F. Murray Abraham, winner of the Academy Award for his portrayal of Salieri in Peter Shaffer's 1984 film
Amadeus, will return to the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center on Wednesday, December 6th at 8 PM.
The actor will perform dramatic readings from two plays featuring Jewish protagonists—
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, and
The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe. The performance is a prelude to the Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) repertory productions of the plays opening in February and starring Abraham.
Following the performance, Abraham will join TFANA artistic director Jeffrey Horowitz and critic
Michael Feingold to discuss how Jews are portrayed in these two great works as well as how different generations have viewed the characterizations.
"Written during the lengthy and successful reign of Queen Elizabeth I,
Merchant and
Malta have sparked passionate debates ever since. The debates have ranged from the degree of anti-Semitism in Elizabethan England to the dispute about whether or not Shakespeare's play was written as a reaction to Marlowe's earlier work."
This is
F. Murray Abraham's third appearance at the 92nd Street Y in a year. Earlier this season, he kicked off the Y's 2006/7 Family Music series with a reading of a Salieri soliloquy from
Amadeus. Last November he appeared in the Poetry Center's
The Actor's Shakespeare: F. Murray Abraham on A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Other events in the 92nd Street Y's upcoming season include interviews with
John Guare and readings by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Deborah Eisenberg, and
Wallace Shawn.
For tickets and more information, visit
www.92Y.org/poetry, or call (212) 415-5500.
