Sandra Laub’s solo play “Picking Up Stones: An American Jew Wakes To A Nightmare,” her reaction to the ongoing war in the Middle East, has been called “... a remarkable combination of passion, compassion and respect for the facts.” Winner of the “Artists 4 Artists award at the Providence Fringe Festival, Laub was honored by fellow theater artists for writing and performing a play that deserves a wider audience.
An American Jew, Laub dramatizes a variety of voices and perspectives emerging in the wake of grief, anger, heartache, and fear after the October 7th Hamas attack in Israel that killed 1200 people, mostly Jews. Her play questions: Can the world empathize with two opposing groups of innocent people: Israelis and Palestinians? How can the victims, the innocents on both sides, begin to heal from their trauma? How do American Jews re-shape their connection to Israel post 10.7?
Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza mount because Israel feels it must obliterate Hamas to survive; Jews and Muslims worldwide face a sharp spike in Antisemitism and Islamophobia. All the hostages are not yet home. In America, the political left and right swing sharply, debating the issue in the streets and on campus, and the Middle East is re-made as the world watches. Sandra grapples with emotions anyone can recognize in this swirling maelstrom of events.
"Picking Up Stones: An American Jew Wakes to a Nightmare," is Laub’s reaction to the Israel / Hamas war from Day 1 through Day 30. She commands the stage in this 95-minute one-woman/many voices play, performed Saturday, October 5th at 3 PM at the Channing Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church at 135 Pelham Street, Newport RI (off Bellevue Ave.) There will be a talk-back with the performer/playwright after the show. Tickets are sold in advance and at the door.