The Shylock and the Shakespeareans
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The Shylock and the Shakespeareans - reviews

"Jeremy Kareken's Jacob is wise, an empathetic reading of the character masterfully played, and Craig R. Anderson excels as the foil, a compelling performance that pulls from the darkest, laziest, and most destructive form of bigotry...Gobbo is also funny – malapropisms of the best kind abound...But it is Jessica (Yael Haskal) who stands out as the undeniable star both of the narrative and of the production. She is reimagined such that her isolation – the liminal space that she occupies as neither Jew nor Christian – is centered. Haskal’s performance is devastating... Nina Mann brings an equally compelling performance as Portia – her commanding poise and composure anchor her presence as gentile privilege personified and shine another source of light on the horrible realities that Haskal’s Jessica is doomed to live." - Noah Simon Jampol, Thinking Theater

"A true pleasure.. if you're in NYC and are interested in Jews, Shakespeare, antisemitism, or all three, I highly recommend you see it before it closes." Yair Rosenberg, author of the column Deep Shtetl for The Atlantic, on his Instragram.

"In The Merchant of Venice, Jessica is more of a device than a fully rounded character. In Einhorn’s play she is a complex, compassionate figure. Brilliantly acted with a deeply sympathetic understanding by Yael Haskal, Jessica is one of the most compelling new characters that I have encountered...a play that I found exceptionally smart and absorbing. Don’t miss it." Mark Savitt, Hi! Drama
The Shylock and the Shakespeareans - information

A darkly humorous retelling of The Merchant of Venice.

June 1 – 17, 2023
154 Christopher Street
Wed – Sat at 7:30; Sundays at 5pm
Additional show Mon June 5 at 7pm
ON DEMAND for $20


SUMMARY: The Shylock is a Jewish diamond seller named Jacob, called “shylock” as a slur. The Shakespeareans are a gang of white supremacists, led by Jacob’s former clownish servant, Gobbo. It is a comedy colliding with a tragedy: Jacob’s daughter Jessica loves Lorenzo (here the son of Asian immigrants), Portia loves Bassanio, and everyone can go home happy, just as long as one pesky lawsuit doesn’t dig up anything too ugly.

Written and directed by Edward Einhorn
Gobbo: Craig Anderson; Salarino: Ethan Fox; Salarina/Aragon: Janine Hegarty; Jessica: Yael Haskal; Bassanio: Chapman Hyatt; Lorenzo: Chase Lee; Nerissa: Stephanie Litchfield; Jacob: Jeremy Kareken; Portia: Nina Mann; Terach/Prince: Kingsley Nwaogu; Antonio/Shakespeare: Eric Oleson; Gratiano: Thomas Shuman
Music: Richard Philbin

Female Understudy: JaneAnne Halter; Male Understudy: Nathaniel Meek
(Understudies have planned performances on June 11 & 15)

Stage Manager: Berit Johnson
AD/Sound Design: Becca Silbert
Set Design: Mike Mroch
Costume Design: Ramona Ponce
Lighting Design: Eric Norbury
Video/livestreaming: Iben Cenholt
Costume Assistant/Wardrobe: Erica Reichler

Production Assistants: Nick Hamparyan, Mia Jurkunus, Aria Martinelli, Aimee Reiss, Mirit Skeen

Press Representative: David Gibbs/DARR Publicity

Running time 2:10, including intermission

NOTE: The play includes antisemitic and racist hate and violence, as well as the sound of gunfire.
Rehearsal for Truth Festival
NEWS: Starting this July, Artistic Director Edward Einhorn will be running the Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival, honoring Václav Havel.

This festival is produced by the Václav Havel Library Foundation and the Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association. This will be in addition to his continuing duties with Untitled Theater Company No. 61

This year's festival runs June 2 - 14, at the Bohemian National Hall, 321 E. 73rd Street. It will feature award- winning performances from the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and the US. For the sixth edition, entitled Anew, we have invited theatrical talents who search for stories of the past to make sense of the present and find one’s place in the world. What did it mean to live in and navigate the dark landscape of 1970s Warsaw? To become a political refugee from 1968 Czechoslovakia? To arrive as a member of Jewish family in the 1940s Theresienstadt ghetto? And how does it feel today to be a Russian artist or an orphan teenage Roma girl in Romania?

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Skype on demand


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215 W. 95th St. Suite 11G
New York, NY 10025
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