Paulus is on stage at Silk Road Rising November 7 – December 15
Motti Lerner teaches playwriting at the Kibbutz College in Tel Aviv. His plays have been produced in the US, Israel, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, South Africa, Australia, Canada and India. Among his plays are Pangs of the Messiah (produced at Silk Road Rising in 2009), Kastner, Paula, Pollard, Exile in Jerusalem, Passing the Love of Women, Autumn, Hard Love, The Hastening of The End,The Murder of Isaac, Benedictus, and In the Dark. He has written screenplays for the films Loves in Betania, The Kastner Trial, Bus Number 300, Egoz, A Battle in Jerusalem, The Silence of the Sirens, Altalena, Spring 1941 (with Joseph Fiennes in the lead role), and twelve episodes of the TV drama series The Institute. He is a recipient of the best play award (1985) and the Israeli Motion Picture Academy award for the best TV drama in 1995 and in 2004. In 1994 he won the Prime Minister’s of Israel Award for his creative work. His book According To Chekhov was published in 2011. His play The Admission will open in Theatre J in Washington DC in March 2014. He has taught playwriting and screenwriting at Duke University, Knox College, and Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
A Statement from Motti Lerner about Paulus
Paulus explores neither the historical Paul nor the mythological Paul, but rather a psychological Paul. A Paul who witnessed the crucifixion and was traumatized by it. Paulus imagines the Apostle Paul as he’s dragged from his prison cell to his execution site in Rome. Like the gospel writer, the playwright is not a historian; he is not interested in relaying facts but in revealing truths. The meaning of what happened is more important than what actually happened. Still, since we live in a world where truths and myths are continuously distorted by politicians, by clergy, and by the media, I want to make clear to the audience that I am not using any presumed lack of knowledge to manipulate them. I want the audience to trust the story, engage the story, argue with it, not reject it as somehow “false.”