Two Israeli works on a double bill

HOW TO REMAIN A HUMANIST AFTER A MASSACRE IN 17 STEPS

BY MAYA ARAD YASUR – and

O GOD

By ANAT GOV

SUNDAY, APRIL 14 @ 3 p.m and MONDAY, APRIL 15, @ 7 p.m.

HOSTED BY MANDEL JCC, 26001 S. Woodland Road, Beachwood, OH

In “How to Remain a Humanist,” an Israeli mother no longer recognizes the woman she’s become since extremists shattered her world. Penned in the days following the October 7th Hamas invasion, it is a reminder of a grim, but under-reported statistic: the toll of terrorism on our humanism and empathy. In “O God,” a Tel Aviv therapist is stunned to discover that her newest client is the Almighty Himself, fighting through his own crisis of self-doubt and regret. During this hour of no-holds-barred therapy, it will become clear that his problem is all too human in nature.

George Roth directs a cast featuring Tom Fulton, Laura Perrotta and Derdriu Ring – all courtesy of AEA.

ADMISSION IS FREE – DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED AT https://interplayjewishtheatre.eventive.org/welcome

THESE PERFORMANCES ARE MADE POSSIBLE WITH SUPPORT FROM THE CLEVELAND-ISRAEL ARTS CONNECTION OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND and in partnership with MANDEL JCC.

AMSTERDAM

By MAYA ARAD YASUR

Translated from the Hebrew by Erin Edry, performed in staged reading

Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, at 7 p.m.

Hosted by the Mandel JCC, 26001 S. Woodland Rd., Beachwood, OH, Stonehill Auditorium

Co-produced with Mandel JCC and the Maltz Museum, with support from the Jewish Federation’s Cleveland Israel Arts Connection, celebrating Israel@75.

Directed by Craig Joseph and featuring Shani Ferry, Fabio Polanco*, Chuck Richie* and Kadijah Wingo.

*appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association
SYNOPSIS: Four unnamed storytellers recount events from a day in the life of a young Israeli violinist living and working in Amsterdam. The morning mail has brought an overdue gas bill for her flat – with charges and penalties dating back to 1944. The actors speculate what might have transpired, decades earlier, in this place, setting up a mystery and wild speculation. Who lived there? Why does the flat have secret compartments? And, what’s with the recluse upstairs?

AMSTERDAM is a study in unpleasant, but familiar attitudes of antisemitism, racism and xenophobia that lead to cruelty and alienation. Four storytellers tap into what it means to be the outsider in these circumstances – and what it will ultimately take to feel safe in a hostile world.

MAYA ARAD YASUR’s plays deal mostly with questions of identity, exile and war, through a dissection of narrative mechanisms. They have been produced and published worldwide and translated into English, German, French, Chinese, Finnish, Greek, Serbo-Croatian, Italian, Polish, Russian and Norwegian. She lived and worked in the Netherlands from 2007-2013. For her play AMSTERDAM, she received the Berliner Theatertreffen’s Stuckemarkt Prize.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS PLAY CONTAINS MATURE THEMES AND STRONG LANGUAGE and is not suitable for children under 17.

For RESERVATIONS, contact Mandel JCC: 216 593-6285.

There is no charge for admission; DONATIONS WELCOME!

Summer Shorts/Comic Relief

An evening of short plays and monologues to honor the creative genius of RUBE GOLDBERG

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 16 at 7 p.m; and SUNDAY, AUG. 20 at 1 p.m.

Hosted by – and co-produced with – The Maltz Museum, 2929 Richmond Rd, Beachwood, OH, to support their exhibit “Rube Goldberg: The World of Hilarious Invention!”

Featuring Anjanette Hall*, Peter Lawson Jones*, Barb Dragony & John Busser, and directed by Jacqi Loewy,* performing works by Hal Borden, Eric Coble, Kate Cortesi, Gary Garrison, John Minigan and Faye Sholiton.

*appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

The performance is included in the cost of museum admission.  Donations are welcome!
  Reservations are a must, as space is extremely limited.


  To register for the Wednesday, Aug. 16th performance; https://22382.blackbaudhosting.com/22382/Comic-Relief-in-Comfortable-Shorts-with-Faye-Sholiton 

To register for the Sunday, Aug. 20th performance https://22382.blackbaudhosting.com/22382/Comic-Relief-in-Comfortable-Shorts-in-the-style-of-rube-goldberg–2 

For additional information, please call:  216/593-0502

The Year My Mother Came Back

By Alice Eve Cohen

Two staged readings: SUNDAY, MAY 7 & MONDAY, MAY 8, 2023, at 7 p.m.

Hosted by DOBAMA THEATRE, 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights

Featuring HEIDI HARRIS* and LARA MIELCAREK* – with Wendy Kriss. (*appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association)

Directed by CATHERINE ALBERS

Play synopsis: Thirty years after her mother’s death, Alice’s mother appears to her – and continues to do so – during the hardest year Alice has ever faced. She learns she must walk in her mother’s shoes in order to understand her, forgive her, and rediscover her love for her. In this story of mothers being lost and found, Alice finds her mother and rediscovers herself. A love story. A ghost story. A contemporary tale that reaches back through generations.

New York-based ALICE EVE COHEN, who will attend the May 7th performance, is a playwright, solo theatre artist and memoirist whose works have been presented nationwide and on four continents. Interplay welcomes her back, following last season’s powerful reading of WHAT I THOUGHT I KNEW, a solo show Cohen adapted from her award-winning memoir of another unforgettable mother-daughter story.

Winter Break!

Interplay is taking a brief hiatus, returning in early May 2023.

Our 2023 season features two Israeli works to commemorate Israel’s 75th Birthday; another that celebrates “the Art of Science,” to support the upcoming Maltz Museum exhibit “RUBE GOLDBERG: The World of Hilarious Invention”; and more!

In the meantime, please visit the MALTZ MUSEUM between now and April 2 to experience the exhibition “This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers from the Civil Rights Movement.” It’s a stunning look at the 1960s fight for racial equality in the segregated South. It’s also a reminder that nearly 60 years after the Voting Rights Act became law, the struggle for justice continues, nationwide. Visit or call: maltzmuseum.org; (216) 593-0575; 2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood, OH