Oklahoma Samovar by Alice Eve Cohen
In 1887, two Latvian teenagers, Jake and Hattie, flee the Russian Army and become the only Jews in the Oklahoma Land Rush. One hundred years later, their ninety-year-old daughter Sylvia reinvents their story, aided by ghosts, blintzes and strong Russian tea. Traveling through time, five generations in a Jewish pioneer family travel East to West and then West to East, staking their claims in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Coney Island. Along the way, they put down roots and dig graves, embodying their own Jewish variations on the mythologized and turbulent American Dream. Based on real events, Oklahoma Samovar is an utterly human and absolutely unique American story.
"This play is such a treasure! Themes of Jewish identity are in the bones of Alice Eve Cohen’s work. This work features a buoyant spirit, unreliable narrators and a ton of fun theatricality to rope audiences in.” — David Winitsky, Artistic Director, Jewish Plays Project
AWARDS
Winner
Midwest Jewish Playwriting contest
Continuum Theatre, Chicago and Jewish Plays Project, NYC
2021
Winner
Silicon Valley Jewish Playwriting Contest
Jewish Plays Project
2021
Winner
10th Annual National Jewish Playwriting Contest
Jewish Plays Project
2021
TICKET INFO at Jewishtheatreok.org-- Livestreamed and performed at OCU
Sponsor: Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma