An early Seattle production of “Abraham’s Land,” starring Vincent Mancuso as Yitzhak, dates back to 1992. The show has undergone revisions since then, but its Palestinian collaborators still said the new version retained anti-Palestinian sentiments. (Lauren Goldman Marshall)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Eady, who is still credited on the revival\u2019s poster as an original co-writer, said he only got involved in the first place because, in the post-Oslo years, it felt like Goldman Marshall\u2019s \u201cboth sides\u201d approach was as good as things could get for Palestinians. He said he had objected to the treatment of the Palestinian characters at the time, but thought the play was his only chance to offer his side of the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like taking [a] bucket of shit for a little bit of honey on the bottom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The more recent groundswell of support for the Palestinian cause, both within the Jewish community and outside of it, emboldened Eady to demand more from the play this time around. He said his onetime collaborator refused to acquiesce.<\/p>\n
Goldman Marshall said she remains committed to the idea that understanding the other \u2014 a framework that has fallen out of favor among many on the left who argue that it shores up an oppressive status quo \u2014 is the best way to achieve peace.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt that if I could dig deeper, make the characters more three-dimensional, and broaden my own compassion, maybe I could move more hearts and minds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After leaving the play, Eady soon found out that he was not alone in his frustrations with the play and its author. A number of other Palestinian members of the crew and external advisors said Goldman Marshall had ignored their concerns over the portrayal of Palestinians in \u201cAbraham\u2019s Land,\u201d or exploited their labor and experiences for her own goals.<\/p>\n
The breaking point for many of the Palestinian participants was Goldman Marshall\u2019s decision to cast Netanel Bellaishe, a Jewish Israeli actor, as Ismail, the Palestinian lead whose ghost haunts the Israeli character. Since the George Floyd protests last summer, Broadway has been embroiled in an ongoing debate about the limits of representation in theater, and actors and directors have questioned whether roles should be cast based on the race of the character, especially if those characters belong to an underrepresented community.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian participants who left the play wrote a letter, which JTA reviewed, to Goldman Marshall outlining their complaints. To them, it was unthinkable to cast Bellaishe, a former IDF soldier, as a Palestinian killed by an Israeli. Eady compares Goldman Marshall\u2019s decision to a playwright deciding to cast a German to play a Jew in a play about the Holocaust.<\/p>\n
The anger over casting Bellaishe wasn\u2019t just about representation, they said \u2014 it was about the underlying politics of that decision. If Goldman Marshall was willing to cast an Israeli as a Palestinian, against the wishes of her own Palestinian crew members, did she actually care about their cause?<\/p>\n
The producers of \u201cAbraham\u2019s Land\u201d defended their decision to cast Bellaishe as Ismail, saying that he was the most qualified actor for the role, and highlighting the inclusion of Palestinian cast members elsewhere in the production.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I was concerned, there was no reason to not offer the role to Netanel, because he was quite clearly the best professional for the role,\u201d said David Grabarkewitz, the play\u2019s director.
\u201cI did feel very strongly that it was important to have Palestinian representation in the cast,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think that it means that you always have to play your own side.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for Eady and the other Palestinian crew members who left the project, Goldman Marshall\u2019s words didn\u2019t align with her actions. Falastiniyat, a feminist Palestinian activist group in Seattle, wrote a letter to Goldman Marshall on behalf of the Palestinian participants. In it, they claim that \u201cwhen Palestinians expressed concern with the racism of the narrative, this feedback was ignored or outright justified.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palestinian cast members also said that Goldman Marshall routinely asked them to go beyond their role as actors and offer advice on Palestinian culture. While it\u2019s normal for playwrights to solicit suggestions from their cast, the Palestinian participants claim Goldman Marshall effectively turned them into unpaid cultural consultants. Many of these crew members say they were also asked to share personal stories of their lives under occupation, which Goldman Marshall \u201cedited without consent\u201d by using them in ways that betrayed the original stories without consultation, according to the letter from Falastiniyat.<\/p>\n
In a follow-up email, Goldman Marshall said that Falastiniyat had not provided evidence to support their claims, which she said were \u201ceither false or taken out of context.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Falastiniyat published its letter, Kadima withdrew its support for the project. The Reconstructionist synagogue initially published a message on its website explaining its decision, but has since removed it; the congregation told JTA it was revising its public message about the project, but did not provide the text of the original message. Various other interfaith organizations remain involved with the project.<\/p>\n
In the end, many of the Palestinian cast members ended up quitting the production, feeling tokenized and ignored. Whereas Goldman Marshall believed she was facilitating dialogue and asking tough questions about the conflict, the Palestinian participants say she took advantage of their experiences to legitimize the production.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf her goal is to convert Jews who support occupation, that\u2019s not how you do it,\u201d Eady says.
At the end of the show, the protagonist exclaims, \u201cIt\u2019s not Israel. It\u2019s not Palestine. It\u2019s Abraham\u2019s land.\u201d For Palestinian participants who left the play, this line ignored their struggle for recognition in favor of Goldman Marshall\u2019s nebulous concept of empathy. Their letter is emphatic: \u201cThe land is and will always be Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
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