Balfour — Voices Festival Productions

In November, December, and January, Voices Festival Productions presents a trio of readings from and about Israel/Palestine at this precarious moment – AT WAR | BEFORE | & AFTER – looking back to the past and into the future; all part of our long-running Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival.

November 14 & 15, Motti Lerner, winner of the 1994 Prime Minister of Israel Award and author of THE MURDER OF ISAAC, PANGS OF THE MESSIAH and THE ADMISSION shares his brand new play, taking us to back Balfour Street in Jerusalem and the 2020 street protests outside the Prime Minister's home. “It's about those among us who dream of a better Israel. An Israel more social, more equal, more sensitive to human rights, to women and minorities rights, more peace seeking. It's about those among us who are ready to go out and struggle to make this dream come true."

A play told from the perspectives of a wide swath of protesters, three police officers, and one young couple with an embattled romance, BALFOUR points to the threats facing the country from without and within, as it yearns for a more positive future. Featuring a cast of 12, including Edward Gero, Lisa Hodsoll, Raghad Makhlouf and directed by David Winitsky, Founder and Executive Artistic Director of the Jewish Plays Project, the staged reading is presented at UNMC on the set of Spooky Action Theater's "Agreste/Drylands."

Followed by Discussion with the playwright. Evening Run Time: 2 hours.

The staged reading happens at the Universalist National Memorial Church where Spooky Action Theater performs: 1810 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC.

This project is supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities' Projects, Events, & Festivals program, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts

2023-24: A season of new play development- EVENTS

Directed by David Winitsky

MEET THE Creative team

Motti Lerner (Playwright, Balfour) was born in Israel in 1949. Among his political plays are Kastner, Pangs of the Messiah, Paula and Pollard, all originally produced by the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv; Exile in Jerusalem, Passing The Love of Women, Doing his Will, The Abandoned Melody, and The First Lady (forthcoming) at Habima National Theatre; Autumn at Beit Lessin Theatre, Tel Aviv; Hard Love at the Municipal Theatre of Haifa, and The Hastening of The End at the Khan Theatre in Jerusalem. His play The Murder of Isaac was produced at Heilbron Theatre in Germany (1999), Baltimore Centerstage (2006), and Tel Aviv University Theatre (2013) after its English language workshop at Theater J in 2000 as part of the first “Voices From a Changing Israel” (later “Middle East”) Festival. Other productions at Theater J include Exile in Jerusalem (1998), Passing The Love of Women (2004), Pangs of the Messiah (2007), Benedictus (2009, first produced at Golden Thread in San Francisco, 2007), The Admission (which subsequently moved to Studio Theatre in 2014) and two years later at The Jaffa Theatre, where his play On The Edge was most recently staged. After The War received its premiere at Mosaic Theater Company of DC in 2016. A solo play, I Was There, was produced at Tzavta Theater in 2019. His produced screenplays include: Loves in Betania, The Kastner Trial, Bus Number 300, Egoz, 12 episodes of the TV drama series The Institute, A Battle in Jerusalem, The Silence of the Sirens, Altalena, Spring 1941 and Kapo in Jerusalem. He is a recipient of the best play award (1985) and the Israeli Motion Picture Academy award for the best TV drama in 1995 and in 2004. He won the Prime Minister of Israel Award for his creative work (1994) and the Landau prize for the performing arts (2014). He wrote the books "According To Chekhov" (2011) and "The Playwright's Purpose" (2015). He’s taught playwriting at Tel Aviv University and the Kibbutz College in Tel Aviv, at Duke University, North Carolina 1997, Knox College, Illinois 2005, 2007, 2012 and was a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 2010.

David Winitsky (Director, Balfour) is Founder and Executive Artistic Director of the Jewish Plays Project, the nation’s leading development house for contemporary Jewish theater. Current directing credits: The Lehman Trilogy and Bordello, a new musical; Recent: Vilna: A Resistance Story; new play Settlements at Interact (Philadelphia). Other leadership positions: Playwrights Theater (Producing Director); What Exit? Comedy Theater (Co-Artistic Director); HERE Arts Center (General Manager). Teaching: Visiting Lecture: Cornell University. MFA: Northwestern (Directing); BA: Cornell (Mathematics). All thanks to Elizabeth, Zeke, and Lex.