| Background Gregg and I spent 12 nights (with a trip in-between) at the 'Palmira Hostel' in East Jerusalem. Most nights we spent reading or writing wherever we could find a place to sit, as we were lodging on the roof. And most nights I found it extremely frustrating to try and concentrate. In the end, I gave up probing the deep issues afflicting The Holy Land and opted instead to write a play. As soon as I stopped trying to concentrate, I realized the drama and characters under the roof of our hostel were far more strange and amusing than anything I could dream up on my own, and that they should be shared.
Most characters have been given stage names, except those whose real names simply could not be replaced without detracting from the surreal nature of the play. The name of the hostel has also been modified.
While some dialogue has been fictionalized, all events are based on actual happenings, and many conversations are as close to how quickly I was able to transcribe them. Already, the play is long (and Web un-friendly, I know), but I did my best to collapse the 12 days into half as many.
I have renewed respect for playwrights. It was arduous to try to create something that would even vaguely resemble the actual likeness of what surfaced at our hostel. I apologize in advance for misuse of conventional notations and hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
Evelyn |
ISRAEL
