Thu 3/14-Sat 4/6
Israeli writer and theater director Hanoch Levin died of cancer in 1999 at the age of 55, still writing from the hospital. Among the 63 plays he wrote was one of his final works, 1998’s Requiem, based on a trio of stories by Anton Chekhov. Written when he knew his death was imminent, it was the last play he directed. In it he looks at the meaning of life, mingling humor, sadness and poetry, through the eyes of an old man embarking on a series of journeys to try to evade death, oblivious to the lives and travails of the characters he meets. The play has been translated into many languages and performed in Israel, Brazil, Serbia, Russia, Mexico, China, Greece and Romania, among other countries, demonstrating the universality of its concerns.
Now Cleveland Public Theatre is mounting the U.S. premiere production of Requiem, reset in America, opening this week, with noted Cleveland actor Peter Lawson Jones in the central role and CPT’s executive artistic director Raymond Bobgan directing with a cast of a dozen actors.
The play will run Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays @ 7:30pm and Sundays March 17, 24 and 31 @ 3pm through Saturday April 6. All tickets are “pay what you choose.” There is also a special performance on Friday March 15 to benefit the Charles and Margaret Jones Scholarship Fund for College Now Greater Cleveland. Tickets are $50 and include a post-show talk with Jones and a dessert reception. To purchase tickets for the benefit go to cngc.org/requiem
To purchase tickets to regular performances, go to cptonline.org/requiem/.