Seven Jewish Children, by Caryl Churchill, staged readings at NYTW

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) will present three staged readings of Caryl Churchill�s short play Seven Jewish Children, from 25 - 27 Mar 2009 at NYTW.

Each reading will be followed by a moderated discussion, with several notable authorities (from both the Israeli/Jewish and Palestinian communities) attending each performance to illuminate the dialogue. After the discussion, there will be a second reading of the ten-minute play.

Seven Jewish Children was written by Churchill as a direct response to the recent events in Gaza. The play features seven scenes of Jewish parents, grandparents, and relatives attempting to explain to children how they should feel and react to the sometimes violent and confusing world around them. The play�s sparse poetics touch on the major political events of the last half-century that have most affected the Jewish people, from the Holocaust, to the founding of Israel, to the Intifada, and the recent violence in Gaza.

Sam Gold will direct the reading, with casting to be announced shortly. The moderators will be Laura Flanders (25 Mar), Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon (26 Mar) and Mark Crispin Miller (Fri 27 Mar).

A statement from NYTW reads:

�As there has been a great deal of public discussion expressed about the play based either on reading it, or merely hearsay, it is our intent to put the play where it belongs�on a stage and in the mouths of actors�so our community can encounter the play firsthand and in a conducive environment for thoughtful and respectful discussion and consideration.

At the heart of NYTW�s mission is the desire to present work that provokes, inspires, and challenges. Caryl Churchill, one of the world's greatest living playwrights, has always been an artist whose work has done just that, and her short play Seven Jewish Children is no exception. We have produced Caryl�s plays over the last eighteen years and she has played an indelible part in creating NYTW. Our audience has followed her wherever her fertile imagination has led us�and the journey we have taken with her has been, at times, joyful and affirming, at others, terrifying and bleak. What remains constant in her work is the unblinking eye she casts on the human soul, cataloguing its every waking thought and desire. In Seven Jewish Children, she addresses a deeply complicated and ancient conflict in a way that we hope the theater can uniquely address by engendering a dialogue on the most pressing issues facing society. We aim to present this work in a format that invites and encourages public discourse about the myriad of issues surrounding it.�

For further information click here.