The world’s oldest Jewish play inspires a new, immersive production
By Chava Pearl Lansky May 3, 2024
"...This is the world premiere of Untitled Theater Company No. 61’s “Exagoge,” an opera within a play within a seder being staged this month at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, a 63-year-old downtown institution.
Written and directed by Edward Einhorn, with original music by Avner Finberg, the production’s source material is the world’s oldest known Jewish play: an ancient Greek drama, also called “Exagoge,” that was written in Alexandria more than 2,000 years ago by someone known now as Ezekiel the Tragedian.
The writer Howard Jacobson has theorized that the original “Exagoge” — an interpretation of the Book of Exodus mixed with pagan ideas — was written in the second century BCE but was destroyed shortly after its creation by the Jewish elders, on grounds of idolatry. Today, only 269 lines remain..."
