The Whore From Ohio

The Whore from Ohio by Hanoch Levin, Israel’s foremost playwright, is a black comedy that deals with the ultimate questions of fantasy, lust and mortality.

Hoibitter, an old tramp, has dreamed all his life about an unattainable high-class prostitute in America. As his 70th birthday approaches, he seeks to give himself a birthday present that suits his pocket: a visit to a street whore. Hoibitter’s son, also a tramp, imagines his father as a secretly wealthy man and had dreamed of the vast inheritance that would one day be his. He is tormented, therefore, over the idea of his father throwing away 100 shekels, especially since he knows his father is impotent. The street whore, far more practical than both of them, is satisfied with the old man’s meager savings and offers an illusion of love. In the end, fantasy remains the only redeeming force in the men’s miserable lives.

La MaMa’s production of The Whore From Ohio marks the play’s American debut. The play is translated by Sandra Silverston. Geula Jeffet Attar and Victor Attar direct.