On the occasion of the Jewish state’s 70th anniversary, we’ve asked our LABA fellows with Israeli backgrounds for their perspectives. Jewish State of Mind // Tal Gur Israeli-American composer and multi-instrumentalist Tal Gur was born in Israel and grew up in an Air Force base in the valley of Jezreel, where the sounds of combat
The Passover seder, a collective commemoration of liberation and redemption, is probably the most observed Jewish ritual of our time. Here LABA fellow Amy Handelsman reflects on her family’s seders past and present. One of the foundational principles of Judaism is T’shuvah, the concept of circularity and return. We return to the same holidays every year, the
LABAlive I: War & Peace on 3.22.18 featured works-in-progress by three of LABA’s current cohort. Fellow Jon Adam Ross returned from the show caffeinated, disquieted, elated and eventually superpowered. Here he reflects on his experience. I’ve been having trouble sleeping. Maybe it’s all the coffee, or maybe it’s the nightmares about pathological grandmothers escaping boxcars during the Holocaust
The Feast of Memory is an ancient LABA tradition, where everybody is asked to share a food, either tasty or nasty, connected with a personal memory or story. At the end of the evening, a collective memory emerges, evoking a collective history. Having overcome a mighty hangover, here LABA alum Gordon Haber recalls this year’s feast. “This
On Thursday, March 22nd, LABALive One will present an evening of subversive art and teachings on this year’s theme, WAR & PEACE. The evening will feature LABA teacher Liel Leibovitz and works-in-progress by LABA Fellows Brandon Woolf, Tal Beery and Jess Honovich. Here’s Jess on how she developed her upcoming theater piece. Rarely do I get the opportunity to bridge
On Thursday, March 22nd, LABALive One will present an evening of subversive art and teachings on this year’s theme, WAR & PEACE. The evening will feature LABA teacher Liel Leibovitz and works-in-progress by LABA Fellows Tal Beery, Jess Honovich and Brandon Woolf. Woolf is a theater maker and a scholar of contemporary performance. Here he ruminates on the relationship
On Thursday, March 22nd, LABALive One will present an evening of subversive art and teachings on this year’s theme, WAR & PEACE. The evening will feature LABA teacher Liel Leibovitz and works-in-progress by LABA Fellows Jess Honovich, Brandon Woolf and Tal Beery. In his performance, visual artist Beery will respond to the only remaining item left of
Israeli-American playwright Zohar Tirosh-Polk is a current LABA fellow. For this year’s Purim celebration, she reminds us how the heroine of the Megillah can inspire us to heal a broken world. Carnival Lately I’ve been feeling kind of quiet and stuck. Whether it’s Israel preparing to send African refugees back to war zones, the Israeli prime
Writer and story consultant Amy Handelsman is a current LABA fellow. Here are Amy’s thoughts on some timely ancient texts we’ve been studying on this year’s theme, WAR + PEACE. Twice a month as a LABA fellow, I am privileged to take part in a study session at the 14th Street Y, where Lead Teacher Liel Leibovitz
LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture is a program of the 14th Street Y that uses classic Jewish texts to inspire the creation of art. Every year we celebrate our new fellows with DRUNK, an evening of wine and performance inspired by Jewish texts. This year the teachers were the redoubtable Ruby Namdar, author of The