Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma countering antisemitism with storytelling and Land Run play

With scripts in hand, Roberta Sloan and Kara Luther-Chapman are having a complicated conversation about strawberries and ashes, one that will soon be punctuated with people from the past.

"There's a kind of ghost story with it: Ghosts come in and sit at the Passover table and have a cup of tea. ... So, that really makes it interesting," explained Sloan during rehearsals of the award-winning new play "Oklahoma Samovar" at Oklahoma City's Emanuel Synagogue. The fledgling theater is putting on one of the first productions in the country of the new title, the winner of last year's 10th annual National Jewish Playwriting Contest.

"I chose it because, 'What? A Jewish play with Oklahoma in the title?' I've got to see what this is!' And then the first scene takes place on a farm in Oklahoma ... and the story changes and gets bigger and bigger — as stories do when they're told. And that's fun."

The founder and artistic director of Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma, Sloan is doing double duty as an actor and director for the company's Nov. 12-13 production of "Oklahoma Samovar" at Rodeo Theatre in Stockyards City.

Penned by New York City-based playwright Alice Eve Cohen, the generations-spanning drama is based on real events and follows a Latvian youth, Jake (John Arnold), who in 1887 flees to the United States to avoid the clutches of the Russian Army. Soon joined by his teenage bride, Hattie (Kris Schinske), they become the only Jews to participate in the Oklahoma Land Run.

A century later, their 90-year-old daughter, Sylvia (Sloan), relates and reinvents their story of five generations in a Jewish pioneer family who stake their claims in Kansas, Oklahoma and New York.

"This story is based upon Alice's real family's story, with the names changed," said Sloan, who last year served as the interim associate dean of Oklahoma City University's theater school. "This touches me very personally because I'm first generation: Both of my parents were immigrants."

What is a 'samovar' and how does it tie into the story?

Among the themes explored in "Oklahoma Samovar" — also the winner of last year's Midwest Jewish Playwriting Contest and Silicon Valley Jewish Playwriting Contest — is how immigrants decide what pieces of their family history, home culture and heritage they take with them into their new country.

"Coming from Latvia, Jake's making a way for himself, coming to America, being a farmer, learning how to make it on his own. He's following his grandfather's footsteps and father's footsteps of being a landowner and being a farmer but then adopting the American way of life," Arnold said. "That's vs. Hattie, who wants to try to keep the Jewish traditions a lot more. Jake's like, 'But we're American now.'"

"Jake seems to be more of that quintessential 'I'm gonna go for the American dream' kind of young fella," Schinske added.

While the "Oklahoma" part of the title quickly becomes apparent, the second part of the play's name, "samovar," is a type a Russian tea urn. The one from the title is a wedding heirloom passed down to Hattie from her mother (Sandi Fogelson, who also helps narrate the show).

"When the young Hattie at 17 years old comes over to marry Jake — who by this time has moved from New York to Kansas, and they live in a dugout ... and make the Land Run from there — her mother says, 'You must take the samovar that was part of my trousseau' — a big, heavy thing — and a feather bed," Sloan said.

"These are the stories that are passed down in families."

How does the Oklahoma theater's mission tie into controversial comments from Kanye West, Kyrie Irving and Donald Trump?

Through entertainment and education, one of the fledgling theater's goals is to help stem the rising tide of antisemitism.

In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League reported more than 2,700 incidents of harassment, vandalism or violence targeting Jews — the highest annual total since it began tracking such incidents in 1979.

Sloan called recent high-profile antisemitic remarks made by the rapper Ye (also known as Kanye West), NBA star Kyrie Irving and former U.S. President Donald Trump as "awful, just awful."

"It's very worrisome, and if we can branch out and change some people's minds ... then that's what we want to do," she said, adding that the theater plans to partner with Temple B'nai Israel and the Oklahoma NAACP for a Jan. 15 presentation of Jane Marla Robbins' play “A Radical Friendship,” which imagines conversations between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. 

Although they won't be part of the cast, two real-life cops will be part of Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma's production of "Oklahoma Samovar."

"They'll be at the door of Rodeo Cinema when we do this, to make sure that nothing happens. Isn't that sad that we have to do that? Of course, they do it here at the synagogue; they do it at the temple. Anytime there's a group of people who will be here, there's an officer," Sloan said.

"It's the tenor of what's happening in the country right now. I mean, why be sorry? I'd rather we have our audience feel safe."

What can you expect from Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma's shows?

Storytelling is what Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma is all about: In its third year, the theater's mission is to explore the rich social, cultural and spiritual heritage of the Jewish people through theater experiences. 

After living in Oklahoma for more than 30 years, Sloan said she left the state to pursue career opportunities. She moved back about three years ago after 15 years away and was inspired by Jewish theaters in California and Pennsylvania to start a similar company in OKC.

"That's how I became familiar with this style of Jewish theater ... and I thought, 'We should do something like that here. There isn't enough opportunity to bring Jewish themes and Israeli playwrights and plays to what we hope will be a wider multicultural audience,'" said Sloan, who described the local Jewish community as "active, albeit not huge."

Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma's previous productions have included Ronda Spinak's "The Matzo Ball Diaries," which explores the special meanings that Jewish people give to food; "Latkes and Applesauce, Dreidels and Gelt," which spotlights funny sketches from the dynamic duo of Mike Nichols and Elaine May; and its September staging of “Becoming Dr. Ruth," a one-woman show about Holocaust survivor, former sniper and famed sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

After its regional premiere of "Oklahoma Samovar," the company will close 2022 with its Dec. 3-4 staging of "Jerry's Girls," a musical revue based on the songs of Jerry Herman, the Jewish composer and lyricist renowned for the Broadway musicals "Hello, Dolly!," "Mame" and "La Cage aux Folles."

Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma specializes in readers theater, in which actors present dramatic readings of plays with minimal costumes, props and scenery.

"It allows the audience to have a lot in their imagination, and if you have really solid actors doing it, it can work very well," said Sloan, who is fresh off playing Madam Arcati in Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park's "Blithe Spirit."

"This time we're going to have projections — which we've never done before — because Rodeo Cinema has that lovely big screen."

'OKLAHOMA SAMOVAR'

When: 8 p.m. Nov. 12 and 2 p.m. Nov. 13.

Where: Rodeo Theatre in Stockyards City, 2221 Exchange Ave.

Tickets and information: https://jewishtheatreok.org and https://www.facebook.com/jewishtheatreok.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma countering antisemitism with storytelling