{"id":36264,"date":"2018-01-03T13:21:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T18:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=36264"},"modified":"2018-01-29T09:54:38","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T14:54:38","slug":"award-winning-mosaic-theater-brings-two-israel-palestine-themed-productions-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/award-winning-mosaic-theater-brings-two-israel-palestine-themed-productions-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning Mosaic Theater Company of D.C. brings two Israel\/Palestine-themed productions to EMU"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local theater-goers will be challenged by different perspectives on the Israel\/Palestine conflict in February at Eastern Mennonite University. The Mosaic Theater Company<\/a> of D.C., one of Washington D.C.\u2019s newest and most acclaimed groups, will stage performances Feb. 16-18 of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish\u2019s memoir \u201cI Shall Not Hate,\u201d and of \u201cVia Dolorosa,\u201d by Sir David Hare.<\/p>\n

The performances are free and open to the public, subsidized by a generous donation from benefactors the late James and Marian Payne. Donations are encouraged to support scholarship funds for EMU theater<\/a> students and for female peacebuilders from the Middle East to attend graduate school in conflict transformation at EMU\u2019s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tickets can be reserved at the EMU box office<\/a>. If performances are not sold out, tickets will also be available at the door.<\/p>\n

The performances are part of a national tour. EMU joins University of Oklahoma, Grinnell College and University of Chicago as venues. [Read more in a Broadway World<\/em> release<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Performance dates and times<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cI Shall Not Hate,\u201d adapted for the stage by Israeli director Shay Pitovsky and performed by actor Gassan Abbas, will be presented Friday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Feb. 17, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the Mainstage Theater.<\/p>\n

The play, in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles, debuted in 2013 at the Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

All performances will be followed by a panel discussion that will include Mosaic Theater founder and artistic director Ari Roth (read more about him below).<\/p>\n

\u201cI Shall Not Hate<\/a>\u201d (Walker & Company, 2011) is the story of the Gazan doctor\u2019s tragic loss of his three daughters to Israeli tank fire in 2009 and how, in the aftermath, he refuses to give up his commitment to peace and coexistence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cVia Dolorosa,\u201d with actor David Bryan Jackson, will be performed Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. The monologue was created from the experiences and observations of Hare, a British playwright who visited Israel\/Palestine in 1997.<\/p>\n

Hare debuted the play in his first-ever solo performance in 1998; he won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance.<\/p>\n

Award-winning theater<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of Washington D.C.\u2019s newest theater groups, The Mosaic Theater formed in the fall of 2015 by founder and artistic director Ari Roth. Roth was formerly artistic director for 14 years at Theater J, an arm of the D.C. Jewish Community Center.<\/p>\n

Roth\u2019s newest venture, which specializes in what he calls \u201cintercultural encounters,\u201d was awarded the Helen Hayes Award for outstanding emerging company in May 2017; the Mayor\u2019s Visionary Leadership Award in September 2017; and most recently, \u201cBest Small Theater Company” in Washington D.C. by the readers of the Washington Post Express.<\/p>\n