EIGHT NIGHTS

by Jennifer Maisel

WINNER OF THE 2021 OVATION AWARD FOR BEST PLAYWRITING

The lives that inhabit an apartment from 1949 to 2016. A young refugee woman finally free to start anew in the United States tries to vanquish the past that haunts her, alongside her father, husband, friends, daughter and granddaughter.

--
Set during eight nights of Chanukah over eight decades, Eight Nights is about Holocaust survivor Rebecca Blum, who...

WINNER OF THE 2021 OVATION AWARD FOR BEST PLAYWRITING

The lives that inhabit an apartment from 1949 to 2016. A young refugee woman finally free to start anew in the United States tries to vanquish the past that haunts her, alongside her father, husband, friends, daughter and granddaughter.

--
Set during eight nights of Chanukah over eight decades, Eight Nights is about Holocaust survivor Rebecca Blum, who arrives in America at 19 to forge a new life. The play calls out the trauma experienced not only by concentration camp survivors, but by African American descendants of slavery, interned Japanese Americans, and current refugees from Africa and the Middle East.

The play needs 7 actors, who play 14 roles. One actress plays Rebecca from age 19 into her 40s, then plays Rebecca’s daughter and granddaughter. Another actress plays Rebecca from her 40s into her 80s, as well as her mother, Rebecca’s mother, Anna. Several of the other actors play more than one character.

You may want to listen to this podcast that talks about the play: https://m.soundcloud.com/user-685353444/episode-49-hanukkah-light

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EIGHT NIGHTS

Recommended by

  • Audrey Lang: EIGHT NIGHTS

    Eight Nights is a beautifully constructed play delving into longstanding and generational trauma. Though so much comes to mind, so much has already been said in the numerous existing recommendations for this play! This is an extremely theatrical piece that doesn't shy away from difficult conversations, despite the central character's own resistance to having the most difficult one.

    Eight Nights is a beautifully constructed play delving into longstanding and generational trauma. Though so much comes to mind, so much has already been said in the numerous existing recommendations for this play! This is an extremely theatrical piece that doesn't shy away from difficult conversations, despite the central character's own resistance to having the most difficult one.

  • Rachel Feeny-Williams: EIGHT NIGHTS

    The past and how it can haunt a person comes alive in this powerful emotion filled piece. Despite the play being set over a long period of time you are never lost and never do you deter from wanting to see how the stories of these survivors unfold. I love the intimacy of using one room for the entirety of the piece and watching the characters come and go over time but they are never forgotten, you always want to know the next bit of their story. This is a piece of power with very real emotions woven throughout.

    The past and how it can haunt a person comes alive in this powerful emotion filled piece. Despite the play being set over a long period of time you are never lost and never do you deter from wanting to see how the stories of these survivors unfold. I love the intimacy of using one room for the entirety of the piece and watching the characters come and go over time but they are never forgotten, you always want to know the next bit of their story. This is a piece of power with very real emotions woven throughout.

  • Sam Heyman: EIGHT NIGHTS

    Some plays build tension by wrapping their narrative around a concise period of time, but few of them accomplish the feats of scope and lived-in intimacy as Jennifer Maisel manages with EIGHT NIGHTS. Set over over half a century's worth of Hanukkah evenings, this play engages meaningfully with the impact of generational trauma, the persistent fear of all survivors that the nightmare they survived may return again, and the importance -- and difficulty -- of telling one's story. EIGHT NIGHTS is an impressively structured, heartwrenching triumph.

    Some plays build tension by wrapping their narrative around a concise period of time, but few of them accomplish the feats of scope and lived-in intimacy as Jennifer Maisel manages with EIGHT NIGHTS. Set over over half a century's worth of Hanukkah evenings, this play engages meaningfully with the impact of generational trauma, the persistent fear of all survivors that the nightmare they survived may return again, and the importance -- and difficulty -- of telling one's story. EIGHT NIGHTS is an impressively structured, heartwrenching triumph.

View all 27 recommendations

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization 8 Nights of EIGHT NIGHTS - participating theatres and venues across the country are doing reading of EIGHT NIGHTS to raise money for HIAS, Year 2019
  • Type Workshop, Organization Gulf Shore New Play Festival, Year 2018
  • Type Workshop, Organization The Process Series - Playmakers and UNC at Chapel Hill, Year 2018
  • Type Workshop, Organization Title Wave series, Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor, New York, Year 2018
  • Type Reading, Organization Antaeus Theatre Company, Lab Results, Year 2018
  • Type Workshop, Organization Berkshire Playwrights Lab, Year 2017
  • Type Reading, Organization Playwrights' Union First Peek, Year 2017

Production History

  • Type Professional, Organization Antaues Theatre Company, world premiere as part of their New Classics Initiative, Year 2019

Awards

  • 2021 Ovation Award for Best Playwriting
    LA Stage Alliance - The Ovation Awards for Drama
    Winner
    2021
  • The O'Neill National Playwrights Conference
    The O'Neill
    Semi-Finalist
    2018