Aspaklaria—The Jewish Theater will soon begin holding weekly performances in Jerusalem, Director Rabbi Hagay Lober has announced. Until now, the theater troop has moved from city to city, without a permanent location for regular performances.
The troop has enough material for a full season of performances, Rabbi Lober said. Most theaters hold only six performances per season, while Aspaklaria already has 20 shows prepared, he said. The acting group has English-language performances in their repertoire and may include English shows next season. View the English Aspaklaria website.
Performances will take place each Saturday night. This Saturday night, Nov. 15, the cast will perform “End of the Road.” The Hebrew-language play deals with the subject of teenagers who face difficulties and sometimes turn to alcohol and drugs. It centers around Netanel, a lawyer looking for his daughter, and Matanya, a teenager who hangs out all night with friends in downtown Jerusalem.
A scene from End of the Road: Matanya offers Netanel a cigaretteThe decision to create “Jewish theater” appropriate for the religious public was made due to the discomfort many religious theater fans faced while watching secular performances, Rabbi Lober said. The vulgarity and sexual themes in some plays was enough to make religious members of the audience leave before the performances were complete, he said. Aspaklaria's performances, on the other hand, abide by Jewish law and do not contain inappropriate language.
The purpose of the theater is to renew Jewish culture by producing shows based in Jewish values, members say. Its shows deal primarily with the doubts and conflicts faced by many religious Jews and by the interaction between the religious and secular worlds.
Rabbi Lober also discussed the Aspaklaria acting school, which currently has more than 100 students. The students seek out theater in order to express their spirituality, he said. The students and actors are not seeking to compete with secular theater, he said, but rather, are interested in expressing their own culture and values through acting.