Gotthold Lessing (1729-81), playwright, critic, humanist philosopher and polemicist was a leading figure of the German enlightenment era. From his immense literary output two plays stand out - The Jews and Nathan the Wise - for the passion of the writing and the timeless urgency of the message. Though differing greatly in form and content, both plays are eloquent pleas for human beings to desist from mutual persecution on racial or religious grounds. The relevance of Lessing's thinking in today's world is all too clear. They are published here in new English versions by the award-winning translator, Noel Clark.

Soviet Jewish theater in a world of moral compromise / Susan Tumarkin Goodman -- The political context of Jewish theater and culture in the Soviet Union / Zvi Gitelman -- Habima and "Biblical theater" / Vladislav Ivanov -- Yiddish constructivism : the art of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater / Jeffrey Veidlinger -- Art and theater / Benjamin Harshav -- Habima and Goset : an illustrated chronicle

The first of its kind, Double Exposure: Plays of the Jewish and Palestinian Diasporas is a groundbreaking anthology about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict penned by Diaspora playwrights of Jewish and Palestinian descent. Featuring compelling interviews with each playwright and introductions by acclaimed dramatists Karen Hartman and Betty Shamieh, this volume of seven plays--three by Jewish playwrights, three by Palestinian playwrights, and a collaboration by both--tackles one of the remaining thematic taboos for many theatres in the Western world. Varying in genre between drama and comedy, in aesthetic between realism and surrealism, in setting between the Diasporas and Israel/Palestine, and in the political opinions of characters, Double Exposure offers distinct Diaspora perspectives that turn the political into the personal. This collection includes The Peace Maker by Natasha Greenblatt; Sabra Falling by Ismail Khalidi; Bitterenders by Hannah Khalil; Facts by Arthur Milner; Sperm Count by Stephen Orlov; Tales of a City by the Sea by Samah Sabawi; and Twenty-One Positions: A Cartographic Dream of the Middle East by Abdelfattah AbuSrour, Lisa Schlesinger, and Naomi Wallace.

Set in the impoverished and bustling Lower East Side of Manhattan at the turn of the 20th century, The God of Vengeance is a memorable urban drama of intrigue and romantic liaisons. The God of Vengeance is a gritty, unflinching yet deftly written play, wherein the complexities of human existence and flaws are explored to their fullest. A brothel owner lives with his family above his place of business, and strives to keep his young daughter innocent of what goes on in the establishment that provides their livelihood. However, the girl's curiosity gets the better of her; upon witnessing the sordid goings on, she rapidly develops a fascination for one of the working girls. First published in 1906, and sporadically staged in the decades to follow, the play is unique for featuring a lesbian love affair - a matter shocking and taboo for its era. After one performance in English in 1923, the entire cast was placed under arrest for indecency. Critics of the time were divided; many noted its artistic qualities, but roundly condemned its frank and unabashed depiction of female homosexuality. Others proclaimed it a great drama, and a culturally significant product of the Yiddish diaspora of New York City.

Following World War II, German antifascists and nationalists in Buenos Aires believed theater was crucial to their highly politicized efforts at community-building, and each population devoted considerable resources to competing against its rival onstage. Competing Germanies tracks the paths of several stage actors from European theaters to Buenos Aires and explores how two of Argentina's most influential immigrant groups, German nationalists and antifascists (Jewish and non-Jewish), clashed on the city's stages. Covered widely in German- and Spanish-language media, theatrical performances articulated strident Nazi, antifascist, and Zionist platforms. Meanwhile, as their thespian representatives grappled onstage for political leverage among emigrants and Argentines, behind the curtain, conflicts simmered within partisan institutions and among theatergoers. Publicly they projected unity, but offstage nationalist, antifascist, and Zionist populations were rife with infighting on issues of political allegiance, cultural identity and, especially, integration with their Argentine hosts. Competing Germanies reveals interchange and even mimicry between antifascist and nationalist German cultural institutions. Furthermore, performances at both theaters also fit into contemporary invocations of diasporas, including taboos and postponements of return to the native country, connections among multiple communities, and forms of longing, memory, and (dis)identification. Sharply divergent at first glance, their shared condition as cultural institutions of emigrant populations caused the antifascist Free German Stage and the nationalist German Theater to adopt parallel tactics in community-building, intercultural relationships, and dramatic performance. Its cross-cultural, polyglot blend of German, Jewish, and Latin American studies gives Competing Germanies a wide, interdisciplinary academic appeal and offers a novel intervention in Exile studies through the lens of theater, in which both victims of Nazism and its adherents remain in focus.

While a frequently used term, Jewish Theatre has become a contested concept that defies precise definition. Is it theatre by Jews? For Jews? About Jews? Though there are no easy answers for these questions, "Jewish Theatre: A Global View," contributes greatly to the conversation by offering an impressive collection of original essays written by an international cadre of noted scholars from Europe, the United States, and Israel. The essays discuss historical and current texts and performance practices, covering a wide gamut of genres and traditions.

"Revealing the complex interplay between history and human lives under conditions of duress, Rebecca Rovit focuses on the eight-year odyssey of Berlin's Jewish Kulturbund Theatre. By examining why and how an all-Jewish repertory theatre could coexist with the Nazi regime. Rovit raises broader questions about the nature of art in an environment of coercion and isolation, artistic integrity and adaptability, and community and identity."--BACK COVER.