WHERE AND WHEN:
January 19 to 29, 2012
La MaMa E.T.C. (First Floor Theater), 74A East Fourth Street
Presented by La MaMa E.T.C. in association with Nephesh Theatre (Israel)
"The Lady and the Peddler" runs :55; "Gimpel the Fool" runs :50; one intermission.
Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM; Sundays at 2:30 PM. Added show: Sun, Jan. 29 at 7:30 PM
$18 general admission; $13 seniors/students
Box office (212) 475-7710, www.lamama.org
Critics are invited on or after January 19.

NEW YORK, December 6 -- From January 19 to 29, 2012, La MaMa E.T.C. will present a double bill comprised of the Nephesh Theatre productions of two plays based on works by Nobel Prize laureates. "The Lady and the Peddler" by S.Y. Agnon, adapted by Yosefa Even-Shoshan and directed by Geula Jeffet Attar, is a dance theater piece featuring actor Victor Attar as the Peddler and dancer Ilana Cohen as the Lady. "Gimpel the Fool," a monodrama from the story by Isaac Bashevis Singer as translated from the Yiddish by Saul Bellow, is adapted for the stage, directed and performed by Howard Rypp.

ABOUT "THE LADY AND THE PEDDLER"
"The Lady and the Peddler" has been presented periodically at Tel Aviv's Cameri Theatre since March, 2010 but reviewers have not yet been invited there so that its world premiere could be held at La MaMa and dedicated to Ellen Stewart. Its source is the 1943 short story by S.Y. Agnon, the sole Israeli Nobel Prize winner for literature. The fable depicts a Christian woman, living in isolation in the woods, who buys a knife from an itinerant Jewish peddler who stumbles upon her house and takes shelter there from a storm. He is ensnared by her charm and hospitality, moves in and has sex with her, only to learn that she has devoured her previous lovers. The story is more atmospheric than plot-driven and subject to wide interpretation. Some commentators have viewed it in a poetic sense, as one of his many stories portraying the masculine attitude of the Jew toward Nature and Woman or of the Jewish struggle against Paganism. It also seems to be a variant of the familiar vampire story, making Jonathan Harker into a wandering Jew and Dracula into a Lady. When the story was written, the fate of Europe's Jews had begun to be realized in Israel. It is logical to view the story as Agnon's allegorical reaction to these events, first by casting the eternally wandering Jews (i.e., wandering without a homeland, depending on their neighbors) into peril and second, by reversing the Blood Libel by making the gentile the predator.

Incorporating dance and video, this theatrical adaptation is a symbolic and stylized piece enabling Agnon's fable to be interpreted many ways. The Peddler is played by Victor Attar, a veteran actor who has probably appeared in the NY debuts of more major Israeli playwrights than anyone else. The Lady is played by Ilana Cohen, who danced for over 40 years in Israel's Inbal Dance Theater, the company of Sara Levy Tanai, where she was the prima dancer. After Tanai's death, she became co-artistic director. The play is directed by Geula Jeffet Attar. Music is by Yuval Mesner, design is by Rakefet Levy, video is by Hadas Ofrat and lighting is by Uri Rubinstein.

Critic Irene Backelenick wrote in All About Jewish Theatre, "Victor Attar and (his wife) Geula Jeffet Attar might well be considered the Alfred Lunt-Lynn Fontanne of Israel." Geula was born in Israel of Yemenite heritage. Victor was born in Bagdad and immigrated to Israel at 14. He trained as actor at Beit Zvi School of the Performing Arts and subsequently earned an M.A in Performance Studies from NYU. He was a principal member of the Cameri theater in Tel Aviv and later of The Kahn, Jerusalem's repertory theater. First coming to New York in1969, he was nominated for Best Actor in Show Business Magazine's annual awards. Later he achieved prominence for his performance in the La MaMa production of Fernando Arrabal's "TheArchitect and the Emperor of Assyria," directed by Tom O'Horgan. Geula Jeffet Attar studied at RADA in London, earned an MA in Performance Studies at NYU and acted in London, Israel and New York. In 1971 Ellen Stewart founded La MaMa Tel Aviv with the couple, launching the troupe with Victor's play "The Road," followed by other productions including "Babel," "Song of Songs" and "Baal Shem Tov."

Since then, the couple have been working simultaneously in Israel and the U.S., generally with Victor as actor and dramaturg and Geula as director. In the U.S., they have concentrated on New York premieres of modern Israeli plays and new avant-garde theatrical works on Jewish and Middle Eastern themes. Their collaborations include the New York premieres --all at La MaMa--of "Twilight" by Ada Amichal-Yavin; "The Seven Beggars," adapted from the 18th century story by Rabbi Nachman of Braslev; "Creation" by Yossefa Even Shoshan, "Exile In Jerusalem" by Motti Lerner, "Masked Men" by Ilan Hatzor, "Eppure si muove" by Yosef Mundi, "The Labor Of Life" and "The Whore From Ohio" by Hanoch Levin, "Golgotha "by Dr Shmuel Refael and "Seven Days" by Shlomi Moskovitz. Victor is also known for distinguished performances in plays staged by other directors, including "The Trojan Women," "The Night Before Thinking" "The Little Prince" and "Woyzeck," all at La MaMa.

Dancer Ilana Cohen, whose parents immigrated to Israel from Yemen in 1910, grew up at Kibutz Beit Oren near Mt. Carmel. She has been a member of Inbal Dance Theater, Israel's oldest dance company, since 1963. The troupe is widely known for incorporating biblical themes and an ancient dance language into modern dance. Cohen was soloist in many of its most noted works including "Ruth," "Song of Songs," "The Pearl and the Coral," "My Sister Bride," "Blooming Letters," "Urn," "Good Sabbath," "Wild Rose" and "Moroccan Wedding." She has collaborated with Sarah Levy-Tanai, Bob Cohen, Anna Sokolov, Donnel Makil, Jean Jill Sagan, Kata Kay (Japan), Mina Walams and Oshra Elkayam. She is an active teacher of dance, composition and choreography and collaborates with poets, musicians and actors. She last appeared at La MaMa during Inbal's 2002 American tour, dancing in her own new work, "Sajarra." The program's centerpiece was a revival of ''The Story of Ruth,'' a 1961 signature piece by Sara Levi-Tanai that had been restaged by Ms. Cohen.

ABOUT "GIMPEL THE FOOL"
"Gimpel the Fool," based on a comic fable by Novel Laureate Isaac Beshevis Singer, is having its New York premiere after having been presented in Israel, Prague, Russian, Armenia, Orlando, Canada, Cairo, London, Edinburgh and Vienna. The piece is translated from the Yiddish by Saul Bellow and adapted for the stage, designed, directed and performed by Howard Rypp. Music is by Ron Wiseman. Choreography is by Ilana Cohen.

The fable was first published in 1957 and caused a great sensation when it was translated into English and appeared in Playboy magazine. Singer often shocked his contemporaries by publishing stories with pungent perversions of the human mind. His most prominent themes are the clash between the old and modern world, tradition and renewal, faith and free thought. The title character is a gullible man who is fooled into marrying the town prostitute only to learn that her children are not his. Gimple is a "holy fool," true to himself in a world of the smug and self-deluded. He becomes more decent and humane the more he is cheated and deceived. The Star Phoenix (Saskatoon) wrote, "Howard Rypp is magnetic as the holy fool." Winnipeg Free Press cheered, "FIVE STARS!! ... Uplifting!!!...Best of the Fest." Festival Ludi (Orel Russia) wrote, "The play inspires the wish to believe in good. If Art has a purpose it is to awaken this kind of feelings. Maybe Gimpel is a fool but not for those who came to see the play:They all became wiser and without a doubt a better person."

Howard Rypp, born in Winnipeg, graduated from York University, Toronto and later immigrated to Israel in 1983. He has directed over 60 professional productions in English, Hebrew and Yiddish in Israel and abroad. His production of "Einstein" by Gabriel Emanuel, which he originally directed in Hebrew at the Habimah National Theatre, was re-mounted in English and was presented by La MaMa in 2005 with Victor Attar in the title role. Rypp's translations of many Israeli plays and movies into English have been seen throughout the world. His most recent translation of "One of a Kind" toured North America in 2008 including presentations on Broadway at the New Victory Theatre. He has lectured on Jewish Theatre and taught acting at the University of Tel Aviv as well as video at the Sapir College. He has been Artistic Director of the Nephesh Theatre since 1978 and recently returned to his first love, acting. Beside performing in "Gimpel the Fool" this past year, he played principal and starring roles in four Israeli and Foreign feature films.

Nephesh Theatre (http://www.nepheshtheatre.co.il) was founded in Winnipeg in 1978 by Howard Rypp and Gordon Wiseman. At the time it was Canada's first Jewish theater company. Ultimately, it staged over 30 theatrical and TV productions in Canada. When Rypp emigrated to Israel in 1984, he took Nephesh ("soul" in Hebrew) with him. Its first Hebrew play was "Einstein" and today it has a repertory of 14 plays in Hebrew and five plays in English that explore Jewish themes and social issues.

"The Lady and the Peddler" and "Gimpel the Fool" will be presented January 19 to 29, 2012 in a double-bill running Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2:30 with an added show Sunday, January 29 at 7:30 PM. Performances are in La MaMa's First Floor Theater, 74A East Fourth Street. Tickets are $18 general admission and $13 seniors/students. The box office is 212-475-7710/www.lamama.org.

# # #

CRITICS ARE INVITED on or after JANUARY 19.

CAPTIONED, HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS of these shows and all other shows currently represented by Jonathan Slaff are available for download at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jslaff/Jsnyc.

DIRECTIONS FOR DOWNLOADING PHOTOS: Select the image you want, then, click the thumbnail to get a preview. You can browse through the photos using these larger images by clicking the large blue arrows to the left and right of the picture. To download, select DOWNLOAD from the menu (above and slightly to the left). Caption info will also be in the downloaded file if you open the image in Photoshop and select FILE-->INFO.