'JEW VS MALTA' Mixes Brecht's Political Theater and Kanye West, Starting Tonight at LaMaMa

LaMaMa has announced that it will present the world premiere of the Meta-Phys Ed. production JEW VS. MALTA, a raucous new "chop and screw theatre piece" about monstrosity and virtuosity, fueled by pantagruelism and peppered with puppetry and dance. Conceived and directed by Jesse Freedman, the production will run tonight, October 28, 2016, through November 6, 2016 at The Club, 74A East 4th Street, 3rd floor. For more information, visit lamama.org/jew_vs_malta.

JEW VS. MALTA is based on Christopher Marlowe's problematic and provocative play "The Jew of Malta,", the political theater of Bertolt Brecht and Kanye West's album "Yeezus." Jew vs. Malta depicts the passion of Barabas the Jew: his suffering, trial, betrayal, revenge, death, resurrection, revenge and death.

JEW VS. MALTA is a play about monsters and the monsters who make them. Barabas the Jew is gifted businessman, who is turned into a monster when his sizable fortune is confiscated to fund a government bail out.

Barabas and Kanye West are a special type of literary or celebrity monster: a self-made monster. Rather than reject their construction as monster, they embrace it, seizing the reigns of control, rejecting their creator and mocking them by shining more brilliantly. The best and the baddest.
Mr. Freedman is known for his imaginative and insightful explorations of Jewish text and sources. The project started out over a decade ago as Freedman's attempt to understand Marlowe's deeply problematic and anti-Semitic play "The Jew of Malta" thru the political theater of Brecht.

Mr. Freedman was aware of Kanye West celebrity persona for years before first listening to the album "Yeezus", which immediately connected to Marlowe's play. The project evolved quickly from using Kanye West to understand Marlowe, into using Marlowe in understanding Kanye West. Freedman believes that the project shows that in Marlowe, there is an important perspective on race and nationalism in America that can only be seen if you accept that the play is deeply anti-Semitic. If Barabas (or Kanye West) is a monster, it is because we made him a monster.

The cast of JEW VS. MALTA features Youn Jung Kim, Rakia Seaborn and David North.

Jesse Freedman is theater director, collaborator & Artistic Director of Meta-Phys Ed. who hybridizes classical and sacred text with contemporary forms. His show "Karaoke Bacchae" premiered at the 2015 Ice Factory Festival at the New Ohio Theater. Directing credits include Outside in (Worry Noise Dirt Heat/ Dixon Place), Karaoke Bacchae (Meta- Phys Ed./ New Ohio Theater) Paisieu (Target Margin Stein Labs), Vilna's Got a Golem (Sarah Lawrence College), Chalom: Dream Opera (Meta-Phys. Ed.) Co-founder of Meta-Phys. Ed. (w/ Bronwen Mullin). He has collaborated with Target Margin Theater (Sound Demon), New Yiddish Rep (Production Manager, Stage Manager), Anthropologists (Actor, Dramaturge), Living Theater (Performer), and Spicy Witches (Scenic designer).Training: MFA in Theater, Sarah Lawrence College, Siti Company, Tectonic Theater.

The production features lighting design by Jennifer Reiser, costume design by Karen Boyer, scenic design / props by Ali Shrago-Spechler and sound design by Avi Amon. Stage management is by Molly Bicks. The Assistant Director is Mehdya Fassi and the Production Manager is Paul Passaro.

Tickets are $20. Students and seniors pay less: $15. Visit: web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/962608 - Ten tickets are available for every performance for $10 each, in advance only, as part of La MaMa's 10@$10 ticketing initiative. Performances of JEW VS. MALTA are on 10/28 at10pm; 10/29 at 10pm; 10/30 at 6pm; 11/4 at 10pm; 11/5 at 10pm and 11/6 at 6pm. The Club at LaMaMa is located at 74a East 4th Street (3rd Floor) (btw Bowery & 2nd Ave). For more information visit: lamama.org/jew_vs_malta.

Meta-Phys Ed. explores religion, spirituality, and politics thru original performance works that hybridize classical or sacred texts with contemporary forms. Meta-Phys Ed. was founded in 2011 by Artistic Director Jesse Freedman and rabbinical student, composer, and playwright Bronwen Mullin.

An integral part of New York City's cultural landscape, La MaMa has a worldwide reputation for producing daring work in theatre, dance, performance art, and music that defies form and transcends boundaries of language, race, and culture. Founded in 1961 by theatre pioneer and legend Ellen Stewart, La MaMa is a global organization with creative partners and dedicated audiences around the world. La MaMa presents an average of 60-70 productions annually, most of which are world premieres. To date, over 3,500 productions have been presented at La MaMa with artists from more than 70 nations.