Lost Souls

by Jerry Slaff

A cold winter’s night brings Frank, a former lawyer and now a third-year rabbinic student, to a Spanish Harlem apartment about to go co-op, there to help the long-time residents stave off eviction. But when he’s invited for a Friday night dinner of arroz con pollo, the centuries-old secrets he discovers will change their life, and his. Meanwhile, his roommate, another rabbinic student, is asked to prove...

A cold winter’s night brings Frank, a former lawyer and now a third-year rabbinic student, to a Spanish Harlem apartment about to go co-op, there to help the long-time residents stave off eviction. But when he’s invited for a Friday night dinner of arroz con pollo, the centuries-old secrets he discovers will change their life, and his. Meanwhile, his roommate, another rabbinic student, is asked to prove, conclusively and once and for all, Is he really Jewish?

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Lost Souls

FRANK, late 30s, a rabbinic student and former lawyer, older than his years.
OZZIE, 30s, Hispanic, a hard working East Harlem electrician, still in training and holds another job some nights.
CARMEN, 20s, Hispanic, OZZIE’s sister, a student at F.I.T., works some afternoons and nights.
BAHBIE, Hispanic, very old, OZZIE and CARMEN’s great-grandmother, limited English, mostly speaks Spanish.
RABBIT, late 20s to early 30s, also a rabbinic student, FRANK’s roommate, happy-go-lucky.
SARAH, early to mid 20s, RABBIT’s girlfriend and assistant to the school’s director.
MOSE, an African-American homeless man of indeterminate age who shelters at an East Harlem synagogue.

Development History

  • Reading, Baltimore Playwrights Theater, 2017
  • Reading, Baltimore Playwrights Theater (10 minute scene), 2016