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Joshua Sobol: Theatre as a Form of Resistance to Oppression and Genocide

Date of Lecture: March 21, 2017

Joshua SobolAbout the Speaker: Joshua Sobol is an award-winning Israeli playwright, director and author. His most famous play, "Ghetto," has been performed in 24 countries and won more than a dozen awards. He has directed productions in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Israel and the United States. In Tel Aviv, he is directing a production of "The Merchant of Venice" set at the height of Mussolini’s Fascist regime.

About the talk: Sobol describes the genesis of his play, "Ghetto," which explores how theatre served as a form of resistance in the Vilna Ghetto of Nazi-occupied Lithuania during World War II. Sobol calls his triptych of plays about the Ghetto as "impossible theatre," showing life in circumstances of oppression and genocide and rife with impossible moral choices.

His talk is co-sponsored by the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture and Israeli Stage, where Sobol is playwright in residence. It is supported by the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding.