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My Name Is Asher Lev

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My Name Is Asher Lev : 6 P L A Y N O T E S ssue i : 42 eason s e d i u G e c R u o s e R BackGRound infoRmation inteRviews & commentaRy PORTLANDSTAGE TickeTs: 774.0465 where great Theater LivES www.porTlandsTage.org Discussion Programs For The General Public The Artistic Perspective, hosted by Artistic Director Anita Stewart, is an opportunity for audience members to delve deeper into the themes of the show through conversation with special guests. A different scholar, visiting artist, playwright, or other expert will join the discussion each time. The Artistic Perspective discussions are held after the first Sunday matinee performance. Page to Stage discussions are presented in partnership with the Portland Public Library. These discussions, led by Portland Stage artistic staff, actors, directors, and designers answer questions, share stories and explore the challenges of bringing a particular play to the stage. Page to Stage occurs at noon on the Tuesday after a show opens at the Portland Public Library’s Main Branch. Feel free to bring your lunch! Curtain Call discussions offer a rare opportunity for audience members to talk about the production with the performers. Through this forum, the audience and cast explore topics that range from the process of rehearsing and producing the text to character development to issues raised by the work. Curtain Call discussions are held after the second Sunday matinee performance. All discussions are free and open to the public. Show attendance is not required. To subscribe to a discussion series performance, please call the Box Office at 207.774.0465. Discussion Dates for My Name Is Asher Lev The Artistic Perspective: Sunday, April 3 in the theater, following the 2:00 p.m. matinee. Page to Stage: Tuesday, April 5 at the Portland Public Library, at noon. Curtain Call: Sunday, April 10 in the theater, following the 2:00 p.m. matinee. My Name is Asher Lev Adapted by Aaron Posner Based on the best-selling novel by Chaim Potok Portland Stage Educational Programs are generously supported through the annual donations of hundreds of individuals and businesses, as well as special funding from: The Robert and Dorothy Goldberg Charitable Foundation & George and Cheryl Higgins & Funded in part by a grant from: The Maine Arts Commission, and independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Table of Contents Portland Stage Produces My Name is Asher Lev Thoughts from the Editorial Staff 6 Connor Speaks 8 About the Play 9 Chaim Potok 10 About the Playwright: Aaron Posner 11 Interview with the Director: Paul Mullins 12 Putting it Together: Brittany Vasta 14 The World of My Name is Asher Lev Potency Of the Cross 16 Demonization of Nude Art 17 Judaism 101 18 Overview of Jewish Beliefs 20 Brief Timeline Of Jewish History 22 Borough Park, Brooklyn 24 How do you Define Art? 26 My Name is Asher Lev In the Classroom Instant Lessons 28 Glossary 29 Further Resources 30 Your 2015/2016 PlayNotes Editorial Staff Benn May Grace Weiner Directing & Dramaturgy Intern Education & Theater for Kids Intern Connor Pate Hannah Cordes Directing & Dramaturgy Intern Education & Theater for Kids Intern Cover Art by Kerry Randazzo General Administration Intern Jamie Hogan My NaMe is asher Lev 4 My NaMe is asher Lev In This Issue... by Hannah Cordes In this issue of PlayNotes you will find information about all of the artists mentioned in My Name is Asher Lev Pieta by Michelangelo Michelangelo (1475–1564) “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” The Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer Michelangelo is often considered the greatest artist of the Italian Renaissance. Michelangelo’s versatile talents helped to coin the phrase “Renaissance Man,” meaning an intelligent person who possesses a multitude of skills. Some of his best-known works include the Pieta, the statue of David, and the Sistine Chapel ceiling and frescoes. Michelangelo’s Pieta, which brings Asher Lev to tears, is a sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding the body of her son, Jesus, after the crucifixion. In My Name Is Asher Lev, Jacob Kahn claims that he will bring a David out of the stone that is Asher Lev. As Michelangelo himself said, “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” PlayNotes 5 Portland Stage Produces My NaMe is asher Lev Thoughts From The Editorial Staff While I was in college, I directed an AIDS play titled Adam and the Experts, which explores not only what happens when a person is dealing with their own death, but how it shapes the world for those around them. I thought it was important to really explore what it means to survive a true crisis. As a gay man without AIDS, Adam survived the crisis but lost so many people. My whole point in choosing the play was that not only is surviving something sometimes just as difficult as fighting, but that ultimately gay men were just as much people as anyone else. Loss affects gay men like anyone else, and I hoped to humanize my community for those who vehemently fought against us. While that may not be boundary pushing, staging it at a university in conservative, Bible-belt East Texas definitely pushed several students outside their comfort zone. My show was placed in the most popular slot where most Theatre Appreciation (non-arts students) would be required to see the show, and then have to consider a different point of view. I believe that art is one of the best tools to push against boundaries, to challenge assumptions, and to engage with the world we live in. In my own life, I have used theatre in particular to push against boundaries. When I went to college, I encountered many social expectations and problematic behaviors, especially in terms of gender and the treatment of women on my campus. I therefore sought out alternative ways of starting conversations and creating safe places to challenge what I considered to be the flaws in the campus culture. I eventually came to Theatre for Social Change, which encompasses all kinds of theatre aimed at changing social climates. I, along with other students, began using theatre techniques, activities, and exercises to encourage difficult conversations on our campus. In my opinion, getting people talking and getting people to think and feel and relate with one another can make a huge difference. Discussion, and in this case artistic expression, is the first step when pushing against boundaries. I am a white, heterosexual male from the American South with parents prone to saying, “Do what feels right.” The struggles I have faced pale in comparison to most of the world.. Although I have not lived a life of persecution, I have seen it. I have seen persecution in the church, in the schools, in the stores I was exposed to in North Carolina. My play, Mammoth Teeth, is an attempt at exploring the basis of such persecution, specifically from the vantage point of the religious. It’s a black comedy, which sits comfortably in magical realism, but it’s also an attempt at understanding the cult of belief and the effects of such a system. I have not been on the receiving end of persecution and my art will never reflect that, but my art will always reflect the world I’ve been exposed to and each injustice I’ve seen. It’s the only way I can rip them out to see how they work. My NaMe is asher Lev 6 My NaMe is asher Lev When is a time you used art to push boundaries ? Several years ago, a Maine governor saw fit to remove all eleven panels of Judy Taylor’s Maine Labour Mural, which had formerly resided in the Department of Labour building in Augusta. Many were outraged by this act. This was not only an uncalled for censorship of art, this was a movement to shroud a portion of Maine’s history. This act actively silenced the voices of those who fought, burned, and died to establish the fairness and safety we enjoy in the contemporary workspace. My theatre group sought to fight this repression in the best way we knew how: we turned the mural into a play. Eleven scenes, each representing a separate panel from the work of art. We took the play on the road, performing it in union halls, churches, and schools. We wanted the state to know where we stood. If the mural could not be displayed in its intended medium, than the work’s message had to be spread through different means. The cries of indignation from the people of Maine eventually prompted the mural’s return. I am proud to say that mine was one of those voices. For part of my degree, I wrote a thesis paper on the British playwright Sarah Kane and how she uses violence as a tool to reveal and explore societal issues and inequalities to her audiences. While I am a strong supporter of her work and all it entails, there are many people who believe that she uses vulgarity and violence simply as a “shock and awe” tactic. Thus far I have only been able to interact with her work on a theoretical level and hope that someday I will be able to put it onstage. Art has been a powerful force throughout my life. I used it to learn to read and manage my academic studies as well as express my frustration as an angsty teen.
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