Performances Postponed for SWIMMING IN JERUSALEM: A MODERN MUSICAL PARABLE at Theater555

Swimming in Jerusalem: A Modern Musical Parable, exploring relationships among citizens of Israel as presented through the complex experiences of teenage swimmers in a YMCA swim club in Jerusalem, has postponed the free public performances which were scheduled to begin this evening (through Sunday) at off-Broadway's Theater555 (555 West 42nd Street).

In a statement, Producer Eric Krebs explains "Given cast and logistical issues, I have decided that it will be better to schedule this important project to a later date this spring. Given the outpouring of interest in the show, I know that it will be a most exciting project when it is fully realized.”

Swimming in Jerusalem is set at the International YMCA in Jerusalem where a swim team made up of Palestinian and Jewish young people struggle to find peace and understanding as they compete on the same team.

The concept for Swimming in Jerusalem was born from a front page news article published in the New York Times on November 15, 2023 that was headlined "Swimming Together, 'Just Human Beings'. As the team prepares for a major swim meet, the musical explores the many mixed emotions and reactions among the young swimmers, both Palestinian and Jewish, giving rise to a story of joy, pain and personal responsibility to one's history and one's future.

"Given the mutual grievances that have long been going on, rising to a brutal boil that resulted in the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens and the immense devastation of Gaza that has followed, I felt that I wanted to do something, anything, in my theater universe to address the moment," said the project's conceiver and producer, Eric Krebs. “Absorbing the complexities of current and past events, and asking myself what might come in the future, I realized that addressing these issues through music, art and performance was the only thing that I could do. It is the only thing that I know how to do."