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Exodus Play: Creating Ensemble

There is a specific nervous excitement that I feel before a new ensemble gathers for a first rehearsal. Who are the people in the room? What will we talk about? Will we have anything to say? Will anyone even show up?

This wasn’t technically the first rehearsal for either ensemble coming together this night. Groups from JTS have been meeting in their building in Harlem at 122nd & Broadway, and folks from Exodus Transitional Community at their Harlem location on 125th & 3rd for the last several months. Both have been exploring the narrative of Exodus through their own lenses and developing content in response. These two groups have been exploring themes of freedom, transition and hope, practically side by side and this was the night we finally got to bring them together.

So this first rehearsal came with a different set of questions. How will the groups get along? How can we create a space that best serves the participants? How do we start creating an ensemble?

We met at the JCC Harlem, somewhere between the two locations. It began as most first rehearsals do; sharing names, nervous laughter, recognizing initial similarities. We shared our stories silently, through an activity that asked us to stand together in solidarity about statements that were true for us. We shared our stories out loud, offering memories of our own experiences of freedom or from accounts passed down to us from grandparents. We then took all of this personal story sharing and we used it to inspire the context of a beautiful and dynamic new scene.

Two chairs, two actors; one from Exodus, one from JTS. They sat side by side and read a scene that had been inspired by the phrase “I will be who I will be.” The actors read the scene once, and the audience offered feedback. They read it again, more invested this time. The audience reactions got more specific, and the actor’s adjustments did as well. They read it a third time, more invested, more nuanced, and the audience loved it. I had to remind myself that these were not audience and actors - these were all members of the same ensemble. They were developing a scene together through a process of trial and error and feedback and adjustment. In just the first rehearsal they were already acting like an ensemble, sharing pieces of their talent and ideas and personal histories in order to create the best piece of art they could collectively imagine.

There is no one tried and true method of creating ensemble, but I am eternally grateful for the art and power of storytelling. It requires generosity, trust and a certain amount of flair. I am grateful to the folks who have agreed to be a part of this process with us, to share their stories and be a part of our Exodus ensemble.

Ariel Warmflash, Community Programs Manager

THE IN[HEIR]ITANCE PROJECT and THE THEATER AT THE 14TH STREET Y are pleased to present THE GENESIS PLAYS, created in a collaborative process led by Jon Adam Ross and directed by Chantal Pavageaux. THE GENESIS PLAYS, a collection of plays inspired by stories in the book of Genesis, will perform in rep during a three-week limited engagement at The Theater at the 14th Street Y (344 E 14th St at 1st Ave, New York, NY 10003) and are funded with generous support by The Covenant Foundation. Performances begin Tuesday, May 1st and continue through Friday, May 18, 2018. Tickets are $18 (or see three plays for $14 each with a Flex Pass) and are now available online at www.14streety.org

Don’t have plans for May 2018?

Learn more about the inspiration behind the stories that make up The Genesis Plays via BroadwayWorld and buy tickets today!

Buy tickets @ www.14streety.org

#broadwayworld #inheiritanceproject #communitybased #devisedtheatre #theatrenyc

Festival Text Salon: Abraham

Leading up to the Genesis Plays Festival at the 14th St Y in May, we are hosting a series of Text Salons around downtown NYC to talk about the biblical characters at the heart of our plays. This post is an account from a participant at our first salon, with sketches he did that night.

ABRAHAMURABI ROUND TABLE 1.22.18

Cut to second floor theater. “Who wants pizza!” “I do!, I do!, I do!” Mmmm, perfect pairing with the whiskey in plastic cups. We sit in a circle in front of a whiteboard. Jon asks us which sacred texts we've read recently. To one person, there's no such thing as sacred as she was raised anarchist. I'm thinking, ”Wasn't there a revered Eugene V Debs book on your parents’ shelf? Can't that count?” To me, sacred is open to interpretation. It's whatever you consult frequently, whatever you take seriously. Seniority counts too -- those ancient Eastern texts gotta be at least a little bit sacred to last this long.

A lot of information is exchanged:

A podcast about empathy (Alan Alda’s interview on the Hidden Brain),

Rilke’s Book of Hours, (Joanna Macy's translation),

and a song called Father Abraham

The whole session seconds as a lesson in holding your tongue. Sketching is a great way to listen (and be quiet). My brother YOUNGMAN has a line:

“WE’AH TALKATIVE LISTENAS /

IT CAUSES COGNITIVE DISSONANCE /

IF WE DON'T INTERRUPT, WE’AH PROB’BLY NOT INTERESTED”

I wish we could still read the scraps of Testament left on the cutting room floor. I wish we did this more often.

- Paul Barman

KC Blogs 5: Thank You

I offended a woman in Kansas City in September. It was during an open rehearsal of The Sarah Play. An audience member had been offended by the choice to cast Amber (an actor and a woman of color) in the role of Hagar (a woman in servitude). Later on at a restaurant, Amber asked me why I didn’t defend myself from what she saw as an accusation of racial insensitivity at best, and racism at worst.

Amber had also portrayed Sarah, Hagar’s master, switching back and forth with Casey, a white woman and the other actor in the play. But for this particular audience member in this particular open rehearsal, even flirting with that casting was offensive. And she raised her hand and shared her objection, which is part of the process. A part that we welcome.

And do you know what my biggest fear was following the open rehearsal that night? NOT that she thought I was racist. Or that Chantal (the director) was racist. Or that The Inheiritance Project was perpetuating racist stereotypes. Or any other assumption about our politics she might come up with. What I feared most was that she wouldn’t come back to see the play. I feared we’d soured her on the project and spoiled an opportunity to have the deeper conversation after final production of The Sarah Play in December.

This work requires fortitude, endurance, and bravery of an emotional sort. And like any such work, it cannot be sustained and achieved without a team of people sharing the load. I have the privilege of working with the best team out there. Slats Toole and RS Buck and Alex Davila(aka Team Spacecat) bring the most divine combination of talent and quirk. I want their lights and sound all around me as I walk the streets of NYC for the rest of my life. Tyler Winthrop and Sadie Klein made us all feel safe to play and make mischief knowing we’ll still get to the station on time and with the pennies in our pockets. Shula Strassfeld is the best therapist an artist could ever have. And Amber and Casey have fortitude, endurace, and bravery in spades. Their willingness to jump into the kiddie pool with us was just the most incredible thing, and we feel so fortunate they said yes. And then there’s Chantal. I can’t say anything here about Chantal. I will start to cry. I’m not ready. That’ll be next week’s post.

And then there’s Kansas City. It is a remarkable community of people who welcomed, taught, challenged, and inspired us along the way Annie Glickman from Priya Fund, Marcelle Rudnick, Moben Mirza from Islamic Center of Johnson County, the women of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, all the Rabbis, Chip Miller from Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Keith Wiedenkeller and the team at the White Theater, Lora McDonald of Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity - MORE2. So many people to thank who housed us, fed us, took care of us. And then there’s Jill Maidhof. Jill is like a four leaf clover. You know people like her are rare, but do exist; and when you find one you feel like the luckiest person in that moment! That’s how we all feel about Jill every time we’re in her presence.

I also want to thank The Covenant Foundation. They made this magical experience possible for all of us involved. The work we’re doing feels right, feels relevant to right now. It can’t be done without support and resources and believers who are inspired to provide that support and those resources. So to the Covenant Foundation - thank YOU!

In summation, I’m feeling so grateful for our experience in Kansas City, for all the gifts we received these last 9 months in Kansas City, and especially for this last week. Most of all I’m grateful for that woman from the open rehearsal. Remember that woman? The one we offended? I’m grateful for her. Because she came back. And in the talkback after the performance on Saturday night, she raised her hand.

-Jon Adam Ross

KC Blogs 4: Reflections from the Director

Hell may be other people, but so is hope.

In 2015, Jon Adam Ross and I began making The Inheiritance Project - five plays in five cities in three years. We are currently in tech for city 5 out of , and I am so proud of what we have built/grown/cultivated/shepherded in to being in the last 3 years, with the many, many people who have supported us. I have so many stories of being welcomed into peoples lives and homes and told their stories and given a glimpse into their hearts. For three years, we have been sitting in uncomfortable and difficult conversations that currently feel like the only way we are going to address the divisions in our country. We have seen the same systemic separations of space and attention in city after city. (Is there a road that divides your city by color lines? There's one in every other town in America, too. Think about who built those roads, who made the decisions to create those divisions, and how we now often accept them as just "the way things are.") We have been so, so lucky to be given the opportunity to create art that brings disparate people together to talk to one another. I have seen art and conversation open people's minds, and create connections over class and creed. I hope this work can continue for the rest of our lives.

The other thing I am reflecting on as we finish creating the final chapter in this book, is how much our work has grown artistic and aesthetically. Jon and I had collaborated before, but never this deeply, intensely, honestly, vulnerably, and with such great responsibility to accurately represent the voices of others who had entrusted us with their stories. If you know JAR, you can imagine how lucky I am to have him as a partner in this endeavor, but you have no idea how much he has grown as an artist over the last three years. Both as an actor and as a writer, he has pushed himself beyond his walls.

I cannot wait to see the play we are currently creating with Slats Toole, RS Buck, Tyler Winthrop, Ariel Warmflash, Sadie Klein, Casey Jane, and Amber McKinnon. (BIG HUGE THANKS to Nicole Marie Green for sending such amazing actresses our direction, you are a magical theater sprite) Tickets are still available for this weekend (link in comments) if you can get your sweet self to Kansas City!

Chantal Pavageaux, Director of all 5 Genesis Plays

Introducing: The Exodus Plays.

“This won’t be Charlton Heston’s Exodus story.”

The In[heir]itance Project is excited to announce the next phase of our play series, The Exodus Plays. Jon Adam Ross and the IP team have been working for the last year on a partnership between the Jewish Theological Seminary and Exodus Transitional Community to bring about the first in the Exodus Plays series. Below is the story of how it came about!

Last spring I had coffee with Chancellor Arnie Eisen of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS). We talked about walls. JTS is a distinguished institution of higher education for conservative Jewish leaders including rabbis, cantors, educators, lay leaders, and scholars. JTS has recently been working hard to deepen its relationships with its neighbors in and around the campus’ Morningside Heights location on the west side of Harlem. One of these ways was by literally knocking down most of it’s outer walls for a redesign of the institution’s buildings. The school hopes to create a more open physical space that indicates it is in dialogue with its neighbors. Chancellor Eisen invited the In[heir]itance Project to join the conversation.

With a generous grant from the Covenant Foundation, we’re doing just that by kicking off our Exodus Plays series with a project at JTS in partnership with Exodus Transitional Community (ETC). ETC offers a spectrum of services for adults and youth affected by the justice system and is located in East Harlem, just a mile and a half from the Jewish institution.

Working with students, faculty, and staff throughout all the schools of JTS, along with formerly incarcerated citizens and other participants in the programming at ETC, we are exploring Exodus as a narrative that presents different understandings of freedom. The work has been inspiring, challenging, eye-opening and we can’t wait to see what is created over the next few months. The play is in March of 2018, but there will be opportunities between now and then to jump into the process (especially if you live in Harlem.) Stay tuned!

This won’t be Charlton Heston’s Exodus story.

Jon Adam Ross

KC Blogs 3: Waiting for Permission

This is the third in a series of reflections from people who have connected with IP while building The Sarah Play in Kansas City. The following is a reaction from dancer/choreographer Shula Strassfeld who has joined the In[heir]itance Project as a collaborating artist and advisor.

If I had to think of one phrase to describe what was most surprising to me about the September time in Kansas City with the In[heir]itance Project, it would be “waiting for permission”. Over and over again, we encountered people with wonderful creative ideas and thoughts about the work, as soon as we let them know it was ok for them to “play,” as one of the university students put it.

Artists know that we are seen as different, and artists know that we see the world through more than one lens at the same time. We dream big, we try the almost impossible and make it happen. We are not afraid to say, “no that is just not working, let’s try something else.” We know how to start at an extreme and reign it in. The world sees that as “playing”; we see it as our life’s work.

When we invited the participants in our open rehearsals to play with us, the response was overwhelming, honest, open and exciting. We had people thinking about how Sarah might have told Avraham she was pregnant. We wondered what her laugh sounded like. We wondered if he was as happy as she was. Biblical characters suddenly became real people. Contemporary issues became part of the story - was Hagar black? Did “slave” mean the same thing then that is does today? Are the Koran telling and the Torah telling of the story equally true? Or are they both just folk legend? Is it ok to talk about the Biblical characters as real people? Are we reading our ideas into their world where those ideas don’t belong? How do we do this work respectfully?

All this was open, on the table. “What if” became the opening for many ideas and experiments.

This all happened because the artists in the room had said, “join us, there are no wrong answers, nothing is too small to notice. Let’s just see what comes up when we let go of our inner critic and just play.”

When the wall between performer and audience comes down; when the creative process of exploration becomes as important a goal as the end production; when people become willing to step into the world of “I don’t know, but…” , that is when everyone learns, everyone grows and art is made.

Thank you to all the artistic collaborators in Kansas City. Looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Shula

Photo of Shula Strassfeld during an In[heir]itance Project event at the University of Kansas, Sept. 2017.

KC Blogs 2: A Thank You from MORE-2!

This is the second in a series of reflections from people who have connected with IP while building The Sarah Play in Kansas City. The following is an email we received from Lora McDonald, the Executive Director of Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity - MORE2 about her community’s impression of an open rehearsal of The Sarah Play.

Thank you for bringing The Sarah Play, by the inHEIRintance Project to our NTOSAKE women in September. Getting to participate on the inside of this "play within a play" was delightful, allowing us to see art from a new vantage point... as both artist and patron. We, your (mostly) Jewish and Christian audience, had been in intensive leadership training for two days and more than one woman remarked how your play allowed us to explore our theology as women from various racial backgrounds, too. I think your energy and openness to feedback allowed everyone to feel comfortable sharing their perspective. You and your team created an inclusive environment and we are so thankful for what you brought to us. The women of KC look forward to attending The Sarah Play together in December.

Lora McDonald Executive Director Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity - MORE2

KC Blogs 1: My Process with The Sarah Play

This is the first in a series of blogposts by people who have connected with the project while building The Sarah Play in Kansas City. For tickets to The Sarah Play, please click here!

I was fortunate to hear about this project from a mother of my daughter’s friend from her 8th grade class. My daughter, Shir-el and myself felt very attracted to this vague initiative. I am hardly involved in the community’s programs myself, yet this one captured me totally, as it sounded very creative and very inviting to explore….

And yes, it was as it felt like, and much more. Meeting Jon, such a warm, welcoming, validating, supporting and professional was a profound motivation for my daughter and myself to engage and do something for the very first time. My 13 years old, and my 7 years old, agreed to be videotaped with me, dancing to a song as 3 generations….it was the first time my daughters felt meaning with my love for movement, personally and professionally. The discussion with Jon gave my older daughter a feeling of belonging somehow, she was heard and related in a very caring and joyful way...and that paid of with her positive attitude and recruit of her younger sister to join mom in this movement experience for this project.

That was a deep emotional treat for us, girls and for me dancing with me daughter to the practice which I live by.

We also met Chantal, Slate and Shula that day. They all seemed like the most generous and kind women I interacted with, I remember feeling, my gosh what a successful teach, such positive and free way of being and relating to each other, so much respect and freedom of choices and freedom of speech, and all in a very open and humorist manner….so much to learn and grow from just by the virtue of how amazingly they all communicate with each other, and with the varied community members who attended the meeting. Chantal felt very dynamic and alive to me, and very sensitive and caring as the same time. Marvelous experience.

I have felt such a surge to write and express my thoughts, feeling, ideas with them…

I invited them, and Jon and Chantal came to one of the Nia classes I participated in, and met my Nia dance community, and that discussion was very fertile hearing diverse individual, who are Christian, and one who is married to a Muslim get curious and share their perspectives.

I was so impressed by Jon and Chantal and how deliberately they moved wherever the wind blew, and didn’t want to miss out on any opportunity that arose. I was honored and touched by their willingness to come and meet with this group of mainly women.

That after six months, wow, all this time passed, and here they are again, and each time they come, I feel the same levels of excitement amp up a little more. This time I corresponded mainly with Shula, though I was very glad to help out with technical equipment that was needed for this fluid team.

Ahh.. Shula, oh my Gosh, what a treat it was for me to spend two hour and a half session with Shula. She is such a craftswoman with movement. She embraced me with her “watery”, receptive nature. I felt so encouraged to be myself, and to dive into deep emotional states through representing it through my body…. For the very first time in my life, I felt so confident with my being and how I am expressing myself in an organic way, in my natural time, no rush, no interference...on the contrary, Shula polished, connected, emphasized and created while I was mesmerized with how she ever so quietly, so nurturing and honoring led me into my greatness of what felt to me as, Marcelle give us what you got…. Show us what is it you need/want/am about….

This experience with Shula felt cathartic and empowering as a middle aged woman. It brought out confidence in me, through my body, and even through me saying 3 words, that Shula invited me to name this piece I was dancing.. I felt so strong, and so loved.

Thank you so much for the healing, and repairing the world this project had on my personally, on my girls and my son who took the video for us, on my brother and his wife who I shared this story with and who participated in helping me with technical needs and on all the people that I share this deep process I have been part of, through my work in an assistant living home engaging in movement with Alzheimer and Dementia residents and many others,

Such a blessing, such a genuine treat for our community as well as other communities especially of these times we are living in.

With deep respect and gratitude to The Covenant Foundation, and my prayer that such a project will be just the starting point, for many other follow up programs in this high spirit, as the high holidays are approaching, of renewal of body,renewal of spirit, and let us say: Amen. (from the blessing for healing, “Mi Sheberach”, the one who blessed)

Marcelle Rudnick

Revisiting Charleston

This Sunday morning Darian Dauchan and I were invited to speak to a group of young social justice activists who are fellows of the Avodah Service Corps. The conversation was facilitated by Jonah Canner who is an old, dear friend of mine who happens to also be a fierce warrior for social justice. And the fellows were super impressive and thoughtful in their questions and contributions to the conversation. It was humbling to be in the room with people who have chosen to dedicate their efforts and talents to justice. It’s not that I don’t think art is important, I do. But we can’t do it all alone (more further down). Darian and I were invited to speak about our experience on the ground in Charleston, SC making The Rebecca Play and about collaborating on a community art project with the Jewish and Black communities in Charleston. We talked about the rocky moments, the challenging conversaions, (and the fun parts, too!). Darian introduced a section from Van Jones’ Rebuild The Dream that explains how art is a necessary ingredient in successful movements for change. Nutshell: Successful movements have four strong quadrants: an inside game (politics, government), an outside game (activists, clergy), head space (intellectuals, legislation) and heart space (artists). So art is a necessary ingredient, but it is just one ingredient; artists cannot alone change the world. But the world also needs artists for change to happen. It was an encouraging and sobering take on the role we play as we do our work. The In[heir]itance Project has endeavored to use theater as a tool for putting communities in conversation with their shared sacred texts and with each other. But we need partners to achieve justice, we need partners to take the conversations we’re starting and turn them to action. Hopefully the young people in that room can be some of those partners, doing the holy work. I, for one, am glad they exist.

Open Salon - Kansas City JCC

The group was comprised of all women (other than Jon), which provided an open opportunity to discuss the story of Sarah from a specifically female perspective. We discussed her relationship with Abraham, her husband and "business partner," and we delved into her relationship with and misgivings about Hagar -- her handmaiden and mother of Abraham's older son Ishmael. Hagar bore Ishmael because Sarah, who was barren, wanted to ensure that Abraham's lineage would continue; her regrets came when Hagar then rose in status because she was able to bear the child that Sarah couldn't. Until Sarah herself bore Isaac, and the relationship between the two women degraded even further. We discussed what kind of role Sarah, and women in general, assume in the family unit and in society. There are a lot of "shoulds" for women -- how do we dress, how much makeup do we wear, how assertive can we be, how much to we take a second seat to our husbands, how much of parenting and running the household falls to the woman, etc.? Are we really the driving force behind the accomplishments of men? Are we given enough credit for our own accomplishments?

-Linda S.

Workshop Recap

Today my community service organization, J-Serve, worked to represent parts of the Story of Genesis by posing for pictures. It was a great opportunity to use our imagination and get to know everyone we worked with. All of us enjoyed it, and felt it was one of the most unique and original ways to continue our Judaism and at the same time give back to our community. I personally felt (and I think the rest of J-Serve would agree) Jon's approach to art is possibly the most creative form artwork I have ever seen.

David Koeller, teen participating in J-Serve through Shalom Austin

Back in the Saddle!

I don’t drink coffee; I’m a hot chocolate guy. But if I did drink coffee, I’d have a massive headache right now, because I wouldn’t have had time for it. The inHEIRitance Project is exploding into action this week in extremely exciting ways. Just this past Monday I spent 3 hours at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America launching our first foray into The Exodus Plays with an open table conversation with students, faculty, and administrators. This was just the first step in a two year process of exploring Exodus with JTS and other faith-based organizations in Harlem, culminating in a new play in the spring of 2018.

In addition, I’m currently writing this blogpost from my seat in row 17 of a Delta flight to Austin, Texas where the inHEIRitance Project team is going to be putting the pieces together for an open rehearsal of The Jacob Play this coming Saturday night 9/24. We’ve so excited to be collaborating with the Austin Jewish Repertory Theater, the Aztlan Dance company, local Jewish community teenagers and some wrestlers from the University of Texas wrestling team! And on top of all that, I got to do a photoshoot last week for the wrestling-themed poster for the November premiere. Here’s a sneak peek of one of the images.

The day after the open rehearsal in Austin we will hop a plane to Seattle to meet up with Emmy Award winning filmmaker Ilana Trachtman who is collaborating with us on our exploration of Leah & Rachel. We’ve got a full week planned in Seattle, including Sister Salons where we will have the chance to meet pairs of sisters of all ages in the Jewish community to explore themes of sisterhood, rivalry, partnership, and love.

On top of all that, we’ve been hard at work the past couple of weeks putting together the finishing touches on the first batch of curriculum resources being developed by our crackerjack Project Educator Mollie Andron. She is helping to translate our artistic process into usable classroom tools that we will be sharing with artists and educators nationally. And with the help of Lousch Creations, we’re working on refurbishing our website to serve as a platform for this curriculum and a showcase for the work we’ve done so far in Charleston and Minneapolis/St Paul.

Speaking of the Twin Cities, the MN Jewish Theater Company used funds from The Abraham Play box office to produce an amazing production of Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon. It’s amazing to see the talent coming out of these cities, and we’re so happy to be a small part of helping to make that happen!

If you live in Kansas City or New York, please stay tuned for IP news coming your way!

Thank You Charleston

Sunday night, in an attempt to recover from what seemed like months of non-stop work, I sat on the couch and watched thoughtless tv. I was trying to avoid any more news, as the past 24 hours had been consumed by Orlando, terror and hate with the occasional ray of love and light. I landed on a Bravo series called “Southern Charm.” That’s a phrase I say in The Rebecca Play, which just finished it’s premiere run in Charleston as part of the Piccolo Spoleto festival. And “Southern Charm” happens to be a reality series set in Charleston! I was so excited to see the city again, a city where I’ve spent a great deal of intense, life-changing time in the past few months. But this tv show was did not reflect the Charleston I experienced, nor did it represent the city I’ve come to love for it’s historic beauty and historic pain. For one, the only people represented on this tv show are rich. Really rich. Bridges named for their ancestors, rich. Also, the city the tv show portrays is all White. I sat through three episodes (I know, I know…) of drek, unable to tear myself away from the over-produced lives of these people; and I did not once see a person of color. And all I could think was: these people are really missing out! The city they’re showing on TV is not nearly as interesting or as worthwhile as the city I’ve gotten to know a little bit in the last several months.

I was asked the other day to list the three professional high points of my career. Without hestitation, this last week was one of them. We debuted the show at Synagogue Emanu-El on Tuesday night for more people than we had chairs for! And we were joined in post-show conversation by Dale Rosengarten (College of Charleston), Rabbi Stephanie Alexander, Rabbi Michael Davies and Rabbi Andrew Terkel. It was a really special night with the Jewish community of Charleston and a great way to kick off our run. On Wednesday we opened at the PURE Theatre and not only was it thrlling to be a part of the festival, but everyone at the PURE was so welcoming to us throughout our entire process over these last months, especially Sharon and Richard. And we were joined onstage after the performance by PURE Theatre core member Joy Vandervort-Cobb (our local hero), Harlan Greene (College of Charleston) and Cathryn Zommer (Enough Pie) for a great conversation about the piece and the role of art in helping tell a community’s story. After Thursday night’s performance, Rabbi Adam Rosenbaum and Becca Diamond (College of Charleston) joined us for our postshow conversation. And Saturday’s matinee featured a conversation with artist Jonathan Green and Mike Gibbons (Charleston Arts Alliance). We were lucky enough to have guests each night who added depth and dimension to our post-show discussions.

Presenting art is a raw, vulnerable practice. Presenting the artistic process as an open forum, from the first conversation about what might get created to the last conversation after a performance, is an even more vulnerable game to play. People are liable to share intimate feelings with you, secret stories from their lives, long-held opinions and prejudices, etc. We’ve chosen through this project to ask for all that and more, to expose ourselves as artists and as humans on a regular basis. I was hesitant to do that in Charleston - a city that I knew best from tragic news reports of mass killing and police brutality. It turned out to be the perfect place to open ourselves up, and the community opened itself up to us in return. I could not be more grateful for the gift I’ve been given - the opportunity to make a play in this place at this time. I owe a debt of gratitude to the city of Charleston, her clergy, her leaders, her natives and her newcomers. You have painted a much more honest, complex and beautiful version of your city than could ever be captured by reality TV. That show was not a way to get to known Charleston. The only way to start to get to know Charleston (in my humble opinion) is to be there. To fall asleep and wake up there. To drink her in at every hour of the day. Look into the eyes of a photo taken by Jack Alterman, or have a drink at the Charleston Grill while sitting under a painting by Jonathan Green. Sit a Sunday morning at Charity Missionary Baptist Church or a Friday night at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. Stroll the beach at Sullivan’s island and admire the beauty, and rue the bloody history of that place. Let Scott Nelson or Alphonso Brown give you a tour - you’ll learn so much more than you think you might. Take in a play at the PURE Theatre and say hi to Sharon Graci for me. Get the she-crab soup at Fleet Landing; I’ve heard it’s the best in the city!

Today is the one year anniversary of the massacre at Mother Emanuel. A milestone of sadness. Tragedies like that one force us to face the responsibility we all bear to live our lives in fullness, with open hearts and open minds. My heart is a little more full, and my mind a little more open today thanks to the work that I got to do and the conversations that I got to have in the Holy City of Charleston. To all of you who took part in our process, who helped give me this gift: I say thank you.

-Jon Adam Ross

MUSINGS OF TORAH WITH A THEATRICAL TWIST

After attending my class in The Florence Melton School of adult Jewish Learning, at JCC of Austin, TX; I had one of the most thrilling opportunities of meeting Jon and Chantal. They were here to engage us in a bit of Torah study regarding the patriarch Jacob; and I must say that it was very stimulating as we covered several events in Jacobs life and the changing of his name. This name change would impact the chosen people of G-d forever! And yet it provoked me to thinking more intensely about Jacobs purpose, while also driving home deeper thoughts concerning my purpose.

What is the wrestling really all about anyway? Personally the whole study turned into a serious meeting of the minds for me as we discussed the grabbing of the heel of Esau at the time of birth; the trickery and deceit used, and even orchestrated by their mother Rebecca to gain the promised birthright of the first born (Esau). The brothers being estranged for years, Jacob's fear of rejection and even his life, and yet the deep longing for reconciliation which ultimately and peacefully comes into fruition! Jon asked some serious thought provoking questions such as, "could it be that the real wrestle that took place, was actually within Jacob himself?" My response to the question was simply, "it very well could be. . .as it is for each of us at some point in our lives we wrestle with the enemy in-a-me."

The study group then discussed how Jacob blessed his twelve son's and the possibility that he did so based on the hurt and pain that he caused his brother; and perhaps his desire was to spare his sons the terrible agony caused by exhibiting any type of favoritism. We all found it quite interesting that although Jacob's name had been changed to Israel, there were times when he occasionally vacillated between Jacob the supplanter and Israel, "Prince with GOD." Note: You know when your parent starts calling you by a certain name that it's time for you to snap out of the state that you are currently in. There are also times when G-d refers to Israel as Jacob and it makes you wonder why?

I am very thankful to have met JAR and Chantal and to have such a beautiful experience of what I call, "Torah With a Theatrical Twist!" I am looking forward to seeing them and what transpires regarding the story of Jacob and maybe, just maybe have the privilege of being a part of it in some way!

-Dr. Hazel Morris, Destiny Ministries

A Torah Study for Jacob

On March 22nd, 2016, I had the pleasure of taking part in a group study for The Jacob Play. It was presented to me as an interdisciplinary investigation into the character of Jacob. My personal history with the material (twelve years of Catholic school and a real interest in biblical figures as protagonists in drama) had me very excited, and all my hopes for an interesting, and informative round table were fulfilled.

Besides theatre artists like myself, there were educators, theologians, filmmakers, and other story tellers there. We delved into who Jacob was with great enthusiasm. Jon moderated a thought-provoking discussion. There were as many differing opinions as there were levels of personal relationships to the material. For some, this was a chance to refresh themselves and take a new look at an old narrative. For others, it became an opportunity to flesh out long-held theories based on years of questioning. Was Jacob a man of action, or “leaf blowing in the wind”? What did his wrestling with angel (if it even was an angel) signify and how did it change him? Everyone had a different point of view, but the discussion never devolved into argument or contention. On the contrary, often as a point was made, you could sense the consideration taken, and new, evocative thoughts coming to those assembled.

Perhaps, what struck me most as the meeting progressed was that I began to see us less as trying to understand Jacob through debate and differing opinion, but more as a group of truth seekers looking for answers by asking different questions. We probably could have had many more meetings about Jacob, as there was so much to explore, spotlighted as we left by someone musing “We didn’t even get to the ladder?!” I left with lots of new information, queries regarding my own theories, and a deeper appreciation for Jacob, as a multi-dimensional, and very human figure ripe for dramatic interpretation.

- Gregory Couba, Theatre Artist

On April 20, the freshmen at the Ramaz Upper School in NYC were treated to a Torah study session like they had never had before. The wonderfully energetic and charismatic JAR brought the story of Rivkah to life for them in ways that their Torah classes never have. JAR taught the students to "get into character" and think about Rivkah on an emotional level. Using techniques of theatrical exploration, JAR wanted students to connect to the Matriach Rivkah asking different questions than they typically ask in class. For example, students were asked: How would you describe Rivkah, was she "sly" and "impatient" or "devoted" and "a leader"? Why would she act the way she acted? What were her motivations? By allowing the students to learn more about Rivkah's motivations and emotions, the freshman gained a wonderful insight into a narrative they had previously studied in their Torah classes. It was also wonderful to introduce students to the world of theater and show them how art and drama can help bring the Torah to life. -Rabbi Yigal Sklarin, Teacher at Ramaz Upper School

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