Storahtelling

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Storahtelling is a New York City based Jewish ritual theater company.

[edit] History

Storahtelling was formed in 1999 as a collaboration between Amichai Lau-Lavie - its artistic and executive director - and other musicians, actors, and artists. Storahtelling's mission statement is: Storahtelling is a radical fusion of storytelling, Torah, traditional ritual theater and contemporary performance art. Founded in 1998, our New York City-based nonprofit company is committed to promoting relevant and dynamic Jewish cultural literacy through theatrical performances and educational programs for multi-generational audiences.

Currently, Storahtelling's actors and musicians (there are more than 35 of them) tour nationally and perform in the New York City area. Since 1999, Storahtelling has produced and performed over 200 shows--across the United States and internationally.

[edit] Tradition

Storahtelling is a Jewish ritual theatre company - its drama and art is grounded in traditional Jewish ritual. Simultaneous translation of the Torah service into the local vernacular accompanied traditional synagogue services throughout the world until the early Middle Ages. The translator's duty was not only to convey the original Hebrew text of the Torah to the non-Hebrew-speaking audience, but also to dramatically adapt the meaning of the narrative to the viewpoint of the congregation. Storahtelling's work is an attempt to recreate the role of the translator - the m'turgeman (in hebrew) - in a contemporary and relevant manner.