Playwright to speak, Sept. 18 and Oct. 3

Motti Lerner, an award-winning playwright and visiting professor at Knox College, presents a lecture/screening, "The Choice to Remain Human: A Screening and Discussion of the Film 'The Boat is Full'," at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 18 in the Francois Room E-117, Umbeck Science-Mathematics Center, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. Released in 1981, "The Boat is Full" is about Jews and political dissenters who attempted to flee from Germany to Switzerland during World War II.

Lerner also will give a talk, "Playwriting During Wartime," at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 3, in the Alumni Room, Old Main.

Both events are free and open to the public.

In addition to the lectures, Lerner is also teaching a course at Knox this fall, "The Holocaust in Film and Theatre." This is Lerner's second engagement as the Joseph B. Glossberg Visiting Israeli Scholar at Knox College. He previously spoke and taught at Knox in 2006.

A playwright and screenwriter, Lerner is on the faculty of Tel Aviv University and has spoken throughout the U.S. and Europe on playwriting, Israeli theatre and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Lerner's feature film "Spring 1941" is currently in production in Poland with Joseph Fiennes and Claire Higgins in the title roles, and his television drama "Altalena" is in production in Israel.

Lerner's current American theatrical productions are "Benedictus," a collaborative work with Iranian and American actors and artists that opens this month in San Francisco, and "Hard Love," which opens in January 2008 in Atlanta.

Lerner's plays -- most of which deal with political issues -- have been produced in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Australia. His play, "The Murder of Isaac," about the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, had its American premier in 2006 at Centerstage Theatre in Baltimore. He also has written six screenplays, including 12 episodes of the Israeli television series "The Institute."

A graduate of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Lerner received the 1994 Prime Minister of Israel Award for Literature, the 1985 Meskin Award for Best Play, and the 1995 and 2004 Israeli Motion Picture Academy awards for best television drama.

The Joseph B. Glossberg Visiting Israeli Scholar Program brings distinguished artists and academics from Israel to teach and give public lectures at Knox.