A darkly humorous retelling of The Merchant of Venice.
June 1 – 17, 2023
at the New Ohio Theater
154 Christopher Street
Wed – Sat at 7:30; Sundays at 5pm
Additional show Mon June 5 at 7pm (which will be livestreamed)
Also available on demand
Tickets $30
Sunday June 4: Join Yair Rosenberg (The Atlantic, Deep Shtetl) and Catherine Rampell (The Washington Post) for a post show discussion.
Monday June 5: Join us for opening and the post show reception
SUMMARY: The Shylock is a Jewish diamond seller named Jacob, called “shylock” as a slur. The Shakespeareans are a gang of white supremacists, led by Jacob’s former clownish servant, Gobbo. It is a comedy colliding with a tragedy: Jacob’s daughter Jessica loves Lorenzo (here the son of Asian immigrants), Portia loves Bassanio, and everyone can go home happy, just as long as one pesky lawsuit doesn’t dig up anything too ugly.
Written and directed by Edward Einhorn
Gobbo: Craig Anderson; Salarino: Ethan Fox; Salarina/Aragon: Janine Hegarty; Jessica: Yael Haskal; Bassiano: Chapman Hyatt; Lorenzo: Chase Lee; Nerissa: Stephanie Litchfield; Jacob: Jeremy Kareken; Portia: Nina Mann; Terach/Prince: Kingsley Nwaogu; Antonio/Shakespeare: Eric Oleson; Gratiano: Thomas Shuman
Female Understudy: JaneAnne Halter; Male Understudy: Nathaniel Meek
(Understudies have planned performances on June 11 & 15)
Music: Richard Philbin
Stage Manager: Berit Johnson
AD/Sound Design: Becca Silbert
Set Design: Mike Mroch
Costume Design: Ramona Ponce
Lighting Design: Eric Norbury
Video/livestreaming: Iben Cenholt
Postcard image: Eric Shanower
Running time 2:20, including intermission
NOTE: The play includes antisemitic and racist hate and violence, as well as the sound of gunfire.
A RELATED PLAY ENTITLED A SHYLOCK WAS ORIGINALLY PERFORMED:
at Theater 22 in New York City, in Feburary 1996.
By Edward Einhorn
Directed by Edward Einhorn
Produced by David A. Einhorn
Jacob: John Blaylock
Launcelot: Peter Brown
Hamlet: Catherine Dunning
Tubal: Martin Epstein
Portia: Dina Ipavic
Shylock: Daniel Leventritt
Antonio: Wesley Stevens
Jessica: Deborah Vaughan
The responsibilities for the rest of the ensemble was shared by the whole cast
To find the title character of A Shylock, Jacob Levy interrogates every character in The Merchant of Venice, but oddly Hamlet may know the most-although this Hamlet is a woman. Each scene represents a different interpretation of the character, from Communist to Freudian to tragic to comic.
Artwork by R. Keith Rugg