Brett Singer & Associates, LLC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
Theater for the New City, Crystal Field Executive Director, Presents
DESERT SUNRISE
April 24, 2006
Israeli Army veteran Misha Shulman’s controversial
new play about a female suicide bomber and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
DESERT SUNRISE, will continue at Theater for the New City. After a successful run in April, DESERT
SUNRISE will take a short hiatus and then return on Friday, May 5th
and run through Sunday, May 21st .
DESERT SUNRISE tells a story about a chance encounter
between an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian man. Taking refuge in a desert wadi, the two men are initially
antagonistic, but each is surprisingly open to the other’s views. Just when they seem to have overcome their
distrust for each other, they are joined by the Palestinian man's beloved, who
embodies an odd, impermeable shell of ideology and radical zeal that neither of
the men can penetrate. As the three
reach into their own pasts, they not only find similarities, but also begin to
understand the psychological and social fabric behind their political beliefs.
Over the course of one memorable night the process of mutual understanding and
forgiveness begins, halts, gets rejected, but is ultimately embraced by the
pained characters. DESERT
SUNRISE uses
English, Hebrew and Arabic dialogue between the three characters and is
interspersed with choral odes, performed by onstage musicians and adapted by
Shulman from various translations of Aeschylus' "Agamemnon." At times, the characters quote Osama Bin
Laden, an Israeli mother who lost her son to the conflict, Ariel Sharon, Hamas
leaders, Israeli and Palestinian politicians, peace activists, and Palestinian
cave dwellers. It also employs
Indonesian shadow techniques that are shared with Egyptian puppetry.
The play is set in the desert hills south of
Hebron, where several thousand Palestinian shepherds and farmers have been
living in natural caves since the early 19th century. For the past
two decades the cave-dwellers have been terribly oppressed by both the Israeli
Army and settlers in an attempt to force them out of the land and open it for
take over by fundamentalist Jewish settlers.
Over 80% of the caves have been demolished, wells stuffed with rocks,
olive groves stolen and cattle poisoned, leaving the cave-dwellers with close
to nothing to live on. Despite this unbearable injustice the cave-dwellers have
remained non-violent, resisting the loud voices in Palestinian society to take
arms against the Israelis. The region
is birthplace of the Ta’ayush peace movement (the word means “living together”
in Arabic), a group that will provide support for this production.
Author and director Misha Shulman was Commander in
Charge of Education in the Communications Unit of Lebanon while serving in the
Israeli Defense Forces from 1996 to 1999.
He is now a member of the The Living Theatre and DADA New York, as well
as founding director of the Free Theatre Collective. His memoir of service in Lebanon, "Memories of a Forgotten
People," was published in the September-October 2005 issue of Tikkun
magazine.
The New York Times wrote that DESERT SUNRISE is
“elegant and affecting,” and compared the play to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting
For Godot. Reviewing DESERT
SUNRISE during its run in 2005, NYTheatre.com said that the play was “Moving
and unforgettable... Shulman presents his message with eloquence, intelligence
and beauty.” Because of the success of
the play, there will be a tour of college campuses across the United States
beginning in May. DESERT SUNRISE also
received the 2005 Andrew and Eleanor Mcglinchee Prize from Hunter College.
The cast for DESERT SUNRISE will include Alice Borman, Jared
Miller, Haythem Noor, Yifat Sharabi and Morteza Tavakoli. Dalia Carella, a leading figure in the field
of Middle Eastern dance in America, will choreograph and perform dances through
the play. The original music is by former Israeli Paratroopers Lieutenant, internationally
acclaimed Oud (Middle Eastern lute) and percussion player Yoel Ben Simhon.
Design duties will be handled by Celia Owens (sets) and Itai Erdal (lighting).
DESERT SUNRISE will return on Friday, May 5th and run through
Sunday, May 21st.
Performances will be Thursdays through Saturdays at 8PM and Sundays at
3PM. Tickets are $15.00 for all seats and may be purchased by calling (212)
254-1109 or online at www.theaterforthenewcity.net. Photos are available for
download at www.brettsinger.com/clients/desertsunrise.html.
DESERT
SUNRISE
Written and Directed by
Misha Shulman
At Theater For The New
City, 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets)
EXTENDED!
Friday, May 5th through Sunday, May 21st.
SCHEDULE: Thursdays through
Saturdays at 8:00pm, Sundays at 3:00pm
TICKETS: $15.00; Call (212) 254-1109 or visit
www.theaterforthenewcity.net
# # #
311 West 43rd Street, Suite #1107 Phone:
(212) 307-7181
New York, NY 10036 FAX: (212) 307-7178
www.brettsinger.com Email: info@brettsinger.com