The Laboratory Theater of Florida’s award-winning education department offers a variety of classes, workshops, seminars, and camps to allow local actors to optimize their talents with a solid base of skills. This is just one of the reasons The Laboratory Theater of Florida is known as Thinking Theater ®
The Laboratory Theater of Florida: Education is the proud home of The Louise Wigglesworth Excellence in Playwriting Award, an award created to honor one of the co-founders of the Lab – the award-winning playwright Louise Wigglesworth, and Scripts Uncensored, a program dedicated to read and discussed banned scripts.
November 24th
November 24, at 6 pm, we will meet at The Laboratory Theater of Florida for a group read of Sholem Asch’s play God of Vengeance, followed by a discussion on the work and why it is censored, if not outright banned, in many places.
THE STORY:
God of Vengeance is a 1906 play by Sholem Asch. It is about a Jewish brothel owner who attempts to become respectable by commissioning a Torah Scroll and marrying off his daughter to a yeshiva student. Set in a brothel, the play explores themes of religious hypocrisy and morality.
“…[a] colorful evocation of the Lower East Side in the ’20s and [a play of] indisputable historical significance…” —Variety.
Characters:
Yankl Tchaptchovitch: The Jewish brothel owner who wants to keep his daughter, Rivkele, pure so she can be married off to a scholar. He commissions a Torah scroll to make himself and Rivkele worthy of respect
Rivkele: Yankl’s teenage daughter who falls in love with Manke, a prostitute in her father’s brothel.
Manke: A prostitute in Yankl’s brothel who falls in love with Rivkele.
Sarah: Yankl’s wife who supports his plans but becomes conflicted when she sees Rivkele and Manke’s relationship.
Reb Eli: A character who cares more about the safety of the Torah scroll than the welfare of Rivkele.
Other characters in the play include Shloyme, Hindel, Reizel, and Basha.
This is a FREE event, but please register in advance.
by Annette Trossbach, Producing Artistic Director, The Laboratory Theater of Florida, using survey results from 100 SWFL theater artists involved in any theatrical production in southwest Florida (including high school, community, college, and professional theatrical productions) over the last ten years.
“I have had a Director stick his tongue down my throat. I have overheard a Director complaining about my personal boundaries to a cast member he is close with. I have seen text messages that my friends have gotten from a Director who wanted to get with them. And this was in a private high school. I know about intimacy choreographers. I’ve heard about them but I have never had the pleasure of working with one. I think it’s sorely needed in Fort Myers. PS. My experience in High school theatre arts has left me not sure if I even want to do theatre anymore.”
(One of the written responses to the survey)
Download the full report here.
