A Jew on Ethiopia Street
Play Description
A promising Ethiopian soccer star in Israel is courted by an American sports agent. The athlete is involved with another Ethiopian who risks being deported. Meanwhile, there is also a reckless, clandestine operation afoot to airlift one last group of Falasha Jews from Ethiopia to Israel.
Production Info
Cast: 8 total (3 female, 5 male, multiethnic cast)Full Length Drama (about 85 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Contemporary Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Press Quotes
“In 1996, Israel announced a blood shortage and urged its citizens to give generously. The Falasha-Ethiopian Jews who were new immigrants and eager to embrace their spiritual homeland-turned out in record numbers. A newspaper report later revealed that all of the Ethiopian blood had been discarded, untested, because of a fear of AIDS and other diseases. The Ethiopians were humiliated, and the Israeli government, thrust into damage control, recognized that the people rescued from oppression from Northeast Africa (through airlift operations nobly named ‘Moses’ and ‘Solomon’) were now facing discrimination in the very state meant to be a safe harbor for all Jews. Israel’s complex relationship with the Falasha (which literally means ‘stranger’) provides the foundation for A JEW ON ETHIOPIA STREET, Allan Havis’s new play.” —Caroline Palmer, American Theater
“A play about the fascinating story of Ethiopian Jews.” —Max Sparber, Citypages
Author(s)
Allan HavisOver three decades, Allan Havis has had his plays produced at theatres across the country and in Europe, including San Diego Rep, Old Globe, Vox Nova, Seattle's ACT, Odyssey, Long Wharf, South Coast Rep, American Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Virginia Stage, WPA, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Trapdoor Theatre, Coral Gable's New Theatre, Interact Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Co. and Rowholt Theater-Verlag (National German Radio). Works commissioned by England's Chichester Festival, Sundance, San Diego Rep, Ted Danson's Anasazi Productions, South Coast Rep, Mixed Blood, CSC Rep, Malashock Dance, Carolina Chamber Chorale, National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and University of California, San Diego. Seventeen published plays including MOROCCO, HOSPITALITY and THE HAUNTING OF JIM CROW: Penguin/Mentor, Theatre Communications Group, Broadway Play Publishing. University of Illinois Press published his edited volume: American Political Plays. Harper/Collins published his children's novel Albert the Astronomer. His book on ninety years of cinema, Cult Films: Taboo & Transgression, was published by University Press of America. In collaboration with renowned composer Anthony Davis, his play LILITH was re-imagined as a chamber opera, premiering at UC San Diego's Conrad Prebys Music Center December 2009. His next collaboration with Mr. Davis was LEAR ON THE 2ND FLOOR, which premiered as a work-in-process March 2012 at Princeton University, and a full-length piece at UC San Diego's Conrad Prebys Music Center March 2013. Both operas can be viewed online at UCSD TV. Recipient of Guggenheim, Rockefeller, Kennedy Center/American Express, CBS, HBO, National Endowment for the Arts Awards, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle 2003 Outstanding New Play for Nuevo California (co-written with Bernardo Solano) and San Diego's 2008 Patté Best Play award for The Tutor. In May of 2010, Southern Illinois University Press published his second edited volume of American Political Plays, Post 9/11. He has headed the MFA playwriting program at University of California San Diego for many years and continues to teach in the graduate writing program. He holds an MFA from Yale Drama School. Since 2006 he assumed new duties as Provost of Thurgood Marshall College/ UC San Diego.
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypub.com
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