The stage play October 7 will mark one year since the Hamas terrorist attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis with a special performance in Los Angeles.
October 7 — which draws on verbatim testimony from survivors of the attack — will be performed in a one-night-only staged reading at 7 p.m. Monday, October 7, at UCLA Fowler Museum’s Lenart Auditorium. The evening is being produced by the Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts at Hillel at UCLA.
The choice to stage the play at UCLA is not coincidental, as the campus was the site of virulently anti-Israel and anti-semitic protests as well as encampments earlier this year. As Breitbart News reported, leaders of the encampments blocked students from buildings and other public areas, with only students who denounced Zionism — the right of Jews to self-determination in the land of Israel — being allowed to pass.
The situation quickly got out of hand. Nearly 100 pro-Israel vigilantes stormed the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” at UCLA, resulting in physical battles with activists.
“This is why UCLA needs to know the truth about October 7 and the ongoing war,” Phelim McAleer, one of the play’s writers, said in a statement.
October 7 writers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney previously spoke to Breitbart News when the play opened earlier this year in New York.
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It was the “only play opening in New York that needs permanent police protection,” McAleer said in an interview in May with Mike Slater, host of Breitbart News Dailyon Sirius XM Patriot 125.
“There’s a play about Jewish people, about Israel, opening in New York, and it’s the only play in 2024 that needs police protection. The world has changed, let me tell you.”
Shortly after the fateful day, Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer traveled from Ireland to Israel where they interviewed people whose lives intersected with the Hamas attack, including some attendees of the Nova music festival. Their testimony was transcribed and is used verbatim in the play.
“Every word you hear on stage is a moment from that person’s day on October 7,” said McElhinney.
Among the interviewees was a worker for Coca-Cola named Zaki who ended up saving dozens of attendees at the festival. His words struck the play’s creators as among the strongest in the production: “Maybe people will learn something about the Jewish religion,” he says, adding that the highest calling for a Jewish person “is to save a soul.”
October 7 is intended to be an uplifting experience, not a depressing one, the writers said.
“These are incredibly resilient people and the stories are inspiring,” said McElhinney. “You don’t come away broken, you come away thinking these are amazing people, these are amazing stories.”
Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAlee also produced the Hunter Biden movie My Son Hunter.
The Monday, October 7 staged reading at UCLA will feature a post-performance Q&A with the cast and playwrights.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
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