Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Culture

POETRY FOUND

When renowned Forward cartoonist Ben Katchor’s telephone fell off his desk and smashed open, he discovered that the plastic shell of the phone was practically empty, with the exception of several small lead weights. These weights were the inspiration for his tragicomedy musical theater production “The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, or The Friends of Dr. Rushower.”

In the show, the titular island is a tropical factory-island where workers live and work in terrible conditions. A group of philanthropists and an aficionado of modern “found” poetry set out on a mission to educate the exploited workers of the island. The aficionado, who finds poetry in the instruction manuals of appliances manufactured on the island, attempts to share his passion for this poetry with the laborers

The Kitchen, 512 W. 19th St.; gala performance and reception for company, March 19, 8 p.m.; $120; March 20, 2 p.m., 8 p.m., March 23-March 27, 8 p.m; $20, advance ticket purchase recommended. (212-255-5793 ext. 11 or www.ticketweb.com)

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.