The Theater at the 14th Street Y Presents KADDISH, Now thru 1/13

Kaddish, a play based on Nobel Prize-winner Imre Kertész's novel "Kaddish for an Unborn Child," will run today, January 10-13, 2014 at the Theater at the 14th Street Y. Kaddish, a one-man show featuring Jake Goodman and directed by Barbara Lanciers, comes to the Y following a critically-acclaimed run in Budapest this past June. Tickets, $18, can be purchased at www.14streety.org/boxoffice or by calling 1-800-838-3006.

Kaddish is an exploration of ritual and loss. It looks at a father's unrelenting conflict over the absence of the child he never had during his ultimately doomed marriage. A Holocaust survivor, he had refused to bring a child into a world where horrors like the one he experienced can occur. The longing and regret that haunt this character give rise to one of the most eloquent meditations ever written on the Holocaust.

The production is intimate, featuring a solo performance by Jake Goodman on a 10-foot square stage covered in dirt and light.

"When I first read Kaddish in 2005," said the play's director, Hungarian/American Barbara Lanciers, "I was struck by the raw bravery of the text. Today, his words have more relevance and poignancy than ever."

Imre Kertész, who survived the Holocaust, is a widely celebrated writer across Europe and recipient of the 2002 Noble Prize in Literature. Nevertheless, his work is still not well known in America. Kertész and his wife, Magda, have been in close communication with Lanciers throughout the creative process and have expressed deep enthusiasm over the work and its ability to allow his words to reach a new audience.

Kaddish has future productions at Double-Edge Theatre and Charlestown Working Theater in February and March, and two productions in Bulgaria in June: in Sofia and at the Varna International Theatre Festival.

Kaddish, performed by Jake Goodman and directed by Barbara Lanciers and produced by the Theater at the 14th Street Y will run:

January 10: 5pm, 7pm

January 11: 11am, 3pm, 9pm

January 12: 1pm, 4pm, 6pm

January 13: 3pm, 5pm

Performance runs 55 minutes. Tickets: $18; www.14streety.org/boxoffice or 1-800-838-3006. Box office opens 45 minutes before each performance. The Theater at the 14th Street Y is located at 344 East 14th Street (Between 1st & 2nd Avenues), New York, NY 10003. Directions: L to 1st Avenue; 4, 5, 6, Q, N, R, or W trains to Union Square.

For more information, visit www.14StreetY.org or www.kaddishplay.com.