagine, journeys in the past were difficult, made mainly by soldiers, traders, religious penitents, exiles, and hoodlums. There was a danger of being attacked and there were places created for safe havens. Tolls had to be paid and sometimes people were kidnapped by highwaymen never to be seen again.

There was also the excitement of the journey. Those that dared to go were considered extraordinary for their knowledge of the world. They were looked on as advisors, people who could make change happen. And no matter what, those who traveled were changed when they returned.

Has journeying changed so much? Are we also traveling around, metaphorically speaking, as leaders in Jewish theatre and performing arts and culture? Are we going through change, helping to make it happen, showing the way based on knowledge of the terrain and geography? Are we thinking outside of the usual and creating new delivery systems for Jewish theatre and creating innovative forms of theatre and performance? Are we being personally changed in the process? And what are we bringing on “the journey”.

Today arts and culture are part of the zeitgeist. The world is looking for ways to join together – ironically, I think, because the world is in so much conflict. World music, ethnic heritages, huge festivals, theatricality, and other cultural explorations are spanning the globe. What does that mean? It means the performances and theatrical works that reflect Jewish culture, our lives, our heritage, and our artistry are a critical part of the Jewish people. Look at the great works that have been done at Jewish theatres throughout the country: Israeli plays like Women's Minyan by Naomi Ragen, The Price by the internationally famous playwright Arthur Miller, Hard Love and Pangs of the Messiah by acclaimed Israeli playwright Motti Lerner - produced by the Jewish Theatre of the South (AJT member), and Schlemiel The First by the "dean" of American theatre Robert Brustein - produced by Theatre J (AJT member).

Then there are new works and performances that are stretching the boundaries of Jewish Theatre. Nice Jewish Girls Gone Wild a very irreverent comedy troupe, Diagnosis Jew Pain by Michael Feldman (AJT member and his performance showcased at the 2008 AJT Detroit/JET Theatre Conference), Walking in Memphis: The Life of a Southern Jew by Jonathan Ross (AJT member), Collaterally Damaged, by Laura Zam (AJT member and showcased at the 2008 AJT/JET Theatre Detroit Conference), The Kid from Brooklyn, co-written and directed by Peter Loewy (AJT member) evoking the Jewish roots, life, and artistry of Danny Kaye, The Thomashevskys by Michael Tilson Thomas about his grandparents and their incredible impact on Yiddish Theatre and the world of theatre, KLEYNKUNST! Warsaw's brave and brilliant Yiddish Cabaret by Rebecca Joy Fletcher (AJT member and showcased at 2008 AJT-JET Detroit Conference) and Stacie Chaiken’s Looking for Louie (AJT member and at 2008 AJT-JET Detroit Conference) Cherry Docs by Canadian playwright David Gow (AJT member) -- all new works that reflect our Jewish heritage, in a deep way. I know there are even more that can and will be added.

Finally there are works in the mainstream that reflect Jewish culture and world culture. Works by Tony Kushner, David Mamet, Sarah Ruehl (Passion Play has important Jewish inflections), James Sherman (AJT member), Yasmin Reza in France, Rod Serling (excellent revival of Requiem for a Heavyweight in Chicago), Mike Leigh in London, and more -- the landscape on our journey is rich and vibrant!

Martin Buber, one of the 20th century’s most influential social philosophers, wrote about theatre and saw it as an incredible tool to establish “relationship” with people, ideas, Judaism, and God because he felt theatre had a dialogical aesthetic like no other art form. He also believed in a form of Judaism that he called “underground Judaism”. By this he meant a Judaism that is between the observances, practices and stories that are known and done. He meant a Judaism that was challenging in a spiritual, cultural, and yes, subversive, way. According to Buber, an underground Judaism is in accord with the particular and the universal; and it actively seeks the universal through the particular.

This is, for me, what theatre is about - to seek and journey in new ways through Jewish culture, to other cultures, and to the universal. To journey so that we find the cracks, the in-between places, and the subversive in order to expand, grow, renew ourselves, renew Jewish heritage, and renew the world. I am honored to take this sacred journey with you.

Now I’m in flight. The sun is going down over the clouds and it is a brilliant orangish-red. The world is so magnificent and the drama of nature reminds us not only about how small we are but how greatly inspired we can be. This is the drama of life and theatre is that reflection.

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