The Hatmaker's Wife

From the Artistic Director

Dear Friends of Theater J,

Thank you for being here. For those of you who have come to multiple shows over the season, it has been an honor to share this journey together. Each play in the season has been theatrically distinct, and Lauren Yee’s The Hatmaker’s Wife takes us on another lush voyage made possible through the brilliance of this extraordinary creative team of artists.

I have known Laure Yee for many years, and it has been a joy to witness how her plays have been embraced by DMV audiences, especially this season, with her work being produced at Arena and Signature. At the heart of many of her plays are the challenges people face in expressing their love and fully recognizing those closest to them. This struggle transcends time, place, and culture.

One of the unique elements of The Hatmaker’s Wife is that Lauren Yee builds a playful, magical world that draws upon a Yiddishkeit re-imagined. I was inspired to bring on Dan Rothenberg to direct because I have long admired his work at Pig Iron, which combines humorous playfulness with a deep emotional core. His work is emblematic of a performance style that can only breathe fully on a stage and embraces the handmade magic of theater.

Dan and I have had several conversations about how Jewish culture and mythology are woven into the play in the same way that they are now deeply woven into the culture in this country, as seen in films, art, theater, and even culinary delights (Challah French toast is a Sunday brunch staple!). The golem emerges in various forms of pop culture, even Minecraft. This play is, in some ways, akin to a Yiddish folktale set in a contemporary context, where a multiplicity of cultural references join in the fabric of the storytelling.

We are so fortunate to have such brilliant artists working with us at Theater J, and I am thrilled to share their work with you today.

I hope to see you next season as we embark on another theatrical adventure together!

With appreciation, Hayley Finn, Artistic Director

From the Managing Director

Dear Friends,

Whether this is the first Theater J performance you’ve ever attended or the seventieth, we welcome you to the Aaron and Cecile Goldman Theater for this the final production of Theater J’s 33rd season and the inaugural season of Artistic Director Hayley Finn. It has been an extraordinary season with four world premiere productions, three solo performances, two regional premieres, and last but certainly not least Lauren Yee’s The Hatmaker’s Wife directed by Dan Rothenberg.

Please join us for our 2024-2025 season. Beginning in September, we will be bringing back the wildly popular How To Be A Korean Woman written and performed by Sun Mee Chomet. In November, Hayley Finn will direct Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic, which was a 2024 Pulitzer Prize finalist and received the 2020 Trish Vradenburg Theater J New Jewish Play Prize, the 2022 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, and is now nominated for the 2024 Tony Award for Best Play. In January, Tony-Award-winning actor Ari’el Stachel (The Band’s Visit) will be performing his original one-man play Out of Character here in the Goldman Theater as part of a co-production with Mosaic Theater Company. In March, Oscar-nominated playwright Jose Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries) will direct his new play Your Name Means Dream. We will finish the season in June with Andrea Stolowitz’s mesmerizing play The Berlin Diaries.

It would be a tragedy if you missed any of these productions, so please make sure you subscribe to the full season so you can get the best seats at the best prices and not miss out on all of these exciting shows. Call our ticket office at (202) 777-3210 from 1:00 PM- 5:00 PM, Monday-Friday, or visit theaterj.org.

Thank you for making memories with us and for supporting our work. I look forward to seeing you at the theater.

Yours,

David Lloyd Olson, Managing Director

THE HATMAKER'S WIFE

A play by Lauren Yee

June 5 – 25, 2024

Director: Dan Rothenberg

Associate Director: Ashley Mapley-Brittle

Scenic Designer: Misha Kachman+

Costume Designer: Ivania Stack+

Lighting Designer: Alberto Segarra+

Sound Designer: Sarah O’Halloran+

Props Designer: Pamela Weiner

Casting Director: Jenna Place

Dialect Coach: Katie McDonald

Production Stage Manager: Anthony O. Bullock*

Assistant Stage Manager: Miranda Korieth

Assistant Stage Manager: Fior Tat

CAST (in alphabetical order)

Hetchman: Maboud Ebrahimzadeh

Gabe/Golem: Tyler Herman*

Voice: Ashley D. Nguyen

Meckel: Michael Russotto*

Hetchman's Wife: Sue Jin Song*

Wall: Alex Tatarsky

The Hatmaker’s Wife runs approximately 115 minutes.

The video or audio recording of this performance by any means is strictly prohibited.

Commissioned and Premiered by Alter Theater Ensemble, San Rafael, California.

Off-Broadway premiere produced by The Playwrights Realm (Katherine Kovner, Artistic Director | Renee Blinkwolt, Producing Director) on August 27, 2013

This play was developed with support of PlayPenn, Paul Meshejian, Artistic Director.

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theater, Theater J, and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

+Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Maboud Ebrahimzadeh* (Hetchman) Theater J credits include Nathan the Wise, Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, and Boged. DC credits include: The Seafarer, Ink, Oslo, Curious Incident, Small Mouth Sounds, The Book of Will, and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo at Round House Theatre; Here There Are Blueberries at Tectonic and Shakespeare Theatre; English, People, Places, and Things, Water by the Spoonful at Studio Theatre; The Price at Arena Stage; Lend Me a Soprano, Oil, The Invisible Hand at Olney Theatre Center; 1 Henry IV, King John, Timon of Athens, and Julius Caesar at Folger Theatre. Regional credits include Disgraced, Murder on the Orient Express at McCarter Theatre and Hartford Stage; Disgraced at Milwaukee Rep; The Invisible Hand (Barrymore Award for Outstanding Lead Actor) at Theatre Exile. Film and television includes Jessica Jones, Imperium, Sally Pacholok, and Homebound. maboudebrahimzadeh.com | @ mindthechasm |

Tyler Herman* (Gabe/Golem) born and raised in Silver Spring, Tyler was last seen at Theater J in Trayf. Since then he has gotten married and has two daughters, Mira and Orly, who are amazing spitfires. Recently seen onstage with Ford's Theatre (A Christmas Carol) and The Kennedy Center (Shear Madness), Tyler also teaches theatre at Montgomery College and runs the theatre program at Walt Whitman High School. Upcoming: Directing The Liar (Montgomery College) Love, love, and unending gratitude to Sarah. BA: Cornell University. MFA: Brown University/Trinity Rep. www.TylerLHerman.com

Ashley D. Nguyen (Voice) (she/her) DC AREA: Signature Theatre: King of the Yees (Lauren Yee), Pacific Overtures (Swing); Arena Stage: Ride the Cyclone (Swing); Olney Theatre Center: Dance Nation (Zuzu); The Kennedy Center TYA: The Day You Begin (Min), The Dragon King’s Daughter (Xing u/s); Keegan Theatre: Shakespeare in Love (Viola de Lesseps, Helen Hayes Nomination); Creative Cauldron: Into the Woods (Little Red); Studio Theatre: White Pearl (Ruki Minami u/s – US World Premier); Catholic University: A Little Night Music (Fredrika Armfeldt), The Wolves (#8), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Marcy Park). EDUCATION: BM in Musical Theatre from Catholic University. Instagram: @ashley.d.nguyen, Website: ashleydnguyen.com

Michael Russotto* (Meckel) (he/him) is delighted to return to Theater J, where he has previously appeared in Tuesdays with Morrie, The Christians, The Sisters Rosensweig, and Falling Out of Time. Most recently Michael played Chauncey Miles in the 1st Stage production of The Nance. Prior to that, he toured Michigan in Tuesdays With Morrie (Morrie) for the 25th anniversary of the play. Other recent credits include the world premiere of The Joy That Carries You (Martin) at Olney Theatre Center, and My Lord What a Night (Abraham Flexner) at Ford’s Theatre. Michael has performed regionally at Cleveland Play House, The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, and The Folger Shakespeare Theatre. He is a member of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and has received numerous Helen Hayes Award nominations for performances in the DC area. Film and television work includes Playing Through, The Battle of Bloody Lane, and Death of a Nation. Michael can be heard on the L.A. Theatre Works recording of Seven Days in May, with Ed Asner. He has also narrated hundreds of audio books for Books on Tape and The Library of Congress.

Sue Jin Song* (Hetchman’s Wife) Off Broadway: The World of Extreme Happiness (Manhattan Theatre Club); Iphigenia at Aulis, Exit the King (Pearl Theater). Regional Theater: The Tempest, Sense & Sensibility (PA Shakespeare Festival), A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre), The Arsonists, Marie Antoinette (Woolly Mammoth). Smart People, Hot 'n Throbbing (Arena Stage). Mirele Efros, Yellow Face, The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide (Theater J); Children of Medea, 36 Views (Constellation Theatre). Waiting for Tadashi (George Street Playhouse); Burn This (Syracuse Stage). Film: Steel Town, Pipe Dream, Someone Like You. Television: Genera+ions, New Amsterdam, 24, ER, Law & Order. Education: MFA Acting NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Alex Tatarsky (Wall) Called “a hilarious, finely tuned absurdist” (Theatre Jones) and “outrageous and profane” (NYTimes), Alex Tatarsky makes performances in the uncomfortable in-between zone of comedy, dance-theater, performance art, and deluded rant–sometimes with songs. Their original solo performances Americana Psychobabble, Untitled Freakout, Dirt Trip, and Sad Boys in Harpy Land have been presented by venues including Abrons Arts Center, The Kitchen, La Mama, MoMA PS1, Playwrights Horizons, The Whitney Museum, and many bars and basements. As curatorial fellow at the Poetry Project, they organized a series on the poetics of rot. Research interests include bootlegs, hellscapes, and compost. @tartar.biz

Lauren Yee (Playwright) is an award- winning playwright, screenwriter, and TV writer. Her plays Cambodian Rock Band and King of the Yees have been performed at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Baltimore Center Stage, Arena Stage, Signature Theater, and many other theaters. She is the winner of the Doris Duke Artist Award, the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Horton Foote Prize, the Kesselring Prize, the ATCA/Steinberg Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters literature award, and the Francesca Primus Prize. Her plays were the #1 and #2 plays on the 2017 Kilroys List. Lauren is a Residency 5 playwright at Signature Theatre, New Dramatists member (class of 2025), Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab member, former Princeton University Hodder fellow, and Playwrights Realm alumni playwright. Current commissions include Arena Stage, Geffen Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Second Stage, South Coast Rep. She has been a writer on Pachinko (Apple TV+), Soundtrack (Netflix), and a soon-to-be announced upcoming FX limited series.

Dan Rothenberg (Director) is a co-founder and co-artistic director of Pig Iron Theatre Company. He has directed almost all of Pig Iron's original performance works, including the OBIE Award-winning Chekov Lizardbrain and Hell Meets Henry Halfway. Pig Iron's work has toured to 15 countries on four continents, with stops at the Humana Festival, Edinburgh Frince, Under the Radar, TR Warszawa, Konfrontacje Teatralne Festival, and Tokyo Performing Arts Market. Dan has directed three critically acclaimed premieres by Toshiki Okada for the Play Company in New York City, a national tour for the Acting company, and collaborations with the alt-comedy group Berserker Residents, new music outfit Bowerbird, and Sweden's Teater Slava. Dan teaches physical theater at the Pig Iron/UArts MFA and Certificate Programs. Pew Fellow; USA Artists Knight Fellow; Artist-in-Residence, Penn Program in Environmental Humanities.

Ashley Mapley-Brittle (Associate Director) is excited to be working on The Hatmaker’s Wife as her first production with Theater J. Previous Associate Directing experience includes Private Jones at Signature Theatre. Some of her Assistant Directing experience includes A Not So Quiet Nocturne at VOCA, A Christmas Carol at McCarter Theatre, Good Bones and Colored Museum (upcoming) at Studio Theatre, Much Ado About Nothing and Jane Anger at Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Great Leap, We Declare You a Terrorist…, and Nine Night at Round House Theatre. Directing experience includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at Nu Sass (upcoming), Peerless staged reading at We Happy Few, Undiscovered Country and Elbow staged reading at Spooky Action, and MOJO at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has her BA in Performance Theatre from High Point University and her MFA in Theatre Directing from East 15 Acting School (London, UK).

Misha Kachman+ (Scenic Designer) is a visual artist and a scenographer who has worked at Arena Stage, Asolo Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Berkeley Rep, Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, Court Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Olney Theatre Center, Opera Royal Versailles, Pasadena Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Rattlestick Theatre, Round House Theatre, Seattle Opera, Seattle Rep, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, Signature Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Theatre for a New Audience, The Wilma Theater, Woolly Mammoth, 59E59 Theaters and many other companies in the United States and abroad. Misha’s previous Theater J credits include The Odd Couple, The New Jerusalem, Lost in Yonkers, Race, Our Class and This Much I Know, among many others. Mr. Kachman is a Helen Hayes Award recipient and a Company Member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, as well as an Associate Artist at Olney. He is a graduate of the Academy of Theatre Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia. Misha serves as Professor and Head of MFA in Design at University of Maryland. For more information visit www.mishakachman.com.

Ivania Stack+ (Costume Designer) is delighted to return to Theater J, where she has designed many productions including, most recently: Nathan the Wise, Two Jews Walk Into a War, and Tuesdays With Morrie. Ivania designs for many regional and DC area theatres including: Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, The McCarter Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Gulf Shore Playhouse, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Everyman Theatre, The Wilma Theatre, TFANA, The Second City, The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Company Member), Ford’s Theatre, Round House Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Imagination Stage, Studio Theatre, Olney Theatre, and Gala Hispanic Theatre. She has an MFA in design from UMD, College Park, and is a proud member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.

Alberto Segarra+ (Lighting Designer) Recent credits include: Jane Eyre at Alley Theatre; Lend Me a Soprano at Olney Theatre; and The Nance at 1st Stage. Other credits includes: The Honey Trap (Helen Hayes Award Outstanding Lighting Design) at Solas Nua; Look Both Ways (Helen Hayes nomination Outstanding Lighting Design) at The Kennedy Center/Theater Alliance; Monumental Travesties at Mosaic Theater; Espejos Clean at Studio Theatre; Sweat at Keegan Theatre; Passing Strange at Signature Theatre; Two Jews Walk into a War at Theater J; The Joy That Carries You (Helen Hayes nomination Outstanding Lighting Design) at Olney Theatre; Blood at the Root (Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lighting Design) at Theater Alliance; The Great Leap at Hangar Theatre Company/Portland Stage; and The Three Musketeers at Cleveland Play House. Upcoming: Camelot at Village Theatre; and Romeo and Juliet at Folger Theatre. albertosegarra.com.

Sarah O’Halloran+ (Sound Designer) is a sound designer and composer. Her theater credits include Theater J: This Much I Know, The Chameleon, Gloria: A Life, Two Jews Walk into a War, Compulsion, Nathan the Wise, and Talley’s Folly; Olney Theater Center: The Brothers Paranormal, The Humans, Our Town, and Labour of Love; Woolly Mammoth/The Second City: She the People: The Resistance Continues; 1st Stage: The Phlebotomist, The Brothers Size, Swimming with Whales, Trevor, and When the Rain Stops Falling; Studio Theatre: Cry it Out; Rep Stage: The Glass Menagerie; E2, The 39 Steps, The Heidi Chronicles and Things That Are Round; Everyman Theatre: Sense and Sensibility, Be Here Now, Proof, Dinner with Friends; Mosaic Theater: In His Hands and The Return; Theater Alliance: A Chorus Within Her. Sarah has worked on educational productions and projects at UMBC, American University, Imagination Stage, The John F. Kennedy Center, and the Educational Theater Association. Sarah is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829.

Anthony O. Bullock* (Production Stage Manager) is the Resident Production Stage Manager for the 23-24 season. Theater J: Hester Street, This Much I Know, Moses, The Chameleon, One Jewish Boy, Gloria: A Life, Two Jews Walk into a War…, Intimate Apparel, Nathan the Wise, Compulsion or the House Behind, Tuesdays with Morrie, The Wanderers, Sheltered, Occupant, Love Sick, The Jewish Queen Lear, and Actually. DC: Red Velvet, Our Town (Shakespeare Theatre Company); The Pajama Game (Arena Stage); SOUL: The Stax Musical, Twisted Melodies (Baltimore Center Stage); Billy Elliot (Signature Theatre); The Children, The Hard Problem, Cloud 9, Hedda Gabler, Moment, Between Riverside and Crazy, Chimerica, Jumpers for Goalposts, Laugh (Studio Theatre). NYC: The School for Lies (Classic Stage Company) and workshops with Project Springboard: Developing Dance Musicals. Other regional credits include Barrington Stage Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, McCarter Theatre, TheatreSquared, among others. BFA from Oklahoma City University. Proud member of AEA.

Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) was founded in 1913 as the first of the American actor unions. Equity’s mission is to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Today, Equity represents more than 40,000 actors, singers, dancers and stage managers working in hundreds of theatres across the United States. Equity members are dedicated to working in the theatre as a profession, upholding the highest artistic standards. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits including health and pension plans for its members. Through its agreement with Equity, this theatre has committed to the fair treatment of the actors and stage managers employed in this production. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions.

For more information, visit www.actorsequity.org.

Theater J Leadership

Hayley Finn (Theater J Artistic Director) is an accomplished director and producer with over twenty-five years of experience in professional theater across all aspects of the profession, including producing, directing, casting, education, fundraising, and has been instrumental in creating national partnerships for theaters across the country. Prior to joining Theater J, she was the Associate Artistic Director at the Playwrights’ Center, where she worked with some of the nation’s leading playwrights and in her tenure produced over 1,000 workshops. She also served as a Co-Artistic Director of Red Eye Theater from 2019-2023 where she co-produced and curated the New Works 4 Weeks Festival—an annual four-week festival that commissions 11 artists each year to make new performance works—and co-led the fundraising and development of a new 150-seat black box theater in Minneapolis.

She has directed nationally and internationally, including at Cherry Lane Theatre (New York, NY), Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO), the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland), Ellis Island (New York), Guthrie Theatre (Minneapolis, MN), HERE Arts Center (New York, NY), History Theatre (St. Paul, MN), Flea Theater (New York, NY), The Kitchen (New York, NY), LAByrinth Theater Company (New York, NY), Marin Theater Company (Mill Valley, CA), New Dramatists (New York, NY), O’Neill Theater Center (Waterford, CT), Pillsbury House (Minneapolis, MN), People’s Light (Malvern, PA), Public Theater (New York, NY), Playwrights’ Horizons (New York, NY), Red Eye Theater (Minneapolis, MN), Six Points Theater (St. Paul, MN), South Coast Repertory Theater (Costa Mesa, CA), and the Nine Gates Festival in Prague. Finn was Assistant Director on several Broadway productions, including the Tony Award-winning production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge.

Finn is an alumna of the Drama League Director’s Program, a recipient of the Ruth Easton Fellowship, TCG Future Leader Grant, National Endowment for the Arts support, and a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. She received her BA and MA from Brown University.

David Lloyd Olson (Theater J Managing Director) made his stage debut at age five at the Marcus JCC of Atlanta preschool and is now proud to be one of the leaders of the nation’s largest professional Jewish theater. He most recently served as managing director of Quintessence Theatre Group in Philadelphia where he oversaw the organization’s largest ever fundraising campaign and the doubling of their annual foundation support. He was manager of the executive office and board engagement at the Shakespeare Theatre Company where he supported the transition of the theater’s artistic directorship from Michael Kahn to Simon Godwin. He has also held positions at Arena Stage, GALA Hispanic Theatre, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and Pointless Theatre. He was an Allen Lee Hughes management fellow at Arena Stage, a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Valmiera, Latvia, and the recipient of two DC Commission on Arts and Humanities Fellowship program grants. He proudly serves on the board of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre (alljewishtheatre.org) and the board of Adas Israel Congregation.

Creative Connections

Creative Connections is Theater J's robust, independent series, aiming to connect audiences with the artists, artistic processes, the broader DC community, and themselves.

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS PRE-SHOW HAPPY HOUR WITH ENTRYPOINTDC

Thursday, June 6

Use the code EPDC3040 for discounted tickets and a free drink at a happy hour before the show! This program is intended for young professionals in their 30s and 40s.

PRIDE NIGHT

Thursday, June 13

Come celebrate with GLOE, NJB+, and the LGBTQI community! Use the code HATPRIDE for discounted tickets to this performance, and a free drink at a happy hour before the show!

GOLEMS AND DYBBUKS AND LEVIATHANS, OH MY! JEWISH MYTHOLOGY IN AMERICAN CULTURE

Sunday, June 16, after the 2:00 PM matinee

Join panelists, including Theater J favorite Dr. Miriam Isaacs, in discussing how Jewish mythology has become an integral part of American culture.

CAST TALKBACK AND AAPI COMMUNITY NIGHT

Thursday, June 20, after the 7:30 PM performance

Join us after the show and hear from cast members about their work on the production.

MAKING A HOME: A CONVERSATION ON HOMELESSNESS ADVOCACY AND PLACEMAKING

Sunday, June 23, after the 2:00 PM matinee

The Hatmaker’s Wife tracks a young couple leaving their life in the city to try to make a home for themselves for the first time. For many in DC and across the country, making a home for oneself is harder than ever, with over 400,000 citizens across the US experiencing homelessness in 2022, and homelessness continuing to be on the rise.

Come hear from experts working in homelessness advocacy respond to the play, alongside discussing their work working with and fighting for unhoused communities.

Panel presented in partnership with the Center For Social Responsibility at the EDCJCC.

GOLEM

BY MIRIAM ISAACS

The golem of Jewish legend, a man-made humanoid of dirt or clay, in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish the word means a dumb clod, a dolt. The Yiddish expression, “der oylem iz a goylem", means that unsophisticated, gullible masses are easily led astray. The origin is from medieval days and the Talmud, when wonder-working rabbis were said to experiment with creating life for practical purposes, as servants. Special Hebrew inscriptions could bring the creature to life and when erased would turn it to dust. The model was Genesis (2:7), where God formed the human, blew into its nostrils and it came to life. Issues came up. Can a golem count in the minyan? Yes. Rabbis were said to create a golem calf to be eaten. These golems were mute and literal minded. When sent to fetch water one golem didn’t know when to stop and flooded the whole town.

In the late renaissance period, in Europe, with a rise in anti-Semitism the legends of the golem took a darker turn, they could be dangerous, violent. The classic golem story involves an actual historical figure, the Maharal, Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague, said to create a golem to defend the Jews against accusations of Blood Libel. The Eastern European golem became a defender. In a tale in Yiddish literature by Yiddish writer IL Peretz, the Maharal, seeing the golem thrashing the rioters on rampage, with the Jews were concerned that there would be no more Christians left to work for Jews on the Sabbath, instead of destroying the golem, the sage stored him in the attic of Altneuschul in Prague, “just in case” he would be needed again. Creators of golems have to grapple with issues of the uses of Jewish violence for Jews and Christians. A German 1920 silent horror film Der Golem, wie her in die Welt kam portrayed the golem as a violent monster. What are the bounds of physical force, what does it mean for Jews to wield such power?

Golems traveled from Europe to America, as in Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, an adventure tale, in which young men import the Prague golem, smuggling it to America to fight off neo-Nazis. On a lighter note, to amuse and educate hasidic children an artist in the 1980’s created a comic book series, Mendy and the Golem. The pet golem teaches moral lessons while the Klein family has adventures.

Golems are everywhere, in films, novels and plays, tchotchkes, superheroes, Pokémon, video games. They can be monstrous or cute, male or female, video games, the imagination is open. Yet the same issues of uncontrollability have remained a potent question of our time with the prospect of robots and AI becoming more and more powerful. If we create something that is like us then what if they get out of control? Is it hubris? Are humans usurping divine power through magic in creating life? What if it gets out of control? Watch out!