Oklahoma Samovar – December 5-21

ABOUT

In 1887, two Latvian teenagers flee the Russian Army and become the only Jews in the Oklahoma Land Run. A hundred years later, twenty-year-old Emily tries to decipher her late mother’s mysterious request to have her ashes spread on a stranger’s farm, in a place she has never heard of. Based on the playwright’s ancestors, the only Jews in the Oklahoma Land Run, the play wrestles with themes of immigration, assimilation, generational trauma, and the transcendent power of mother-daughter love.  In Oklahoma Samovar, five generations put down roots and dig graves, embodying their own Jewish variations on the turbulent and mythologized American Dream. It is an utterly human and absolutely unique American story. 

CREDITS

Written by Alice Eve Cohen
Directed by Eric Nightengale

In association with Practical Cats Productions

BIOS

Alice Eve Cohen is a playwright and author, winner of the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, National Jewish Playwriting Contest, Oprah magazine Best Books of Summer, and Elle Literary Grand Prix for Nonfiction. Her plays have been performed for over 200,000 people on 4 continents, at theatres including: the Kitchen Theatre, New Georges, New York Theatre Workshop, Here, Six Points Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group, and at theatres and festivals in Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Israel, Trinidad, and Canada. Cohen’s critically acclaimed books are published by Penguin and Algonquin. She has received awards and fellowships from NYSCA, the NEA, the Orchard Project, Saltonstall Arts Foundation, and VCCA. Alice teaches playwriting at The New School, where she received the Distinguished Teaching Award.  www.AliceEveCohen.com

Eric Nightengale, director, served as artistic director of 78th Street Theatre Lab from 1995 – 2008, spearheading developmental projects and producing over 200 full productions. New York directing credits include work with SoHo Rep, Penguin Rep, Theatre Breaking Through Barriers, Dixon Place, Minetta Lane, LaMama, The Acting Company, Circle Rep, The Flea, Cherry Lane, St Clements, Ensemble Studio Theatre, HERE, and Classic Stage Company. Chicago credits include work with Victory Gardens, Bailiwick, Steppenwolf, and Second City. His work at the Edinburgh Fringe has resulted in four adaptations for BBC radio, four off-Broadway productions and a London transfer. Upcoming projects include Brecht On Brecht at Bird Theatre in Tottori, Japan, and PACKRAT at the Oil Tank in Seoul, Korea.