PERFORMANCES:
March 21 - April 6, 2024
Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm
MORE INFO

LOCATION:
The Brick Theater
579 Metropolitan Ave. Brooklyn
www.bricktheater.com

TICKET INFO: $20 - $35

The Brick in association with Meta-Phys Ed. presents:

THE BANALITY OF EVIL

By Meta-Phys Ed.
March 21- April 6, 2024

Based on Hannah Arendt’s controversial idea “The Banality of Evil”, and her scandalous New Yorker article about the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1963. Meta-Phys Ed.’s THE BANALITY OF EVIL is a neo-noir courtroom drama about a “show-trial on trial”, and the mystery about how everyday people become war criminals. 

Performed by: Rawya El Chab, Romeo Torres, Sophie Morrison
Director: Jesse Freedman
Costume Designer: Karen Boyer
Sound Designer & Composer: Eamon Goodman
Scenic Designer: Nora Marlow Smith
Lighting Designer: Elizabeth M Stewart
Stage Manager: Jennifer Deane
Production Manager: Grady Shea
Technical Director: Grady Shea
Assistant Director: Stewart Harrison
Associate Costume Designer: Al Rosenberg
Original Designs by: Kyu Shin (Scenic), Yi-Chung Chen (Lights) and Avi Amon (Sound)

A workshop of THE BANALITY OF EVIL premiered at the The Tank in 2022. This version includes an additional 60 minutes of new material.

cw: fog, descriptions of genocide

THE BANALITY OF EVIL was developed in residency at Target Margin Theater (2022) and was presented as workshop at The Tank, a home for emerging artists (2022).

One Night Only: 

The Wednesday, April 3rd performance of THE BANALITY OF EVIL will be followed by a special post-show conversation about the instrumentalization of Antisemitism in the 21st century. 

Jesse Freedman, Artistic Director of Meta-Phys Ed. will be joined by Shoshana Brown, US Director of Pedagogy and Training for the Diaspora Alliance and Organizer with JFREJ Jews For Racial and Economic Justice. 

Co-sponsored by Jews For Racial and Economic Justice & the Diaspora Alliance

Masks are required for all audience members for April 3 performance and post-show event.

The Banality of Evil (2022)

Based on Hannah Arendt’s controversial idea “The Banality of Evil” and her scandalous New Yorker article about the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1963. Meta-Phys Ed.’s THE BANALITY OF EVIL is a neo-noir courtroom drama about a “show-trial on trial”, and the mystery about how everyday people become war criminals. 

Hannah Arendt was an influential German Jewish political philosopher, theorist of totalitarianism and anti-semitism, and refugee surviver of the Third Reich.  In her infamous article on the Eichmann trial, Arendt reports in person from the Jerusalem courtroom and concludes that the accused architect of “Final Solution” is not a fanatical monster, but a thoughtless clown.

THE BANALITY OF EVIL tries to solve the mysteries of how did Eichmann accidentally becomes a Nazi and commits crimes against humanity?  What caused the collapse of the show trial of the century collapses? How did a magazine article becomes the center of global controversy?

PREMIERE
Sept. 14, 15, 17, 21, 23, & 24

The Tank
312 W 36th St New York, NY, 10018 (Map)
212.563.6269

THE BANALITY OF EVIL is presented by The Tank, a home for emerging artists

THE BANALITY OF EVIL developed in residency at Target Margin Theater

CREDITS:
Performed by: Rawya El Chab, Roméo Torres, Dara Callie Silverman
Director: Jesse Freedman
Costume Designer: Karen Boyer
Sound Designer & Composer: Avi Amon
Scenic Designer: Kyu Shin
Lighting Designer: Yi-Chung Chen
Stage and Production Manager: Jennifer Deane
Intern/ Assistant Director: Luke Hicks