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From
the Staff Committee 2014-2015 |
(202) 370-4645 |
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June 9th, 2015 |
SN- 58/14-15 Original: English |
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GALA Hispanic Theatre presents: LAS POLACAS: The Jewish Girls
of Buenos Aires A provocative musical about a dark side of the
flashiest South American port in the 1900s. By: Patricia
Suarez-Cohen Directed by: Mariano Caligaris Music and lyrics by: Mariano Vales English lyrics and text by: Bari Biern Music Director by: George Fulgitini Shakar June
4th – June 28th Through the stories of Rachela, we experience the
dreams, losses, and struggles of thousands of Polish-Jewish women who were
lured into prostitution in Argentina by a slave trading organization in the
early 1900s. With haunting Slavic melodies and passionate tangos, this
original bilingual musical underscores the strength and perseverance of women
uprooted from their homeland and enslaved in a foreign culture. The Zwi Migdal Organization lured girls and young
women from poor Jewish villages in Poland or Russia using various ruses. In
one, a distinguished man would appear in the village and place an ad at the
local synagogue for young women to work in the homes of wealthy Jews in
Argentina. Hoping that their daughters would escape the bleak economic
situation at home, the parents would send them away with the men. Another
popular scheme was to find attractive girls and marry them in quick ceremonies
known in Yiddish as “shtille chupah.” The girls would leave their families
and board ships to Argentina in search of what they believed to be a better
life. This, however, was not the case. Their training as sex slaves began on
the ship or they were married to local men in order to obtain entry visas. The organization operated from the 1860s to 1939, but
had its peak in the 1920s. At that time 430 pimps controlled 2,000
brothels with 30,000 women in Argentina. Prostitutes who failed to
satisfy their clients were beaten, fined or sent to work in provincial homes.
These activities went undisturbed, as many of the clients were government
officials and journalists, until 1929, when one brave prostitute, Raquel
Liberman, reported the operation to a sympathetic judge and the group was
exposed. The Jewish community publically condemned Zwi Migdal in the
press and established the Jewish Association for the Protection of Children
and Women. TICKET
INFORMATION Single tickets
are $38 on Thursday and Sunday and $42 on Friday and Saturday. Tickets for
senior citizens (65+) and military are $26, and Students are $20. Additional
discounts are available for groups of 10 or more.
Tickets for OAS Staff: $5 off every show.
Call 202-234-7174 for tickets or Reserve your tickets today online GALA Hispanic Theatre Facebook.com/teatrogala @TeatroGALA 202-234-7174 3333 14th
Street, NW Washington, DC
20010 *Must mention special at time of
purchase. |
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