THE LAST YIDDISH SPEAKER to Open at Six Points Theater

From the playwright of The Last Schwartz and Be Here Now, Deborah Zoe Laufer's new play, The Last Yiddish Speaker, is a family drama set in a near-future America reshaped by authoritarian nationalism.

Paul and his teenage daughter Sarah are Jews living as Christians under a fascist regime, until the  day a 1,000-year-old woman named Chava, who speaks only Yiddish--played by Sally Wingert--appears on their doorstep in need of shelter. Her arrival reignites their culture and reminds them of their faith, even as their safety is threatened by Sarah's high school boyfriend, John, a government informant.

The Last Yiddish Speaker arrives amid a wave of national conversations about policing free speech and the slow centralization of government control, as well as an increase in hate crimes against Jews, most recently at Temple Israel in Minneapolis. The rise of fascism goes hand in hand with a rise in antisemitism, which makes the themes in Laufer's dystopia resonate deeply with Minnesota audiences.