Bestselling author and speaker Rabbi Joseph Telushkin will lead an audience discussion with the cast of The Quarrel at Long Wharf Theatre, this Sunday, September 18, following his play’s 7:00pm performance. The audience is also invited to conclude the event with a complimentary dessert reception.
Telushkin and veteran Hollywood screenwriter David Brandes adapted the script from their award-winning film of the same name after realizing that the screenplay, based on a short story by Yiddish writer Chaim Grade, was ideal for live theatre. He feels the play’s questions are universal.
“Can you love someone whose views you really can’t stand?” Telushkin asks. “And can you learn to look beyond those views to see the fullness of the person who holds them?”
The Quarrel features Reuven Russell and Sam Guncler as a devout rabbi and a secular writer, childhood friends split apart by personal betrayal and uprooted by war. Their accidental meeting sparks a battle of wits that tests the limits of friendship, faith, and tolerance. Federico Trigo portrays a student who forces the two men to confront their differences. The three actors, all from the original off-Broadway cast, are reuniting for the New Haven performance.
Guncler notes that the play’s theme is particularly timely. “Political discourse has become so polarized. Even in personal relationships—families, friends—everyone seems to have someone they’ve fought with, someone they’re not speaking to anymore. It doesn’t always have to be that way.” Individual theatergoers leave with different interpretations, he admits. Still, he adds, “I think it would be great to see it with someone you hate!”
Telushkin’s Jewish Literacy is the most widely selling book on Judaism of the past two decades. He was named by Talk Magazine as one of the fifty best speakers in the USA. He lectures around the world and has authored numerous books and novels, as well as writing for television and film.
Russell, a native of New Haven and son of late comedian and Jewish humorist Joey Russell, has appeared internationally on stage, film and television.
Tickets for The Quarrel are $36 for all seats and are available online at www.thequarreltheplay.com and by phone at (203) 936-7044.
