Indiana State professor of theater Arthur Feinsod may be familiar to United Hebrew Congregation Terre Haute members as author of Coming to See Aunt Sophie, the 2014 play about Jan Karski, honored as Righteous Among the Nations for his efforts to save Polish Jews from the Nazis.
Now, Arthur has directed Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing!, set to premiere at the New Theater, 538 N 7th St. on the ISU campus. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9 through Friday, Nov. 12, and 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13. Tickets are $10. Call 812-237-3333 for more information.
Arthur also sent us this note to promote the event:
On Wednesday, Awake and Sing! opens. This play, by Clifford Odets, is about a Jewish family in the middle of the Great Depression. It is a play about idealism and hope in the face of grave hardships. The grandfather, Jacob, is being played by Professor Emeritus Lew Hackleman, who is fabulous. The students are some of the strongest actors I have ever worked with in all my years at ISU and Trinity College. (That’s more than 30 years of directing students!)
Perhaps you could get the word out to the folks at the Temple. I think they would find the characters quite familiar. (In some rehearsals, I feel like I am seeing my own grandparents, uncles and aunts risen from the dead and so richly emblazoned in my memory.)
It is an especially moving portrait of this Bronx family, the Bergers, with all their trials and tribulations. It is very timely, sort of, since the grandfather character is a lot like Bernie Sanders! Grandpa Jacob is also like my own great grandfather, Abe, who was an ardent idealist and gave speeches in Prospect Park similar to those given by Eugene V. Debs. I am named after him. As you can see, this play is deeply personal to me.
Many theater critics and scholars consider Awake and Sing! one of the five masterpieces of the 1930s. It was first performed by the Group Theatre, with Harold Clurman directing, Morris Carnovsky playing the grandfather and Stella Adler playing the mother, Bessie.
Hope you can come!
Arthur