LEBOW, Barbara

Nationality: American. Born: Brooklyn, New York, 1 May 1936. Education: Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, B.A. 1958. Family: Three sons. Career: Moved to Atlanta, Georgia, 1962; self-employed since beginning association with Academy Theatre in 1964. Playwright-in-residence, Goodmon Scholar, Peace College Theater, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1996; playwright-in-residence, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Montgomery, 1998-2000. Participates in community outreach programs that produce plays with prison inmates, the homeless, addicts in rehabilitation, the elderly, and the disabled. Awards: Atlanta Mayor's fellowship in the arts, 1986; Georgia Governor's award in the arts, 1988; Guggenheim fellowship, 1997. Agent: Mary Harden, Harden-Curtis Associates, 850 7th Avenue, Suite 404, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Address: c/o Academy Theatre, 501 Means St., Atlanta, GA 30318, U.S.A.

Publication

Plays

Little Joe Monaghan (produced 1981). 1995.

A Shayna Maidel (produced Atlanta, 1985). 1988.

The Adventures of Homer McGundy (produced Atlanta, 1985).

Cyparis (produced Atlanta, 1987).

The Keepers (produced Atlanta, 1988). 1995.

Trains (produced Atlanta, 1990).

Tiny Tim Is Dead (produced Atlanta, 1991). 1993.

Lurleen (produced Montgomery, Alabama, 1999).

The Empress of Eden (produced Seattle, 1999).

The Left Hand Singing (produced Little Rock, Arkansas, 2001).

Also author of unpublished plays Night Witch (with Frank Wittow) and Homunculus of Córdoba.

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Film Adaptations:

Miss Rose White, 1991, from the play A Shayna Maidel.

Critical Studies:

"Toward a Feminist Perspective in American Holocaust Drama" by E.R. Isser, in Studies-in-the-Humanities, 17(2), December 1990, pp. 139-48; "'Alive Still, in You': Memory and Silence in A Shayna Maidel " by Bette Mandl, in Staging Difference: Cultural Pluralism in American Theatre and Drama, edited by Marc Maufort, 1995.

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Barbara Lebow has written plays that concern anti-Semitism and, in particular, the Holocaust. The theme of anti-Semitism is significant in Lebow's work because the playwright has written much about the dangers of stereotyping and prejudice. Her unpublished play Night Witch, coauthored by Frank Wittow, dramatizes the shocking story of Leo Frank, a Jewish businessman in Georgia who was lynched by an angry anti-Semitic mob in 1915. Frank (named Aaron Gold in Lebow's drama) was falsely accused of murdering a teenage Christian girl and was convicted—merely because he was Jewish. Lebow, as well as historians, point out that the charges and the lynching emanated from anti-Semitism and that Frank was clearly innocent. In Lebow's unpublished play Homunculus of Córdoba, a mystical drama set in A.D. 973, the Jewish physician Isaac Ibn Ibrahim is persecuted by Muslims and Christians because of his religion. Furthermore, the decadence of the Nazis serves as a theme in Lebow's unpublished drama Empress of Eden, which is based on a true story concerning Nazis who left Germany for the Galapagos Islands shortly before World War II began.

Lebow's most famous play (dramatized in many countries) is A Shayna Maidel —the story of two sisters separated by the Holocaust. Rose has enjoyed a sheltered and uneventful life while Lusia has survived Auschwitz but has lost her baby and mother—and is looking for her husband, Duvid. A Shayna Maidel, set in 1946, juxtaposes the two sisters as they bond together. Many of Lebow's plays contain characters who are polar opposites and who serve as foils to one another. Lusia maintains her European customs while Rose has shed hers and has become Americanized, which is apparent in her name change—from Rayzel Weiss to Rose White. The play is poignant and touching, manifesting the sensitivity that is evident in Lebow's works. Furthermore, the dialect and dialogue are outstanding, demonstrating Lebow's excellent ear for dialogue and accents.

A Shayna Maidel contains two other themes that pervade the work of Lebow—survival and family. In this drama these two themes are intermingled. The play begins with a scene concerning survival—the birth of Mordechai (the father of Lusia and Rose) during a pogrom in Poland. In the play Rose escapes her feelings of guilt by distancing herself emotionally from her Jewish heritage, changing her name, assuming American customs, and abandoning some aspects of her culture (Mordechai berates her for not keeping kosher). Rose's method of survival resembles Lusia's in that it is psychological. Throughout A Shayna Maidel Lusia has flashbacks, or memories. Lebow often employed stories told through memory in her work; it is an effective way for the dramatist to present the plot and to portray how characters feel and react to past events. In A Shayna Maidel Lusia relives the past, such as when she struggled in vain to convince her mother to escape Poland for New York City; both mother and daughter unfortunately refused to escape without the other (one had to remain with Lusia's baby, who was not permitted to accompany them). Lusia constantly remembers the past, but Rose has virtually no knowledge of her past—until Lusia's arrival. With Lusia's help Rose learns about the recent history of her family. She receives from Mordechai a letter, written to her by her mother and dated 4 June 1942. The father has refrained for four years from giving this precious and moving letter to Rose because he thought that it would upset her and because he felt guilty about failing to save his family. Because of his pride, Mordechai had refused to borrow the money necessary to pay for his wife and daughter to come to New York—and then subsequent emigration by Polish Jews was prohibited.

Lebow's drama portrays the importance of family. The family is divided emotionally partly because they were separated physically. Mordechai had taken Rose to New York, but Lusia had remained with her mother in Poland after the girl contracted scarlet fever and became too sick to travel. This seemingly temporary physical distance becomes permanent when the mother and daughter are prevented from leaving Poland. The Weiss family becomes fragmented. Mordechai refuses to talk to Rose about his wife and daughter in Poland and neglects to give Rose the letter from her mother—and her baby spoon that represents the bond between them, the mother's love and caring for her young daughter whom she would never see again. Rose's decision to inscribe a number on her arm represents not only her guilt for enjoying a pleasant life while her mother and niece perished and her sister suffered but also her desire to forge a bond with her sister, for them to be a family again. This is important because earlier in the drama, Rose felt uncomfortable around Lusia and did not want to share her apartment with her.

Lebow's play deals with the aftermath of the Holocaust. Mordechai attempts to redeem himself for failing to bring over his wife and daughter by locating Duvid, reuniting the man with Lusia. Mordechai says that he hopes that they have another baby soon (their daughter, Sprinze, died in Auschwitz) and then a bris (circumcision). The play concludes with a restoration of the family and hope for the future.

—Eric Sterling

See the essay on A Shayna Maidel.