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
Counting the days until the first 2018 LABAlive on March 22nd, Ruby Namdar, celebrated author of the The Ruined House and former LABA teacher, muses over art inspired by ancient Jewish texts. During my ten years tenure as LABA faculty, I had the privilege of teaching some of the most amazing texts ever written to
LABA alum Gordon Haber considers Black History Month and the dangers of making America great again In these days when we are exhorted to make America great again — in other words, to return to some vaguely articulated epoch of former glory — it’s probably a good idea to consider what a return to
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
This week for the LABA Journal, Jacob Siegel, writer and combat veteran, reflects on the books that inspired him. No matter how much time has passed it happens inevitably that I feel a tap on the shoulder and something pulls me back towards war. Books offer no escape from that pull. It doesn’t matter that