‘Somewhere In Between’: When you don’t belong
by Corey Stulce
08-24-2007

‘Somewhere in Between’ attempts to get its audience to ask questions about gender identity and issues.

• ‘Somewhere in Between’
• 8 p.m. Sept. 13-15
• The Theatre at St. John’s, 5000 Washington Place
• $10
• Raggedblade.com

On tour from Tel Aviv, Israel, “Somewhere in Between,” a play that takes on the concept of gender — even God’s — will arrive in St. Louis on Sept. 13-15 as part of Ragged Blade’s latest season.

Director Issi Mamanov and transgender playwright Ronny Almog chimed in via e-mail while taking the production around the globe.

Corey Stulce: Does the play follow a narrative form? Do scenes connect? Are there characters that we follow throughout?

Issi Mamanov and Ronny Almog: There is one character whose narrative the audience can follow. However, the play is a sequence of short fragments on the same subject, rather than a narrative plot. “Somewhere in Between” is a performance where poetry, drama, elements of movement and live musicians who are actors “speak” with their musical instrument — (and) all join together for one complete piece of art.

CS: Will you describe what is included in the play that may allow audience members to question their own feelings about gender?

IM/RA: We hope people will feel and understand the vague situation that the characters live in — a situation of having no answers about some aspects in their life. We want to show them the difficulty of getting along (and even living) in a very masculine society, a society with army dominance, society who knows “how to do it,” especially how to do peace. ….. In such a society there is someone who knows that she/he can’t be categorized and can not and do not want to answer basic questions that people usually ask about gender. All this experience could lead one to be open-minded about all gender issues.

CS: Are there elements within the play that you think might surprise American audiences?

IM/RA: First off, we want people to get to know sides of Israel and Israelis that are not shown in the media. We would also like the audience to experience the feeling of being in between.

CS: How do you attempt to get people to understand the term “in between?”

IM/RA: Not being defined and to understand that it’s an option in life. We want to introduce people with the option of not changing your sex, not transitioning from one gender (or sex) to another, but with being in between or somewhere else. We want to introduce them to a different way of choosing.

CS: In your travels, what kind of differences have you noticed in the ways that different cultures think of gender?

IM/RA: We found Israel a wide, open-minded country about this subject in spite of its religious profile. The gay community gains more and more juridical rights — what we can’t say about Ireland culture, for instance. In San Francisco it’s obviously not an issue at all.

CS: As the media, at least in this country, talks more about the issues of transgender people, what impact do you think that has? Have you felt changes?

IM/RA: People are afraid of the unknown. Dealing with gender issues, it improves the knowledge about this issue in the society. It’s a matter of time ’till tolerance and acceptance will be established. The first step of outing is always difficult, especially as a teenager. We can see lately the effect of movies on society like “Brokeback Mountain.”

CS: How is the sex of God discussed and/or debated in the play? Is there a conclusion?

IM/RA: We are not supposing to give answers, but to ask questions. “Is God a boy or a girl? There is no God. There is a God and he is a boy. He is a girl. Why do you say he if he is a girl? ...” God could be a man or a woman or black or white.

CS: What role does music play in the production?

IM/RA: We have a leading theme; it follows the main character’s steps as a process of self-acceptance. We have two live musicians playing and become two other characters/voices. Doron Shalom the composer chose viola as a mirror for an “in between” voice and piano as a common one.

CS: What feedback have you gotten from Jewish people living in America?

IM/RA: We were pleased to meet the warmness and acceptance of our American Jewish family. We realized the show touch a lot of their inner questions as well.

CS How does humor work into the play?

IM/RA: Sometimes it’s sad; sometimes it’s funny and many times, both. It undermines people’s basic assumptions, beliefs and feelings about gender and identity, exposes them to new phenomena, different ways of thinking and makes them re-think about it all.

CS: How did your time as a soldier influence your writing?

Issy Mamanov: In Israel everyone (at) the age of 18 must serve in the army.

You do not always ask questions at that age, and the army reinforces that tendency not to ask questions. I must admit that while I was working on this show I was released from the “army” way of thinking that influences Israeli society. The people in Israel believe that they know all about everything and they are very confident in their ignorance. It’s an issue I hope our show bring to conscience.

Ronny Almog: It was in the army when I first started writing. I wrote not only about gender, but mostly about the depression that the army forced on me. The army is a very gendered institution, which depresses me in your everyday life especially because I a non-gendered person. The army reinforces gender through the uniform, the army bag, the haircut… All of these “small” rules, which may seem unimportant, reflect the way the army is constructed as a gendered institution. The army is a very masculine area of society and it forces you to play a gender role. Living in a society where the military is very important probably made me question that I would have otherwise.

LOCAL NEWS HEADLINES