Interfaith the Musical
A Taste of the Story…
Maya is a young Jewish widow in her early 40s mourning the death of her journalist husband who was killed while covering the Middle-East conflict. Even though Maya is a devoted interfaith leader, eager to bring diverse groups together for dialogue and engagement, she is devastated when she learns her only daughter, 19 year-old Tamar, is having a secret love affair with Stargazer, a Native-American man (Heart to Heart).
Though Maya raised her daughter to see the beauty in people of all faiths and cultures ((Love is Love), now she herself is faced with the real possibility that her own daughter may abandon their sacred 3,000 year-old tradition. Can Maya accept Tamar’s choice (What If My Children Go Astray)?
Tamar’s boyfriend, Stargazer, an ardent environmentalist, like many of his generation, is stirred by the climate crisis (It’s Not A Game). But Stargazer also faces backlash from his father, a tribal elder (Everything Is Sacred), and from childhood friends who expect him to marry within the tribe.
Maya’s best friend, Nur, a Pakistani-American Muslim, bemoans the fact that her own son has stopped attending the mosque in Los Angeles. Young people today are leaving their parents’ churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples in record numbers. They say they are turned off by religious dogma (Spiritual But Not Religious).
New hybrid religious identities are also emerging. One of Maya’s Jewish friends has adopted Buddhist practices into his Judaism (I’m A Bu-Jew). And what about the passionate atheists who aren’t having any of it (I Don’t Believe In Your God)?
The older generation is perplexed. What has happened? Where did we go wrong? How can we bring our children back to the fold? When Maya seeks counsel from her Rabbi, he leaves her with even more questions than she originally had (Ask the Rebbe).
Can we all find a way to peaceably co-exist in a world of such diversity where everyone is included–atheists as well (Let’s Make Room At The Table)? Can we recognize, embrace and celebrate our diversity and our uniqueness (We Are All Originals)?