Target Margin Theater and The Brick Present TNT LAB: EXPLORING YIDDISH THEATER, Now thru 11/3

Target Margin Theater, in association with Brooklyn's The Brick in Williamsburg, launches its 2012-13 season with their annual TMT Lab: Exploring Yiddish Theater curated by TMT Artistic Producer John Del Gaudio. TMT's Lab offers a sampler of works from the canon of Yiddish Theater, to remind us all how diverse and sophisticated Yiddish culture was, and how great its loss.

Target Margin Theater recently launched a two-season exploration of Yiddish Theater, Beyond the Pale, a look at domestic drama, philosophical drama, verse drama, avant-garde experimentation, political statement plays, and the good old nostalgic drama of the shtetl. Like a comet across the sky, Yiddish culture exploded in creativity in the 19th and 20th centuries, and then went tragically dark. But the literature lives on.

Performances begin tonight, October 17 for a limited engagement through Saturday, November 3, 2012 at The Brick (579 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn).

John Del Gaudio, curator and TMT Artistic Producer, in putting the scheduled together had this to share, "We're very excited to return to The Brick for our kick-off of all things Yiddish. With this year's Lab we want to show you a Yiddish theater you never knew existed: from spirits in the forest to trousers for bears, these works are rife with playful possibilities and our talented group of Lead Artists are more than up for the challenge."

Tickets are priced at $15 (early bird discount of $12 for all tickets purchased by October 5) with Late Night Programming tickets at $10. The special Reading and Panel are FREE. Tickets may be purchased by visiting www.targetmargin.org or www.bricktheater.com.

"The TMT Lab" schedule at The Brick is:

MAINSTAGE

October 17-21 at 7:30 p.m.
God, Man, and Devil
by Jacob Gordin
Lead Artist: Donya K. Washington

People are righteous when righteousness doesn't cost them much, or when it brings them some profit. Satan puts man to the test to show God how much he can depend on even the finest and best of them.

October 24-28 at 7:30 p.m.
Dukus
by Alter Kacyzne
Lead Artist: Joshua William Gelb

A profane retelling of an old legend about a Catholic Duke's conversion to Judaism and his subsequent martyrdom at the stake. First produced in Warsaw in 1925, this outrageous epic-drama shatters what Kacyzne considered tedious theatrical conventions of the time, reveling in the absurd hypocrisies so common to all religiously driven communities.

October 30 – November 3 at 7:30 p.m.
A Double Bill

After Midnight
by Samuel Daixel
Lead Artist: Stephanie Weeks

The clock strikes Midnight. All is still. But is it? Something's stirring, something's budding, howling, falling. Something...

Cripples
by David Pinski
Lead Artist: Ásta Bennie Hostetter

Watch the most damaged members of society vie for the smallest piece of land: "That isn't your place! ... Since I'm standing upon it, it's mine!"

LATE NIGHT PERFORMANCES

October 19 & 20 at 9:30 p.m.
A Night in the OLD Marketplace
by I.L. Peretz
Lead Artist: Kathleen Purcell

Love, Death, Gargoyles, and Settlement. An absurdist interpretation of this classic poetic/social drama explores the question: what came before the shtetl?

October 26 & 27 at 9:30p.m.
Purim-schmutz
Lead Artist: Joseph Fletcher

A pious, rowdy, and occasionally lewd telling of the story and spirit of the megile (the book of Esther) from a diverse selection of Purim plays. 1500 years of Yiddish theatre tradition wrapped up in the competition betwixt the religious and secular identity of a people.

November 2 & 3 at 9:30 p.m.
Shulamis, or The Well and the Pussycat
Lead Artist: Gil Sperling

Abraham Goldfaden's classic operetta offers hum-along Schlagers such as "Rozhinkes mit mandlen," mixed with male treachery, bride-snatching and infant mortality.

FREE EVENTS

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