“Wrestling Jerusalem,” a play that explores the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, opens Thursday at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center. Coincidentally, a small conflict in Juneau is part of the reason the play will be performed here.
The conversation that eventually brought “Wrestling Jerusalem” to Juneau was catalyzed by a 2014 ad in the Juneau Empire. The ad, paid for by Juneau People for Peace and Justice, stated the group’s opposition to U.S. military funding for Israel. It got Sukkat Shalom Rabbi Dov Gartenberg’s attention, said peace group member Rich Moniak.
“He was upset by the ad and wanted to debate the larger politics that we’re always debating and that initial contact turned into a conversation where we all sat down around a table for a few hours on a few different nights and started listening to each other as human beings first, and pushing aside the politics and cultural differences that we listen to and divide us,” said Moniak.
Sukkat Shalom member Natalee Rothaus was at the table, too. She saw “Wrestling Jerusalem” in San Francisco and recommended adding its perspectives to the conversation. Rothaus said the play takes a human-centric approach.
“Aaron portrays up to about 17 different characters that are Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim, Jewish, nonpolitical, just the person on the street to try to come to an understanding of not only the conflict that is currently — and has been for so long — in the Middle East, but also to come to an understanding that if people will listen to somebody who is ‘the other’ and just stop and see that we do have commonalities, and that we might not walk away with an answer, but we might walk away with a deeper understanding an another individual,” said Rothaus.
Aaron Davidman is the writer, producer, and sole actor in “Wrestling Jerusalem.”
“Without having to buy a plane ticket, I’m bringing you on the journey with me to Israel and Palestine to meet these people,” said Davidman.
“And on the other hand I’m also modeling the possibility that we have as human beings to hold multiple perspectives within ourselves because I am carrying all these different characters in me.”
Davidman hopes those characters and their varied perspectives will further the conversation.
“The role of art and the role of theater isn’t to smooth out the issue so that everybody feels good. The role of art is to turn over the compost heap, and let the fumes out and let’s talk about it. Let’s grapple with it together. That’s really the objective: is to move us from our fixed positions back into the unknown which is actually where we really are. You know we don’t really know how to solve the problem. It hasn’t been solved. We haven’t figured it out yet,” said Davidman.
Bringing “Wrestling Jerusalem” to Juneau has been a collaboration between Juneau People for Peace and Justice, Sukkat Shalom, Perseverance Theatre and Northern Light United Church. Like all performances of “Wrestling Jerusalem,” Davidman and the groups invite playgoers to the table with a moderated conversation after the show.
“Theater says out loud in a room full of strangers, and full of community, what we might be too afraid of to say on or own. And that helps move the conversation publicly forward,” said Davidman.
These interviews came from KTOO’s Juneau Afternoon and Peace Talk. “Wrestling Jerusalem” plays Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.
