The Blessing of a Broken Heart
A play based on the book
Adapted and directed by Festival Artistic Director Todd Salovey

A world premiere reading of a new work based on Sherri Mandell's deeply moving journey of discovery and growing faith following the tragic slaying of her son.   At once heartbreaking and life-affirming, with immense beauty and courage, an ultimately uplifting story of healing and growth.

Reviews

"Todd Salovey, director of the San Diego Repertory Theater, staged a performance that verged on the miraculous. Actress Lisa Robins stunningly portrayed Sherri Mandell, in a stage adaptation of Sherri's best-selling memoir, The Blessing of a Broken Heart. In it she describes the tragedy of the murder of her 13-year-old son, Koby.

The portrayal by Lisa Robins was so astonishingly evocative that some audience members were certain that she was the grieving mother herself, come to read from her own work. This was a world premiere for the play, and if it goes on the road, I recommend it as a must-see."

The American Spectator

"It helped clarify the reality of the events yet allowed me to keep a theatrical distance to try to understand what Sherri Mandell was experiencing as she went through the tragedy and uncovered some blessing. I trust that this will find its way to Off Broadway at the very least and even possibly Broadway. The struggle to find blessings in tragedy is universal and well communicated."

Myla Wingard, San Diego

"What a wonderful piece of theatre. It touched my heart from the first slide of the cave because I knew the story. I really identified with Sherri Mandell. I learned a lot about grief processing an faith, as well.'

Linda Elyad, San Diego

Note from the director

“It’s such an inspirational story, because she took this tragedy and used it to transform her life into something it never could have been without it. I adapted her book which has lively and poetic language.
By sharing her story and healing, she’s influenced and impacted tens of thousands of people. She’s an artistic, hip, American, woman who’s wasn’t raised traditional, but decided that she could live a more spiritual, more Jewish and more meaningful life in Israel.

She asks questions that I ask in my life. Where does one live as a Jew? How do we connect with Israel? The play talks about how she grew up and about being a mother. It is important for the audience to understand that this is a person like us. She is not someone who is trying to live her life as a hero.

My first professional play was ‘The Dybbuk’. I liked it because it was unapologetically Jewish. What is the unapologetically Jewish story to tell now is ‘Blessing of the Broken Heart.’ This is the most important story that’s being written right now.”

Director Todd Salovey

Director's Bio

Todd Salovey has worked as the Associate Artistic Director at the San Diego Repertory Theatre for sixteen seasons.  During that time he has earned numerous critical awards for his innovative productions of classics and emerged as one of the leading producers and directors of new Jewish works. As Artistic Director of the REP's Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival, Salovey has directed, produced, and/or commissioned more than 40 world premiere works of theatre, opera, music, and dance and presented Jewish performers from nine different countries with works in five different languages.  Award winning professional productions include The Dybbuk, the world premiere of Yehuda Hyman's The Mad Dancers, Uncle Vanya, King Lear, and the 50th anniversary production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. A graduate of Stanford University, with an MFA in Directing from the University of California, San Diego, Salovey is on the faculty of the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California, San Diego.