A Shayna Maidel
By Barbara Lebow
Presented by arrangement with Dramatists Play Service
Directed by Joe Mishler
2026 Performances: March 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21
In the stylish Manhattan apartment of Rose Weiss, it is 1946. Born in Poland, Rose, now in her 20s, came to the US with her father Mordechai at the age of four, and is now completely “Americanized.” The plan had been for Rose’s mother and sister to join them, but the sister became ill, and mother stayed on to care for her. Soon, the rise of the Nazis cut off their escape. Their ordeal in the concentration camp, where only the sister survived, has brought guilt to the aging Mordechai along with mixed feelings as he awaits the arrival of his elder daughter Lusia who has at last, found her way to America. With her halting English and old world ways, Lusia is a striking contrast to Rose, who is uneasy about her sister’s presence and fearful it will threaten her own independence. Concerned that she may never be reunited with her young husband, Lusia embraces a series of memories and fantasies which make real the joys and horrors of her life before the war. When Mordechai gives Rose a letter from her mother – left many years earlier with a non-Jewish Polish friend – a “proof” of family is somehow restored, with renewed hope of a better future that may arise from the bitter ashes of a troubled past.