Untitled Theater Company No. 61 Presents Pangs of the Messiah

Untitled Theater Company #61 (UTC61) presents the New York premiere of Pangs of the Messiah, by noted Israeli playwright Motti Lerner. The year is 2015, and Israel is on the verge of signing a peace accord; in the West Bank settlements that Israel may soon abandon, no one is celebrating. Lerner's tense drama focuses on the Head of the Council of Settlements and his family as they struggle to retain the life they have built in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. The play provides a rare window into the lives and psyches of the settlers from an insider's perspective. It is a family drama with broad political implications.

Pangs of the Messiah was first produced in Tel Aviv in 1985, and it has since garnered acclaim in Washington DC, Chicago and Cleveland. The Washington Post praised the play for its portrayals "that give intriguing complexity to a people and a movement often painted as a monolithic cadre of occupiers." In anticipation of the New York premiere, director Edward Einhorn visited Israel and the West Bank to research the settlements and further refine the script with Lerner, which is updated to reflect current events.

Lerner is one of Israel's most produced playwrights, and his work has been seen in the United States at The Public Theater, the Williamstown Theater Festival, Baltimore's Center Stage, and numerous other venues. He is particularly known for his political writing, with numerous plays that examine the facets of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

UTC61 is a Theater of Ideas: scientific, political, philosophical, and above all theatrical. UTC61 previous productions have included The Václav Havel Festival; The Festival of Jewish Theater and Ideas; the NEUROfest (plays about neurology); the Off-Broadway production of Fairy Tales of the Absurd; and, most recently Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig, both at 3LD.

Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 W. 14th Street
October 27- November 20 (reviewers invited starting October 28, opening October 29)
Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm
Post show discussions to follow every Sunday matinee

Tickets $18
Call 212-352-3101
Or visit www.untitledtheater.com