"Next Year" in Ramah
Lisa De St. Croix

In January '98, the Eggplant Faerie Players performed Next Year in Sodom to two sold out audiences at a restaurant in the small town of Ramah, NM. It was sponsored by the El Morro Arts Council. Lisa De St. Croix sits on the council's board.

Who would have thought "Next Year in Sodom" would play in Ramah, New Mexico, population 900, a small Mormon community abutted by the Navajo and Zuni Reservations. But the El Morro Arts Council (EMAAC) seized the opportunity of having the Eggplant Faerie Players in the area and presented two evenings of dinner theatre at the Blue Corn Restaurant on the edge of town.

There had been some discussion of the play being too risque for EMAAC to sponsor, would it shock the locals and have repercussions for our newly formed Arts Council? But deciding that the best art pushes boundaries, encourages dialog and wakes people up – we went ahead and quickly sold-out two performances.

The play was indeed a shocker, but it was witty, moving, poignant, funny, sometimes sad, silly and very, very, good. The play centered around a not-so-traditional Passover Seder shared by Benjamin Posner (Tom Foolery), his lover Mark (Maxzine Weinstein) and Benjamin's mother Sea-weed (Delilah Deville). When they open the door for Elijah they invite in a whole cast of characters from Moses and his lover, Pharaoh, to a TV talk-show host interviewing a Palestinian/Jewish gay couple to a determined "Trees for Israel" saleswoman. All touching upon the theme of freedom amidst repression.

Most poignant was the beautifully written and performed music. Chad Gad'ya, a traditional Passover song, examined the question of blame versus victim in the transmission of HIV.

This fast-paced irreverent romp brought peals of laughter from the audience and hours of discussion afterwards. The play was written and acted by 3 of the Eggplant Faerie Players, Maxzine Weinstein, Tom Foolery, and the enormously talented, Delilah Deville. So, what's next year in Ramah?