Orthodox Theater
The difficulties faced by Orthodox Jews hoping to pursue a career in theater can be disheartening. On Friday nights and Saturdays the show cannot go on, and women do not sing, dance or, in some cases, even act in front of men. Still, pockets of individuals in North America’s Orthodox Jewish community have chosen to pave their own paths in the performing arts, with mixed results.
November 7-10 was the third conference of ATARA, the Arts & Torah Association for Religious Artists. The all-female conference featured hour-long workshops in voice and drama, as well as musical performances by volunteer, professionally trained Orthodox women (most of whom—of course—received training before becoming religious).
Miriam Leah Droz, 32, the conference organizer, says she wants to send the message that there is no conflict between art and Torah. “You have limitations,” she says, acknowledging restrictions like Shabbat and kol isha, the prohibition of a man hearing a woman sing. “This is what our given circumstances are and we’re going to work within those given circumstances to create something beautiful.”
Yes, Droz poured tremendous effort and enthusiasm into the project. Yes, the performers consciously chose to take on the religious statutes that limit the scope of their art. And yes, conference attendees seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Yet it’s hard to not feel depressed watching former opera singers and trained stage actresses confined to ten-minute gigs for a couple hundred women at a—sorry to say it—disorganized bi-annual event. Sure, there is a smattering of events throughout the year. But the Orthodox woman—especially one who won’t even act in front of men, let alone sing—who makes performing her full-time career must be prepared for one hell of an arduous, poorly-paid journey.
That’s not to say there haven’t been some bright lights. Manhattan’s fledgling, family-friendly Mesaper Theater—which features men and women acting together but not singing—recently put on a successful theatrical reading of “Out of the Apple Orchard,” and Rivka Lomiansky’s Toronto-based Orthodox musical theater summer camp for girls aged 7 to 13 will enter its third year in 2009.
There is also hope that New York’s mainstream theater industry might give way to religious concerns if it wants a certain actor badly enough. Reuven Russell, a drama professor at Stern College for Women, recently starred in a three-and-a-half week run of “The Quarrel” at off-Broadway’s Daryl Roth Theatre, which ran on a Sabbath observant schedule.
Familiar with the challenges of an acting career combined with an orthodox lifestyle, Russell encourages his students to write their own material. “Writing your own material,” says Russell, who has traveled with his one man show “Gathering the Sparks” to over 120 cities in the past 20 years, “puts you in charge of content and your audience and how you want to do it.”
Russell believes that trained artists who join the growing ba’al teshuvah (one who adopts orthodoxy after leading a secular lifestyle) movement will increase theater opportunities in the Orthodox world.
The sooner the better, or else the sea of Torah risks quenching the creative fire of its artistic followers.
-Yaelle
