(dis)Place[d]

by Debórah Eliezer

A song sung in a language I can’t understand…A dream I can’t remember.

Debórah Eliezer cracks open the assumptions of her own identity through the story of her father, Edward Ben-Eliezer, an Iraqi Jew born in 1930, a member of the Zionist underground, a refugee, an Israeli spy, and an immigrant to America. The story follows  the little-known history and tenuous position of Arab Jews in Baghdad in the years leading up to, during and following World War II. Jews had been well-integrated into Iraqi life for over 2500 years, and made up a third of Baghdad’s population in 1940. Within a decade, nearly all 130,000 were gone, expelled, escaped, or killed. Today fewer than 10 remain.

This powerhouse solo performance combines story, movement, music, song, recordings and segments of Edward Ben-Eliezer’s 2007 video interview with the National Holocaust Organization. Eliezer creates several different characters, including her father at three different ages, her great grandmother, their Iraqi neighbors, historical figures and The Land itself.

Sheryl, Hamlet, and Me

By Michelle Haner

To be or not to be – what are the existential questions for those who crave life, relevance, purpose and power in the 21st century?

Told through the lens of three figures – Haner, a drama teacher; Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg; and Shakespeare’s tragic Prince of Denmark – this surreal excursion explores what it means to be an ambitious woman in the 21st century and what price we’re willing to pay to expand our reach and influence in this digital era.

When the play opens, Hamlet, residing in the imaginary Land of Characters, is in despair. He has lost his audience to streaming TV, video games, and SnapChat. Seeking to rectify the situation, he slips into our modern society with the help of Kim Kardashian’s smartphone.

Initially he encounters Haner, who is mounting Hamlet at a local high school. He promises to help Haner and her students make the most brilliant and moving modern staging of the play, fulfilling her dream of spreading her love of theater to the world. However, as Hamlet becomes attuned to the power of social media, he begins to re-examine just what it means to be relevant in the 21st century. The action takes place alongside the juxtaposition of the different paths taken by Haner and Sandberg (who in real life were Freshman classmates at Harvard).