SWIMMING IN JERUSALEM: A Modern Musical Parable to Have Free Public Performances 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, will be presented in a concert format for five free public performances (February 8-11) at off-Broadway's Theater555. With book, music and lyrics by Michael Roberts and directed by Hannah Ryan, _Swimming In Jerusalem) will be presented by the not-for-profit Masterworks Theater Company, Eric KrebsProducing Director.

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."

“After the October attacks and the subsequent response, the public discourse has mostly been an argument of which side is right,” shares Mr. Roberts. “To my mind, that response is secondary to the need to find a way to live together in peace, so that this volcano of hate can stop erupting every few years. That has been my guiding purpose in writing this show.”

Director Ryan says “developing this piece has been like writing a love letter to the young adults in my life, the next generation that is resilient, hopeful and unwilling to settle for less than as they navigate one unprecedented challenge after another.”

Tickets may be reserved on a first come first served basis at Boxoffice@Theater555.com. Concert performances are: February 8, 9, 10 at 7:00pm with matinees on February 10 & 11 @ 3:00pm.Performance runs 60 minutes and will be followed by a talkback.

While admission is free, donations to the The Jerusalem International YMCA will be requested.

Bios

Michael Roberts 

(Book/Music/Lyrics) is the creator of the hit 2003 Off-Broadway comedy Golf: The Musical. Golf was twice revived Off-Broadway, and has played in twenty-five US states, as well as Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Finland, Canada and Scotland. Roberts’ play Thanks For The Memories saw productions in Peoria and Marin, CA. His next musical, The Fartiste, won Best Musical at the 2006 New York Fringe Festival. It moved Off-Broadway in 2012,? followed by concert performances at the Charing Cross Theatre on London's West End. In 2013, his musical Greedopened at New World Stages, starring Stephanie D'Abruzzo. In 2018 his musical Goldstein (Off-Broadway Alliance nomination) was produced Off Broadway, starring Megan McGinnis and Julie Benko. He is published by Concord Theatricals and Broadway Licensing, among others.? ? Cast recordings include Goldstein on Broadway Records, and NY and Japanese versions of Golf. Recent developmental productions include the new musical The Days Beyond Today. Roberts was a composer for AMC’s Emmy-Award-Winning sitcom “Remember WENN.”? His film work includes? Love Walked In (Tri-Star/Sony) starring Dennis Leary. He has worked as a pianist and music director for? Rupert Holmes, Betty Buckley, Stephanie Mills, Leslie Gore, Lou christie, Bobby Sherman, Bobby Rydell, Herman’s Hermits, The Drifters, and comedians Jackie Mason and Joan Rivers. Leading cabaret and musical theater artists he has collaborate with include Craig Pomranz, Sally Mayes, Christine Andreas, Kerry Butler, Richard Kind, and Donna Murphy.? ?Roberts is a guest lecturer at New York University, American University, and University of Pittsburgh. He is on visiting faculty of Spalding University. He is a Broadway World nominee, and the winner of multiple ASCAP Plus Awards. He is proud to serve as the Vice President of The American Songbook Association.

Hannah Ryan 

(Director) Broadway Resident Director of Hamilton. Founding collaborator of Nettelworks. Australian Staging Director: An American in Paris. Director: Gypsy (Theatre Aspen) Confidence and The Speech (Theatre Row) Roe (Post Theatre Co.) All Dressed Up (Redhouse) Riot Song (Joe's Pub) Every Path (La Jolla Playhouse & Moxie Theatre) Sally: A Solo Play (Theatre Aspen & Alabama Shakespeare Festival) Still Life (Keller Gallery) The Guys (Davenport Theatre) Ascended (Zoetic Stage) The Big Announcement (Drama League’s Rough Draft Series) Let’s Misbehave (Mr. Finn’s Cabaret) Cendrillon and Gianni Schicchi (Point Loma Opera) Twelfth Night, Midsummer, The Forced Marriage, et al (Point Loma Playhouse), Broadway Resident Director of An American in Paris, Associate Director The Curious Incident on Broadway, Circus in Winter(Goodspeed), The Golem of Havana (Barrington Stage Company & Miami New Drama) Member of SDC, Drama League Director’s Project Fellow & Resident, SDC Foundation Denham Fellow. Adjunct professor at NYU. Hannahmryan.com

Eric Krebs 

(Producing Director) whose theatrical career spans more than 50 years, has worked as a producer, a theater founder and operator, a college professor and occasionally as a performer. In 1974 he founded the George Street Playhouse regional theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey, now in its 49th year. He built and operated Off-Broadway’s John Houseman Theater Center and Douglas Fairbanks Theater for over 20 years. Most recently he renovated and became the operator of a 160-seat Off-Broadway Theater, reopening it as Theater555, 555 West 42 Street in New York City. Off-Broadway he has produced more than 50 plays and musicals. On Broadway he produced: Bill Maher: Victory Begins At Home (Tony nomination for Best Special Theatrical Event), Neil Simon’s The Dinner Party, It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues (nominated for 4 Tony Awards including Best Musical) and Electra (nominated for 3 Tony Awards). In April 2007, he performed his own 90-minute adaptation of King Lear, a one person presentation entitled Considering Lear. In the fall of 2016, he performed My Father's Voice, a solo presentation of his father's letters from the Ellis Island Prison and the War in the Pacific, 1938-1945. Mr. Krebs recently retired after 50 years as a professor of theater arts at Baruch College, City University of NewYork, where he continued a career as an educator that began in 1969 at Rutgers University (37 years) in New Jersey, where he is professor emeritus.

 

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