a People [a mosaic play]

by L M Feldman

A PEOPLE is a theatrical mosaic of eras and lands; generations and deserts; hats and books; clarinets and bread; people lost and people searching; angry young women; sad old men; angels; history; memory; and imagination. A PEOPLE gathers a versatile ensemble of 10 performers, taking on a spectrum of Old and New World perspectives – across time, space, age, and gender – in a kaleidoscopic celebration of humanity...

A PEOPLE is a theatrical mosaic of eras and lands; generations and deserts; hats and books; clarinets and bread; people lost and people searching; angry young women; sad old men; angels; history; memory; and imagination. A PEOPLE gathers a versatile ensemble of 10 performers, taking on a spectrum of Old and New World perspectives – across time, space, age, and gender – in a kaleidoscopic celebration of humanity that explores and explodes the history and present of the Jewish diaspora. A participatory theatrical experience as intimate as it is epic, A PEOPLE spins a luminous and tenuous tale of (dis)connection and (be)longing, all while wrestling with the question: What is my relationship to those who came before me? And are we – or is anyone – still a people?

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a People [a mosaic play]

Recommended by

  • Cheryl Bear: a People [a mosaic play] by L M Feldman
    “

    A brilliant look inside people and the journey we all take across generations to try to live a purposeful life with meaning. Well done.

    A brilliant look inside people and the journey we all take across generations to try to live a purposeful life with meaning. Well done.

    ”
  • Emma Goldman-Sherman: a People [a mosaic play] by L M Feldman
    “

    I saw an excerpt of this on its feet at a conference and had to read it to see if it was all as good as those brief moments that moved me to tears, unforgettable moments out of thin air. So now I've read it, and it is beyond what I had hoped - it is REMARKABLE. It is a GREAT PLAY! Feldman has created such a feast, such an immersive experience, so moving and transcendant, I can't even ...

    I saw an excerpt of this on its feet at a conference and had to read it to see if it was all as good as those brief moments that moved me to tears, unforgettable moments out of thin air. So now I've read it, and it is beyond what I had hoped - it is REMARKABLE. It is a GREAT PLAY! Feldman has created such a feast, such an immersive experience, so moving and transcendant, I can't even ...

    ”
  • Julie Zaffarano: a People [a mosaic play] by L M Feldman
    “

    A beautiful tapestry woven from laughter and tears. Poetic and epic. Each vingette touches the heart and raises questions, but moves so fluidly into the next, that the reader is hardly aware that fleeting glimpse has shifted.

    A beautiful tapestry woven from laughter and tears. Poetic and epic. Each vingette touches the heart and raises questions, but moves so fluidly into the next, that the reader is hardly aware that fleeting glimpse has shifted.

    ”
* ACTORS:
A cast of 6-10 who are twenty- and thirty-somethings, or else a diversely aged cast. A mix of Jewish, not, or anything else. A multiracial, multiethnic cast is vital.

* CHARACTERS:
So many characters. About 80. Each performer plays about 8-10 different characters.


* CASTING:
Okay so, much of this play lives in the action of embodying or evoking the people you’re connected to, rather than literally representing them. So some of the characters are cast across gender. And if there's a diversely aged ensemble, some of the characters are cast across age as well.

Development History

  • Reading, Island City Stage, 2025
  • Reading, Nova University, 2024
  • Reading, GableStage, 2019
  • Reading, YiddishFest (NYC), 2019
  • Workshop, terraNOVA Collective/Groundbreakers, 2011
  • Reading, Yale Summer Cabaret, 2009
  • Residency, Tofte Lake Center, 2009

Production History

  • Professional, Orbiter 3 (self-produced), 2018
  • University, Cornell University, 2013

Awards

  • Alliance for Jewish Theatre Conference
    Selection
  • Terrence McNally Award
    Philadelphia Theatre Company
    Finalist
    2021