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By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune February 03. 2016 12:31PM Playwright Lisa Beth Allen on 'Solomon's Blade' Lisa Beth Allen Don’t try to make Lisa Beth Allen give up. More than a decade ago she wrote a play set against the Arab-Israeli conflict. The play, “Solomon’s Blade,” had readings around the country but no full production until now. It’s the second-ever premiere for Camelot Theatre in Talent, where it’s now playing. Camelot’s Livia Genise saw the play at the Ashland New Plays Festival in 2004. She wanted to produce it then, but an injury kept Allen from participating. “The thing that struck me was how accessible it is,” Genise says. “You can argue with your relatives, but nobody listens. The way the play is put together, you listen to the other side.” Tamara Greenwold, an observant Jew, is called to a hospital to find her sister-in-law seven-and-a-half months pregnant, brain-dead and on life support. A lawyer arranges to have the baby adopted by an Arab-Israeli, precipitating a crisis. But Hannah, Tamara’s 8-year-old daughter, hatches a plan that changes things. “We don’t realize the kids are listening,” Genise says. “Hannah does something because she doesn’t want the fighting to go on.” Conventional wisdom is that new plays don’t sell tickets. Genise says a couple things overrode that. “One, we have such a gift with ANPF.” Each fall ANPF presents readings of four new plays with actors from Oregon Shakespeare Festival and elsewhere. The other reason has to do with the theater’s identity. “To stay relevant, you have to take a chance,” Genise says. Allen's "Solomon's Blade" opens Friday, Feb. 5, at Camelot Theatre, 101 Talent Ave. Tickets and information are available online at camelottheatre.org, by calling 541-535-5250, or at the box office. What follows is an interview with Lisa Beth Allen, a former teacher and also a ceramic artist (visit www.lisabethallen.com). It’s been edited for brevity. Q. Where did the idea for “Solomon’s Blade” come from? A. From a relative of mine who’s so sure of her beliefs. I wondered what it would take to blow that open. Q. How many theaters did you submit it to? A. Many. It got readings at the Cleveland Play House, the Goodman in Chicago, a couple on the West Coast. I’d also get the loveliest rejection letters. Q. How does it feel to get a full production? A. I’m thrilled. I cannot imagine a better partner for this journey. I’m humbled and honored. Q. Were you ever tempted to stick it in a drawer? A. I kind of had. But people have used it for reading groups. Last year it won a prize for plays about prejudice. Q. Why not self-produce it? A. I had taken it to the deepest place I could. Self-producing wouldn’t help it grow. I’m committed to the collaborative process. Q. What you’ve called “impenetrable certitude” is one of the play’s themes. What does it take to penetrate that? A. I think it has to be personal. … We have to take the time to really listen and see the other in front of us, to see the deeper truth. Q. The Arab-Israeli conflict seems endless. Do you think there’s hope? A. It’s complex. ... There’s hope as long as two people are trying to find common ground. Q. Is the title from the Bible story of King Solomon’s wisdom? A. Yes. But it’s about allowing the wisdom that guides us be dogmatic. Sometimes we’d even let it take a life. I think we’ve kind of lost that part of the story. In the play the idea gets turned around. Where are the blind spots? Q. Where did Tamara come from? A. A conversation with a relative. She’s devoted to her faith, and it serves her well in many ways, and yet she has this certitude that prevents any kind of conversation. Q. Where did Hannah come from? A. I don’t have children of my own. I’d watch my nieces and nephews look at the world and see how they would put ideas together. Having been a teacher, I’m fascinated by how we grow up. Q. What do you hope for people to take away from the play? A. My greatest wish is to have them look in the mirror and say, where can I do more to hear somebody else? And have that conversation. But I don’t want it to preach. http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20160203/ENTERTAINMENT/160209882 © 2016 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->