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God of Vengeance Flyer Review
From "Best Revenge":

According to certain white supremacist groups, the Jews are an all-powerful people, able to plant subliminal thoughts in the minds of unwitting "purebreds," and God knows what else.  These groups have evidently never done Passover seder with a Jewish family ("Ooo, these bitter herbs are so bitter," "Hey, you're only supposed to take a sip of wine, not drink the whole glass!"), much less taken a gander at the flyer for the 7 Stages/Jewish Theatre of the South production of "God of Vengeance."
This truly must be seen to be believed.  It was created by Andy Suggs, Art Director of Carroll/White Advertising--an acknowledgment I make out of prior agreement with that agency, not from any desire to demonize or even to blame. (Well, maybe a little bit to blame.)  I'm sure Andy had only the highest motives when he took on this job, which he very likely worked on pro bono.  But Andy, baby, did you even bother to read the play? And if so, then Andy what the hell were you thinking?

Let's start briefly with something Andy was not responsible for, in the upper left-hand corner, where not one-not two-not three-but FOUR corporate logos are listed, including the town bank, the town newspaper, and a vodka distributor. You know you're in great shape when you have all those guys looking over your shoulder. (Actually, the vodka company was pretty cool, kicking in unlimited shots at the opening; I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts that the bank and the paper only came along for the free booze.)

We'll completely overlook the simulated brushstrokes or pieces of scotch tape or whatever the hell this "decorative motif" is supposed to be, and move on to the "Production Photo," which was taken weeks before rehearsals began. This purports to show Del Hamilton and Frank Wittow in costume as Reb Elye and Yankel Chapchovich respectively, but the two men are holding things (a scroll and a tray with two candles?) in such a way that it looks like they're angry butlers. Then again, Frank's makeup is so dark, so chocolate-brown, and his expression is so "Master Thespian," that it brings to mind nothing so much as a hasidic production of "Othello." ("Hey, that old black ram is, um, shtupping your white ewe. No, not me, you. I mean ewe. Your ewe. Oy vey ist mir kineh hora, just forget I ever said anything!")  I mean, please!  What's next, the Leni Riefenstahl production of "Fiddler?" 



But no, the piece de resistance is in the lower right quadrant. This displays (and I do mean displays) a full frontal view of a naked woman hanging by her arms from the upper horizontal bar of a Jewish star. No problem there, right?  I mean, serious Jewish play about the nature of God, naked lady hanging from a star--that sounds about right, don't you think?  But here's where we run into issues. To my mind the woman doesn't look Jewish. No way.

I'm not saying this because she has a big rack, or even because she appears to be very buff. I'm sure there are many Jewish women who fit that description (please, ladies, send photos). No, it's the body language that gives me pause. The woman here has her legs curled slightly up toward her torso, in what can only be described as a highly-athletic--one might even say provocative--pose. Now, all the naked Jewish women I've ever seen swinging from a Star of David--and believe me, there have been several--have been somewhat self-conscious about it. I don't know if it's the nakedness as such, or the added presence of the most important symbol in all of Judaism, but I don't believe that a Jewish woman would be capable of the casualness of this attitude, much less the element of body-centered carelessness, even thoughtlessness, shown here. (Perhaps I'm stereotyping, I don't know; but there's simply an un-self-consciousness, and--yes, I admit it--a shamelessness, that I don't associate with Jewish women hanging from stars or from bars.)

No, the woman pictured here is a goy. More than that, I'm convinced that she's Aryan. I mean, look at her. No, look more closely. (Closer!)   This woman isn't just in good shape, she's not just a body-builder.  No. She's a gymnast. I mean, how many naked Jewish women gymnasts do you know?  Okay, and how many of them have you ever seen do a dismount from a Jewish star?  Right. Starting to get the picture now?  This isn't just any naked Aryan woman (which I have nothing against, by the way). No, this one has been plucked right out of the opening frames of "The Triumph of the Will" by Leni Riefenstahl (yes, her again). You know what I'm referring to, right?  Where the airplane swoops in and shows us the Hitler Youth workout, all those hot master-race bods sweating to Wagner, getting ready to people the world with little Adolfs?   (Or else the woman could have been taken whole-hog from Riefenstahl's "Olympiad," about the Nazi-hosted Olympics of 1936, which is almost as bad.)  I mean, could anyone have come up with a more disturbing and frankly anti-Semitic image if they had tried?

(And excuse me, Andy Suggs, but what are those two circles surrounding the Jewish star, the red one inside the white?  Is that some kind of code, like a Freemason handshake or something?  Or is it more nefarious, some kind of Brotherhood symbol?  I mean, Andy, really, were you trying to invoke the local chapter of the KKK?)

Come on, you see it too, don't you?  Don't you?  There's some kind of conspiracy here. What else could it be?  I mean, what else could have provoked a nice, intelligent, successful guy like Andy Suggs of Carroll/White Advertising to create such an insult?
(I mean, really-how can you come up with an image that is, at one and the same time, anti-Semitic and still looks like an ad for the most boring and annoying Holocaust play ever written?  I would almost be willing to call it a masterpiece of semiotic bad taste, if it wasn't A FLYER FOR A PRODUCTION OF MY OWN GODDAMNED ADAPTATION!!!  MY GOD, ANDY SUGGS, HOW MUCH DID MY EX-WIFE PAY YOU TO TRY TO KILL ME???  Aaaaaah!  Aaaaaaaah!!  Aaaaaaaaah!!!)

I don't claim to know the ultimate goal, though it could have had something to do with that ongoing global conspiracy (a matter of fact in some quarters) to make sure I don't have a career. Yeah, that's the ticket…