Play Reading at the Institute
Leopoldstadt
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 | 7:00 p.m.
Rubenstein Commons


Leopoldstadt (2020), by Tom Stoppard. Taking its title from the old Jewish quarter of Vienna, Stoppard’s epic yet intimate drama centers on Hermann Merz, a manufacturer and baptized Jew married to Catholic Gretl, whose extended family convene at their fashionable apartment on Christmas Day in 1899. Yet by the time the play closes, Austria has passed through the convulsions of war, revolution, impoverishment, annexation by Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust, which stole the lives of 65,000 Austrian Jews alone. From one of today’s most acclaimed playwrights, Leopoldstadt is a heartbreaking drama of literary brilliance, historical verisimilitude, and powerful emotion.

Play Reading is a popular activity that brings together the IAS community to read plays. The group meets at 7:00 pm on several evenings this year in the Rubenstein Commons. The readings are not performances, so you need not be ‘experienced’. Everyone is given a part to read, but if you prefer to just listen to the play instead of reading a role, come and sit back with a glass of wine and some ‘nibbles’ and enjoy the evening. All are warmly welcome! 

Please contact Annette Munt (amunt@ias.edu) with questions related to this event. 

Register below to attend.