Part of the 2023-24 Season | Special Engagement

Tree of Life — A New Play by Victor Wishna

Produced in partnership with Kansas City Actors Theatre

Tuesday | Sept. 17, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday | Sept. 18, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. - SOLD OUT! The performance on 9/18 is a private event hosted by the Jewish Community Foundation. Tickets are not available to purchase. For more information about the event, please contact Tracie Holley at JCF, [email protected] or 913-327-8284.
Thursday | Sept. 19, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturdays | Sept. 14, 21, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Sundays | Sept. 15, 22, 2024 at 2 p.m. 

In this new play by Victor Wishna, sixty-something widower Ken clings to his proud but fading Jewish congregation in the tiny town of Wiconee, Iowa; Colombian grad student Marianela, visiting to research her dissertation, represents a burgeoning community of Latin Americans who are rediscovering their Jewish roots. As Mari’s true intentions are revealed, the synagogue’s antique Torah scroll—the rolled parchment containing the handwritten five books of Moses, referred to in Jewish tradition as an etz chayim, “tree of life”—becomes a critical character in the bittersweet (and occasionally comic) drama that unfolds.

Interlocking with the present narrative of Congregation Etz Chayim’s demise, the story of the synagogue’s origins and its Torah’s mysterious past plays out in the same space, a century before. Inspired by real events, exploring little-known realities of recent history, and shifting between continents and across centuries, "Tree of Life" provokes us to examine the foundations of our own identities. How—through what connections—do we define who we are? Do we belong to our past, or does it belong to us? What do we hold onto, and when should we let go?

Cast

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