a People
Playwright Lauren Feldman
a PEOPLE
by Lauren Feldman
A People is a mosaic of eras and lands; generations and deserts; hats and books; clarinets and bread; people lost and people searching; angry young women; sad old men; angels; history; memory; and imagination. A multigenerational, kaleidoscopic journey across time & culture, A People is a spectacle of ambitious scope, exploring and exploding the history & present of the Jewish diaspora. The play transports its audience to a timeless festival atmosphere in which 2,000 years can pass in one hour, spinning a buoyant bittersweet tale of fellowship and longing, all while wrestling with the question: What is my relationship to those who came before me? And are we – or is anyone – still a people?
“It is extremely rare to encounter this kind of deep meditation on Jewish life. It is an honor to engage with this play. ”
L Feldman is a queer, feminist playwright who writes theatrically adventurous, physically kinetic, intimate, inquisitive, deeply honest plays – usually about outsiders, often about searchers, always about the human connection. Her plays include THRIVE, OR WHAT YOU WILL (New Georges Audrey Residency); ANOTHER KIND OF SILENCE (Magic Theatre Virgin Play Festival, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, PlayPenn Conference, O’Neill Finalist, Playwrights Realm Fellowship, Drama League workshop); AMANUENSIS (Georgetown University, Northwoods Ramah Theatre commission); A PEOPLE (Orbiter 3, Jewish Plays Project Top Plays); THE EGG-LAYERS (Jane Chambers Honorable Mention, O’Neill Finalist, New Georges/Barnard College co-commission); GRACE, OR THE ART OF CLIMBING (Denver Center, Art House Productions, Nice People Theatre, ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award Nomination, Barrymore Nomination, Kilroys List); several ensemble-devised works, including GUMSHOE (New Paradise Labs + the Free Library of Philadelphia + the Rosenbach Museum), WAR OF THE WORLDS: PHILADELPHIA (Swim Pony + Drexel University), AND IF YOU LOSE YOUR WAY, OR A FOOD ODYSSEY (The Invisible Dog, New York Innovative Theatre Award Nomination), LADY M (Philadelphia Live Arts Festival), and others; and a baker's dozen of short plays. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama and the New England Center for Circus Arts, L is also an educator (Bryn Mawr College, University of the Arts, PlayPenn, Jefferson Medical School/Lantern Theatre), a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a Foundry mentor, and a performer & dramaturg of contemporary circus. She trains & coaches at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, and teaches dramaturgy to circus artists at Circadium and around the country. Hailing from Miami, L has lived in seven cities and is now based in Philadelphia – where she is a proud Orbiter 3 playwright. She is writing three new plays.
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