Jobsite Theatre Presents Israel Horovitz's LEBENSRAUM

By: Nov. 29, 2015
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Jobsite Theater starts the new year with a new collaboration with one of the world's greatest living dramatists. Israel Horovitz visited Tampa for a week this past February for a week-long residency culminating in a rehearsed staged reading of his play Sins of the Mother that featured a talkback and poetry reading with the award-winning writer, film-maker, and "Beastie Dad" (he is also the father of Adam "Ad Rock" Horovitz). He once again returns for the opening week of his play Lebensraum that runs Jan. 8-31, 2016, in the Shimberg Playhouse at the Straz Center where Jobsite is resident theater company.

Using a cast of three actors (Ned Averill-Snell, Derrick Phillips, and Katrina Stevenson under the direction of David M. Jenkins) performing quicksilver changes to play dozens of sharply drawn characters, this bold work of penetrating wit and intelligence is based on the fanciful, explosive idea that a German Chancellor might, as an act of redemption, invite six million Jews to Germany with a promise of citizenship and jobs.

A resulting scenario unfolds that explores the effects of the policy on Jews and Gentiles with widely varying outlooks in both comic and tragic terms: an out of work Jewish dock worker from Massachusetts who brings his Irish wife and his son to Bremerhaven to start a new life; a survivor of Auschwitz who returns to find the woman who betrayed his family to the Nazis; a young German smitten by a Jewish American teenage girl; an unemployed German laborer and scores of others. The logical progression of events raises the terrifying possibility that history may repeat.

Horovitz says of his play that "I have tried to create a modern day circumstance that mirrors what was going on in the world when Hitler came into power ... that Jews were being blamed for Germany's struggling economy, etc. etc. So, yes, it is a heavy-duty warning that things forgotten are oft-repeated, and that there's no limit to human cruelty. That said, the play is a lot of fun to watch. It's extremely theatrical and is a blend of, well, comedy and tragedy."

Producing Artistic Director David M. Jenkins adds "once again we've stumbled into a situation where we're producing something that couldn't be more timely. Considering the rising tensions, crises, and outright bigotry and hatred in the world, we hope that this play helps serve as a place for us to come together and talk about things as a community."

A series of talkbacks and public forums, one of which will feature Horovitz, are currently in the works with details to be released soon.

Lebensraum opens on Fri., Jan. 8, and runs through Jan. 31, 2016. All tickets are $28. Rush tickets for students, seniors, military/veterans (as well as their dependents), and Theatre Tampa Bay members are $14 and are available as of 30 minutes prior to curtain with cash and valid ID at the Straz Ticket Office window. Rush tickets are subject to availability. Special preview performances will be held on Jan. 6-7 at 8p with all tickets available in advance for $14. Jobsite season tickets are still on sale for 20% off for all remaining mainstage productions plus FREE entry into all side projects, readings, and other special events.
Jobsite is funded in part by The State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, The Arts Council of Hillsborough County, The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, The Gobioff Foundation, Fodder & Shine, Rollin' Oats, Creative Loafing, and Illumination Advertising. Jobsite is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization and all gifts made to Jobsite are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.


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