The Kitchen Theatre takes a Jewish trip to Bread Land

By: Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Imagine sitting down to a Shabbat dinner. The candles on the table are glowing, the Kiddush wine is sparkling and the challah... well, there’s a problem with the challah – it’s hollow! If you think this scenario is unlikely then you haven’t talked to Alice Eve Cohen, the author of the play "Hannah and the Hollow Challah," which will be performed at the Kitchen Theatre, 116 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca, during the weekend of February 14 and 15. The play tells the story of a young girl, Hannah, who loves challah. One day after eating the inside of an entire loaf, Hannah suddenly finds herself inside the hollow challah, which flies out her kitchen window all the way to Bread Land. In addition to two actors, the show also features puppets by Jim Henson Foundation grant-winner Emily DeCola, which were designed for the original production. 

Maria McConville and Michael Orth performed with puppets designed by Jim Henson Foundation grant-winner Emily DeCola.

Although in an e-mail interview, Cohen called her play "wildly fantastical, a contemporary fairy tale," she mentioned that part of it is autobiographical. "Like Hannah, as a child I loved challah and found it so irresistible that I once secretly ate the entire delicious inside of a fresh loaf of challah," Cohen wrote. "I left the hollow shell on the table, hoping my parents wouldn’t notice. (Duh! Of course they noticed!) Also, like Hannah, as a child I had a wild imagination and loved making art, and I was often so immersed in my daydreams and my art-making that I became lost in fantasy. In the play, Hannah’s fantasies become real, with results that are by turns scary, funny and wonderful."

"Hannah and the Hollow Challah" celebrates the imagination, something Lesley Greene, the associate producing director of the Kitchen Theatre Company, appreciates. "We picked this play because we were familiar with and love Alice Eve Cohen’s work, and because the script was so much fun to read!" Greene said in an e-mail interview. "It is a sweet story told in a very clever way. It has lessons about consequences of being naughty, about bravery and helping friends, and about following your heart, but all these lessons are shared in such a way that kids won’t feel they are being lectured. It’s fun through and through." She noted, that while the play is aimed at children ages four and older, their parents should love it too.

Cohen also described the way "Hannah" teaches children the importance of creativity. "Hannah is a 10-year-old artist who doesn’t conform to the norm, either at home or at school," she said. "Before her adventure in Bread Land, she tries to sublimate and hide her creative impulses in an attempt to fit in. In the course of the play, she learns her artistry is a strength; she learns to celebrate who she really is and she even learns that how to use her artistic skills to benefit others. And her family ultimately values her for who she is, including the nonconformist facets of her personality."

Cohen initially envisioned "Hannah" as a picture book, but found the format too rigid for the story she wanted to tell. Rewriting the work as a play let the story unfold in greater detail and gave her characters a chance to breathe. Cohen noted how writing for the theater is part of a collaborative process where the work is not complete until the play is performed. "A play is a piece of writing that is brought to life by actors, director, designers, and – very importantly – by the audience," she said. This public art form is very different from what Cohen calls the "intimate relationship between the reader and the book," a format she is also familiar with as the author of the children’s book "The Tale of the Souvenir Shop" and a handbook for parents, "My Child, The Arts and Learning," which has been translated into eight languages and distributed to schools throughout New York City. Her plays and solo-theater works have been produced by a variety of theaters, including the New York Theatre Workshop, The Women’s Project, the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, the Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival, the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival and festivals in Edinburgh, Galway, Oslo, Jerusalem and Trinidad. In addition to being the recipient of several play writing fellowships, she has also written for Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., CBS and CTW.

As for her writing preference, Cohen would prefer not to have to choose between the different formats. "I love writing both plays and books, I love writing for young audiences and for adults, and I’m very lucky to have opportunities to reach audiences through these several media," she added.

Judaism not only plays a role in "Hannah," but in other works Cohen has produced. She’s written a two-act play, "Oklahoma Samovar," which is loosely based on her great-grandparents, Jake and Hattie. During their teens, they came to the United States from Latvia and, according to Cohen, "were the only Jews in the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889." The play tells the story of five generations of a Jewish family "that is both strengthened and harmed by the clash of assimilation and tradition." She has also finished a memoir, "What I Thought I Knew" (due out from Viking in July), which is structured around the Jewish calendar. "Throughout the book, Jewish rituals are crucial touchstones; they inform the action, offer potent metaphors and serve as springboards for an exploration of spiritual questions and paradoxes," she added.

Cohen noted, "My Jewish heritage keeps coming up in my writing, in ways that often surprise me."

Theatergoers can join in the surprise and fun at the Kitchen Theatre as they, and Hannah, journey in the hollow challah to Bread Land.