CASSANDRA'S CURSE by BARRY DROGIN  Copyright (C) 1993,1996
THE "HUMAN" BEING: PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

FOREMAN - Jewish artists

Dear Ms. Solomon:

     I am unfortunately only old enough to have been following Richard
Foreman's career for about a dozen years, but I have found him to be one
of the most exciting writers, directors and speakers I have ever known.
His forays into Jewish symbolism and thought have represented to me great,
but unacknowledged, strides forward in Jewish theatre.
     I was married this summer, and managed to convince myself that my
wife was finally ready for her first Foreman play; I saved your review,
and we finally saw "I've Got The Shakes" last night.  It is true that in
the past, Foreman has sprinkled his sets with random collections of Hebrew
letters, and in this play, the four major characters wear single Hebrew
letters on their chests (although the photo with your review hides this).
However, I am sure you will be very interested to know that in "I've Got
The Shakes", the letters at left and at right that are "lined up in
sequences" spell very significant words, namely:

1. At left, amidst the checkerboards and the concentric circles, are words
which individually mean "nothing" or "nought" and "end", and together mean
"the infinite" (literally, "never ending").

2. At right, significant words appear, twice.  From Exodus III, 14, this
is G-d's famous answer to Moses' repeated question to G-d, in the form of
the burning bush, "Who shall I say sent me?"  The answer has been

translated as "I AM THAT I AM", or "I will be what I will be."

     I don't speak fluent Hebrew, but I recognized that famous phrase, and
the other words looked enough like real Hebrew words to merit looking them
up.

     It's a shame that, although Jewish artists like Richard Foreman, John
Zorn, Gary Lucas, the Coen brothers (particularly, "Miller's Crossing"),
and myself are interested in Jewish art, theology and tradition, our
secular audiences and critics ignore this content, while "religious"
audiences ignore the art altogether.