Ed Asner coming to Phila. on Holocaust Remembrance Day tour
Ed Asner and Kate Burton are coming to Philadelphia in January as part of an East Coast tour, in a tribute to International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jan. 27). On Jan. 31, 2018, at 7 p.m., Asner and Burton will do a concert reading of The Soap Myth by Jeff Cohen at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad Street.
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/HPHQ7Q67SBHFPKZAA4WIX5PYKA.jpg)
Note: Kate Burton, originally scheduled to take part in the Jan. 31 reading reported on below, cannot participate because of a scheduling conflict. Tony & Drama Desk Award-nominee Johanna Day (Sweat and Proof) will step in for Burton, playing the roles of holocaust scholar Esther Feinman and holocaust denier Brenda Goodsen.
Ed Asner and Kate Burton are coming to Philadelphia in January as part of an East Coast tour, in a tribute to International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jan. 27).
On Jan. 31, 2018, at 7 p.m., Asner and Burton will do a concert reading of The Soap Myth by Jeff Cohen at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad Street. Asner is famed for his TV character of newspaperman Lou Grant, as well as for his political activism; he will play cantankerous Holocaust survivor Milton Saltzman. Asner's new book is The Grouchy Historian: An Old-Time Lefty Defends Our Constitution Against Right-Wing Hypocrites and Nutjobs.
Burton is well known for her roles as Ellis Grey in Grey's Anatomy and Sally Langston in Scandal, among many others. She will take on two roles: Holocaust scholar Esther Feinman and Holocaust denier Brenda Goodsen.
The Soap Myth is set decades after World War Two, when a young journalist profiles Saltzman and his crusade against Nazi atrocities. The play addresses the compromises we make for survival, and the question of who has more right to write history: those who have lived it, or those who have an agenda. The play originally was performed off-Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre in 2012 by the National Jewish Theater Foundation. A film of the Roundabout production was broadcast on PBS.
The tour begins in Miami on Jan. 22, and after stops in Boca Raton, New Bedford, Mass., New York, and Philadelphia, finishes on Feb. 1 at Hofstra Hillel at Hofstra University. The Soap Myth is directed by Pam Berlin and will also feature Ned Eisenberg and Blair Baker.
Ed Asner and Kate Burton in The Soap Myth. 7 p.m., Jan. 31, 2018. Congregation Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad St. Tickets: $18-$500. Information: 215-627-6747, rodephshalom.org.