The Collected Plays of Chaim Potok

(Hardback)

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While Chaim Potok is most famous for his novels, particularly his first book The Chosen (1967), which was listed on The New York Times' best seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies, he also wrote plays all of which are collected and published here for the first time. In the course of excavating his files and VHS tapes, David Bassuk discovered a video of the post-performance discussion on Out of the Depths featuring Chaim Potok and Prof. David Roskies. The transcript of that talk also appears for the first time in print, in this volume. Includes: Out of the Depths (Previously did not exist in written form--the last version was a 1992 video of a staged workshop performance; this play was reconstructed in this collection by Rena Polok and David Bassuk using that version.) Sins of the Father (The Carnival and The Gallery) (Staged in Philadelphia in 1990. Few copies existed, and the plays would have been lost if not for electronic preservation and updating.) The Play of Lights (Performed in Philadelphia in 1992. Few, if any, copies of the play were left, and it would have been lost if not for electronic preservation and updating.) The Chosen (Performed in 1999. Adapted from the novel of the same name into a play by Chaim Potok and Aaron Posner.)

Author Bio

CHAIM POTOK (1929-2002) is the author of nine novels, including The Chosen, My Name is Asher Lev, Davitas Harp, and I Am the Clay. He also wrote Young Adult fiction (Zebra and Other Stories); childrens books (The Tree of Here and The Sky of Now); a collection of novellas (Old Men at Midnight); biographies of Isaac Stern and Vladimir Slepak; Wanderings: Chaim Potoks History of the Jews; and numerous essays and short stories. An ordained rabbi, he served as a U.S. Army chaplain in Korea. The Collected Plays of Chaim Potok is the first volume of his plays to be published. CHAIM POTOK (1929-2002) is the author of nine novels, including The Chosen, My Name is Asher Lev, Davitas Harp, and I Am the Clay. He also wrote Young Adult fiction (Zebra and Other Stories); childrens books (The Tree of Here and The Sky of Now); a collection of novellas (Old Men at Midnight); biographies of Isaac Stern and Vladimir Slepak; Wanderings: Chaim Potoks History of the Jews; and numerous essays and short stories. An ordained rabbi, he served as a U.S. Army chaplain in Korea. The Collected Plays of Chaim Potok is the first volume of his plays to be published. RENA POTOK is a writer, editor, and educator. Her articles, reviews, and poems have appeared in many publications, among them Religion and Literature; The Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature; Borders, Exiles, Diasporas; and Contemporary Women Poets. She was Senior Acquisitions Editor at the Jewish Publication Society, and is the editor of Hills of Spices: Poetry from the Bible, and the 50th anniversary critical edition of The Chosen by Chaim Potok. She was a 2017 recipient of a Fiction Fellowship at the Marthas Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. She teaches literature and writing at Villanova University. DAVID BASSUK is Professor of Theater Arts at Purchase College. He was Artistic Director of Novel Stages Theater Company and Arcadia Shakespeare Festival in Philadelphia, and co-Artistic Director of Ark Theater Company in Los Angeles. He is a director of many productions, among them Cats Cradle a musical by Kurt Vonnegut, Chaim Potoks The Chosen Off-Broadway, and American Camera at Lincoln Center. CAROL ROCAMORA is an educator, translator, playwright, director, and critic. She founded the Philadelphia Festival Theatre For New Plays at Annenberg Center, where she produced and directed three world premiere plays by Chaim Potok. She is the author of seven books, and has served on the faculty of NYU/Tisch School of the Arts for the past 25 years. She is a member of the American Theater Critics Association, the Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk. AARON POSNER is a theater director, teacher, and playwright. His adaptations of Chaim Potoks The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev have had more than 100 productions, both in the United States and abroad. His other plays and adaptations include Stupid Fucking Bird, Life Sucks, No Sisters, District Merchants, JQA, and Sometimes A Great Notion. He has directed at major regional theater companies throughout the United States.