Centuries before Cecil B. DeMille, a Greek-speaking Jew named Ezekiel living in the Egyptian city of Alexandria adapted the story of Moses’ childhood, the Exodus from Egypt, and the Golden Calf into a contemporary medium. Now Ezekiel’s dramatic poem, known as The Exagoge, has itself been adapted in a 21st-century format by the playwright Aaron Henne, and debuted this past weekend in Los Angeles. John Rosove writes:
Henne’s script is multilayered and textured, and the action shifts back and forth from the biblical era to the contemporary world. Moses is played by all the actors using a mask that they pass between them, and we hear Moses’ inner thoughts, conflicts, challenges, fears, and prophetic visions as well as the feelings, thoughts, and perspectives of his Midianite wife Tzippora and father in-law Jethro, Pharaoh, and others from both the ancient and modern worlds including the struggles of Vietnamese, Mexican, Syrian, Holocaust-era, and Russian Jewish refugees who, though escaping the violence and oppression at home, encounter hardship, quotas, racism, and discrimination in the United States.
Read more on Jewish Journal: http://www.jewishjournal.com/rabbijohnrosovesblog/item/exagoge_the_world_premier_of_an_ancient_play_review