The Soap Myth is on Saturday, May 4th, 2019 at 7:30 P.M.
THE SOAP MYTH takes place more than a half century after the end of WWII when a friendship develops between a young Jewish journalist and a cantankerous Holocaust survivor on a crusade regarding the Nazi atrocity of soap. THE SOAP MYTH dramatically explores how a survivor survives surviving and questions who has the right to write history - those who have lived it and remember, those who study and protect it, or those who would seek to distort and desecrate its very existence.
Mr. Asner is beloved for such legendary roles as Lou Grant in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant, Santa Claus in the Will Farrell-comedy Elf and Carl Fredrickson in the smash animated feature Up. This marks the third year that he will perform the role of Holocaust survivor Milton Saltzman in The Soap Myth.
As a playwright, Jeff Cohen is known for original work and adaptations including The Soap Myth, Men Of Clay – a memoir about his father Stan “Squeaky” Cohen and tennis in 1970s Baltimore (Best New Play, Baltimore City Paper), The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller - adapted from the Christopher Stokes short story (Critics Pick, The New York Times and Time Out New York), Whoa-Jack! – his racially-charged adaptation of Woyzeck starring Golden Globe nominee Michael Ealy (AUDELCO Award), and The Seagull/The Hamptons, his highly-acclaimed American adaptation of The Seagull whose various productions have featured Tammy Grimes, D.B. Sweeney, Marin Hinkle, Lizbeth Mackay, Neil Huff, and the New York stage debut of Laura Linney (Ten Best of the Year – The Boston Globe). He has recently finished two new plays: Righteous, about a “righteous gentile” who warned the world about the Final Solution in August, 1942, and Squeaky Cohen, a sequel to Men of Clay about end-of-life events with his father Stan “Squeaky” Cohen. Mr. Cohen was founder and artistic director of three small but significant Off-Broadway theaters – the RAPP Arts Center, the Worth Street Theater Company/Tribeca Playhouse, and Dog Run Rep. Directing highlights include Christopher Shinn’s Four (New York Times Critics Pick, Lortel Award, Drama Desk nominee), Tristine Skyler’s The Moonlight Room (Critics Pick and Annual Ten Best list – New York Times, two Lortel nominations, Outer Critics nominee) and Marlene Meyer’s The Mystery of Attraction (Obie Award). Mr. Cohen is best known for his signature theatrical event responding to the Attacks of 9/11, THE TRIBECA PLAYHOUSE STAGE DOOR CANTEEN – a 10-week USO style variety show to “entertain the troops” (the rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero) that featured such stars as Kristin Chenoweth, Sandy Duncan, Phylicia Rashad, Colin Quinn, and Mario Cantone, which received a special 2002 Drama Desk Award.