“God of Vengeance" at Augustana College -- April 27 through 30.

Thursday, April 27, through Sunday, April 30

Augustana College's Honkamp Myhre Black Box Theatre, 3750 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island IL

Lauded by CurtainUp as "a masterful study of the human soul," Sholem Asch's acclaimed and incendiary 1906 drama God of Vengeance enjoys a student-produced run at Augustana College from April 27 through 30, this Jewish masterwork described by Broadway World as "full of complex characters whose motives invite debate."

Rife with 21st-century themes including freedom of expression, respect of sex workers, domestic violence, and acceptance of LGBTQ relationships, God of Vengeance is the story of a religious Jewish couple, husband Yankl and wife Soreh, who try to protect their marriageable daughter Rivkeleh from the couple’s brothel business. Yankl has commissioned a unique and expensive hand-written Torah scroll for his daughter, which he believes will protect her and keep her kosher. But Rivkeleh has other ideas. She has fallen in love with one of her father’s prostitutes, Mankeh, and soon, tensions mount as life in the family’s apartment and the brothel intertwine, and Yankl begins to break down when his plans for his precious daughter are endangered. A controversial work ever since its 1906 debut, God of Vengeance found its producer and cast arrested and found guilty of obscenity charges when the play first came to New York in 1923, although the verdict was eventually overturned on appeal.

Augustana senior Synth Gozalez, who directs the production and also serves as its dramaturg and set designer, boasts area credits ranging from Augustana's Tartuffe to the Black Box Theatre's Ride the Cyclone to the Mississippi Bend Players' Red. As she explains in her director's notes: "The play was a huge success and traveled around Europe, being translated into just under a dozen languages. It was staged at the Provincetown Theatre and then moved for its Broadway run to the Apollo Theatre on February 19, 1923. Its run was cut short on March 6, when the company was arrested for obscenity and indecency. After a prolonged battle, the conviction was successfully appealed. Asch’s passion to represent the Jewish people faded due to the continuous attacks throughout his entire career as well as the genocide of Jewish people across Europe in the first half of the 20th century.

"In the late 1990s," Gonzalez continues, "writer, performer, translator, and director Caraid O’Brien went and saw a production of God of Vengeance at Todo Con Nada, owned by one of her colleagues: Aaron Beall. O’Brien had only read it in Yiddish, and during an interview for the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project, she said, 'It was so far removed from the play that he wrote. I was just sitting there in shock ... I saw the specter of Sholem Asch rise up and look at me sitting in the audience and I heard the words ... 'You know that this is not the play that I wrote.' She later complained relentlessly to Beall about how terrible this English translation was. In response he told her to translate it herself, and she did. The production was a hit and it sold out.

"Originally, we did not have this version of the show but with the help of my assistant director, we were able to get in contact with our translator, Caraid. She is the only English translator to keep exactly what Asch wrote, and she even keeps some Yiddish in! Asch was just 21 when he wrote God of Vengeance and wished to criticize and mock the typical bourgeoisie melodrama of the time as well as show that Jews don’t have to be portrayed as heros in order to be sympathized. Although God of Vengeance was written over a century ago, it remains relevant today in its exploration of themes like religion, tradition, morality, and sexuality. The play's portrayal of the clash between traditional religious values and modernity is still relevant in many parts of the world where there is tension between conservative religious views and more liberal social norms. The play also deals with issues of gender and sexual orientation, including the taboo subject of lesbianism, which is still stigmatized in many societies.

"Furthermore, the play raises questions about the nature of morality and the role of society in defining what is right and wrong. The characters in the play struggle with the conflict between their desires and the expectations of their community. Finally, the play's examination of the tensions between different cultural identities and the challenge of reconciling conflicting aspects of one's identity remains relevant in today's multicultural societies. God of Vengeance remains a powerful and thought-provoking work that continues to resonate with contemporary audiences."

Featured in Gonzalez's cast are Phoenix Agyepong, Maggie Caliendo, Dash Crow, Georgi Feigley, Aidan Hancock, Abby Malina, Milan Nielson, Maya Pagel, Jessa Simon, Spencer Warfield. God of Vengeance's assistant director, movement director, and Yiddish coach is Eli Bates, and with AJ Friel serving as the production's stage manager, additional members of the creative team include composer John Flannery; assistant stage manager and props designer Paige Withey, costume designer Amber Johnson, lighting designer Sean Halloran, and associate lighting designer Bella Perkins.

God of Vengeance will be performed in the Honkamp Myhre Black Box Theatre of Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center from April 27 through 30, with performances Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Admission is $10, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)794-7306 and visiting Augustana.edu/tickets.

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