Original student play ‘Pitsl’ brings Jewish joy to life onstage

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When Alethea Shirilan-Howlett started researching for her honors thesis, she faced an unusual problem: she could only find a copy of the book she wanted in Yiddish. She wanted to write a play for her thesis about Yosl Cutler, a Jewish communist puppeteer from the 1930s.

She asked the leading expert on Cutler, Eddy Portnoy, how to find an English translation. Portnoy, the director of exhibitions at the Yivo Institute of Jewish Research, told her that the best way to read the book would be to learn Yiddish herself. Not deterred, she enrolled in an intensive Yiddish program that very summer. The play’s story has changed along the way, but now, two years later, “Pitsl” is taking the stage.

“I got inspired by a lot of different things,” Shirilan-Howlett said. “I wanted to write something that’s full of joy, and hope and light and humor, and that’s how this play came about.”

“Pitsl” is about a Jewish family during Hanukkah in the 1930s tenements of New York City. After seeing an emphasis on Jewish trauma in plays she saw abroad in London, she wanted to write a play that showed a different side of Jewish life.

Shirilan-Howlett had an extensive research process for writing the script, visiting the locations of tenements in New York City. She heard from people who lived in tenements themselves about the difficult living conditions, but also the solidarity and community that was built between minority groups at the time.

During one of the first rehearsals, Shirilan-Howlett presented a PowerPoint of information about the time period of the play and its historical elements. She even included a Kahoot! quiz about Jewish culture and history for the cast.

The play was inspired by the sense of community among Jewish people and their shared culture “independent of any state or government,” Shirilan-Howlett said. People have approached her apologizing about the timing of her play in light of the Israel-Hamas war, but she said that the play is not about Israel, but Jewish people.

“That comes out of a real place of ignorance whenever you immediately associate a Jewish play with Israel, but this play was written and has always been intended to be the opposite,” Shirilan-Howlett said.

She said she hopes that for Jewish audience members, especially with the recent rise in antisemitism and conflation of the state of Israel and Jewish people, the play serves as “a light in the darkness.” For audience members that aren’t Jewish, she hopes it is a learning experience.

“(I) hope it to be like a breathing capture of Jewish life in the 1930s in the Lower East Side in New York City,” Shirilan-Howlett said. “A lot of the cast members have said to me that they feel like ‘Oh, this character acts exactly like my grandmother does.’”

The play will be performed not as a traditional stage play, but as a staged reading of the script by its unconventional cast. Several of the members of the cast are veteran SU Stage drama students, but others are Jewish community members from Shirilan-Howlett’s synagogue with no theater experience.

As a Syracuse native, it was important to Shirilan-Howlett to give back to her community. She wants to give back to the people who made her interested in learning more about her culture, songs, language and history.

Hanita Blair has known Shirilan-Howlett and her family for generations, and was delighted to be cast in “Pitsl.” She was Shirilan-Howlett’s bat mitzvah tutor as well as her brother’s bar mitzvah tutor.

“Part of the Jewish tradition, part of what you do when you prepare somebody for a bat mitzvah is to welcome them into the adult community,” Blair said. “So seeing her as a really talented and competent adult is easy, and it’s so gratifying.”

She said the play feels very familiar, not just because Shirilan-Howlett wrote it, but because the characters are similar to people she has known in her life.

“It has a really Jewish point of view, in which there’s an acknowledgment of Jews as other but it’s a really insider conversation,” Blair said. “I love the show … it’s so Jewish in the way it uses humor to tell some hard truths.”

For Valerie Goldstein, who plays Adel, the script is reminiscent of her childhood memories of spending Hanukkah with her family. Due to leaving home and attending college at SU, she hasn’t been able to make as many of those memories in recent years. She said the play makes her feel closer to her family.

“It’s been really exciting to kind of be a part of this piece that’s very centered around Jewish stories and Jewish voices because part of my family is Jewish, my dad’s side of the family is Jewish,” Goldstein said “When I first read the script, it was like really fun to see those in the lines like ‘Oh my god, she sounds just like my grandma!’”

Ensemble member Karen Sanchez has known Shirilan-Howlett since her freshman year at SU and said she has learned a lot from the experience of being in the show. As someone who isn’t Jewish, she has found it to be an informative space to learn about and celebrate a culture that isn’t her own.

“I’m taking a class about the Holocaust this semester, so it’s interesting (after) talking about such a negative time for Jewish people, being able to see everybody in the room who is Jewish being happy and joyful, and talking about their culture,” Sanchez said.

When Shirilan-Howlett approached peer Eli Golding to direct the show, he was immediately excited. He has worked with Shirilan-Howlett on various projects in the department of drama.

Directing such a varied mix of performers with both SU students and Jewish community members has made the show special, he said. The multiple generations involved in the show have a wide range of knowledge and experience about Jewish tradition and acting onstage.

“The piece is about the Jewish community, and (Shirilan-Howlett was) finding a group of people that would want to share this with the community. So I was very honored to have her reach out to me,” Golding said. “The piece itself is beautiful, and really speaks to the need at this moment to bring Jewish joy to the stage.”

He said that after watching the show, audience members would be surprised who has acting experience and who doesn’t. They have focused on connecting with the characters behind the words and highlighting a specific section of Jewish history with comedy and joy.

“It brings a shining light … for the larger community, as well as the Jewish community. Right now, there’s a lot going on in the world,” Golding said. “(The show is) allowing us to think of a brighter future for Jewish theater as we move into our own future.”