The Telling Monologues, a project of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre, is making dramatic readings by Jewish playwrights available to the public during the coronavirus pandemic.
A Jewish Louisville theatrical director, and his colleagues from around the country, are making Jewish-themed dramatic readings available to the public during the coronavirus pandemic.
David Chack, of the ShPIeL Performing Identity, is also a member of Executive Board of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre, which last month created Jewish theater and performances online.
Many of the selections have Passover themes, he said, but all deal with Jewish culture.
“I pitched this idea for Passover, and it just took off,” said Chack, a former executive director of the Alliance. “We have these great monologues and performances. It’s more about Passovers, [but] it’s about Jewish identity during this time period. It’s really cool.”
The readings and performances are available at https://alljewishtheatre.org/popups/the-telling-monologues/.
The offerings include written and performed monologues by American and Israeli writers. The subject matter is diverse, with such titles as “The Fifth Question,” “Water Will Protect You” and “I Never Really Liked Passover.”
“People in Louisville may not only enjoy them in this time of in-dwelling,” Chack said, “but may even want to share them with friends and families since they are artistic expressions that speak to being Jews in this moment.”
Those performances are part a project called the Telling Monologues Project, which includes a packet of projects from its Magical Dialogue Playwriting webinar in April.
Chack hopes the monologues will enrich Jewish Louisvillians, but also give them an idea how diverse and active Jewish theater is in other cities. For instance, he just did a virtual program in Chicago on Jewish humor that some 300 people attended. “There’s Jewish theater makers from all over the world, and I thought it was cool,” he said, adding, “we’ve got to raise awareness in this town about Jewish culture.”