“Lessons” is a touching, funny & poignant drama that asks the question: Can we find healing and forgiveness when our beliefs are questioned?
Playwright: Wendy Graf
Directed by: Tara Weidenfeller
Starring: Avi Hoffman and Julie Kleiner
Director of Photography: Mark Ahrens
When Ben finally decides to have a Bar Mitzvah (at his age!) he hires Ruth, a Rabbi who’s lost her faith, to tutor him. The two characters forge a friendship as they each search for healing and forgiveness while wrestling with their own deep-rooted problems. “Lessons” is a touching, funny, and poignant drama that asks the question: Can we find healing and forgiveness when our beliefs are questioned?
“A blend of wit and wisdom, “Lessons” questions, amuses and beguiles. Graf is in the long tradition of Jewish writers that include Neil Simon. And, very much like Simon, she mixes the angst in our lives with an overlay of humor that is both touching and tender.” – Ed Kauffman, Hollywood Reporter
“This quest for faith—in his case, a faith he’s never had, and in hers, a faith that she’s forsaken—is a poignant plea that touches everyone,” – KABC Radio
Wendy Graf is a multi-award-winning playwright whose plays have been produced nationally and Internationally. Recent plays include: EXIT WOUNDS (First Place 2019 Gold Medalist Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle New Play Initiative); UNEMPLOYED ELEPHANTS: A LOVE STORY (Stage Raw Top Ten Recommended, multiple Critics’ Choices; LA Times Pick of the Week); PLEASE DON’T ASK ABOUT BECKET (prod 7-9/16 “Graf’s emotionally astute drama peels away layers of pathology with surgical skill”-Los Angeles Times); ALL AMERICAN GIRL (Stage Raw Recommended Top Ten/2015 nom Playwriting and Solo performance; LA Times Pick of the Week; LA Weekly “GO!” StageSceneLA 2015 Outstanding Solo Performance Production; Bitter Lemons 2015 Ten Best; Winner Last Frontier Playwriting Conference); BEST OF 2015 BITTER LEMONS); (CLOSELY RELATED KEYS (dir by Shirley Jo Finney, NAACP awards/norms, StageSceneLA Best World Premiere Plays of 2013-14); NO WORD IN GUYANESE FOR ME (2012 GLAAD Award Outstanding L.A. Theater; Helen Hayes Awards Recommended); BEHIND THE GATES; LESSONS (L.A. production dir by Gordon Davidson); LEIPZIG (LA Drama Critics Circle awards and nominations/Writing and Lead Performance; Garland awards Playwriting and Lead Performance; Dorothy Silver finalist; THE BOOK OF ESTHER (San Fernando Valley Artistic Directors nominations including Best Play; ASK Theater Projects Grant Award); BETHANY/BAKOL (Attic Theater One-Act Winner, produced September 2009). Recent award-winning one-acts: SOPHIE/ALEXANDER/LISBOA; ASHES TO ASHES; A HOLLYWOOD FABLE; LESTER AND SCHLOSS; REPORTS OF MY DEATH HAVE BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED; A SHONDA.
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With the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
Funding for this program was provided through a grant from the Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.