Ticket Available: April 29th, 7pm
Hi there, everyone. This is a free ticket available announcement. I’m reviewing a show on April 29th at La MaMa Theatre (66 E4th Street) at 7pm. The ticket is first-come/first serve to whoever emails me, but the real price is you have to debrief with me after the show. Details (from the press release) below.
Also, Illumination event on May 2nd is looking likely, so let me know if you’re interested.
I’m delighted to be writing about La MaMa’s world premiere of Untitled Theater Company No. 61’s Exagoge, with original music by Avner Finberg, script and libretto by Edward Einhorn, directed by Einhorn.
The show is listed here: https://everythingimmersive.com/events/exagoge
An immersive opera/play/Passover seder, based on the oldest known Jewish play, written in Alexandria in the second century BCE by Ezekiel the Tragedian. The audience gathers round the seder table or watches from the risers, joining the performers for a traditional 15-part modern seder. An opera composer, Zeke, has brought home his girlfriend Aliya, a non-practicing Muslim, for the first time. Meanwhile, in the middle of it all, opera performers sing an adaptation of the ancient Greek interpretation of the Book of Exodus.
Edward Einhorn states, “Ezekiel the Tragedian wrote a play that he hoped would reconcile the Jewish and pagan cultures which lived side by side in ancient Alexandria. It didn’t work. The play was destroyed by the Jewish elders as idolatry, and within another three hundred years the Jewish community was massacred under Roman rule. But it is a hope that perseveres. The Passover seder always ends with the phrase “Next year in Jerusalem.” This phrase dates back to well before modern Israel, and its meaning is essentially a longing. Next year, all will be well. Next year in a Jerusalem that has all the answers, that finds dignity and respect for all, that finally finds the way towards peace. History shows that the hope is foolish, but it also shows that the hope is necessary. Like Ezekiel, another naively idealistic artist, it is my job to hope.”
Untitled Theater Company No. 61 is a Theater of Ideas: scientific, political, philosophical, and above all theatrical. Their shows mix tragedy and comedy in a manner inspired by classic absurdism, while often incorporating music, technology, and physical theater. Early defining events include their Havel Festival and Ionesco Festival, in which they produced their full works (with the participation and attendance of President Havel and with Ionesco’s daughter, Marie-France, respectively). Though they now produce only original work, their responses to the absurd and terrifying moments of their history are a continuing inspiration as they try to navigate a contemporary response to our time. 2024 marks their 29th season. For info visit
http://www.untitledtheater.com
.