Rachel and Maria, Together - Reading of a one act play

by Mona Washington

Can a lifelong friendship between two middle-aged women: African-American Maria, a journalist, and Jewish-American Rachel, a social worker, now living in Israel, survive Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement politics?  Set in an ice cream shoppe in a Philadelphia suburb in October 2018, the real-time play explores the inability of our normative ideals to withstand positive realities. Maria has been invited by an Israeli university to speak at a conference, but is undecided about accepting after the BDSM contacts her and requests that she boycott the conference. Rachel has already planned a mini-get together and made plans in Israel in anticipation of Maria's upcoming speaking engagement.  A last minute ice cream date before Rachel catches her flight back to Israel moves the women's friendship into uncharted territory. Maria’s ardent anti-racism activism, and Rachel’s fervent embrace of Zionism clash---over a milkshake and a sundae.