I changed the title of Home Economics to A street sign in Jerusalem.
While I thought a major theme in the play was about making a home, during revision after the Zoom reading, I realized the script was about not forgetting Gabriel - not forgetting family. Naming a street after someone is certainly a sign about not forgetting the person - in this case, my aunt Mali Spighel who founded AKIM.
With the title Home Economics, I thought I was very clever. That’s the name of a course in school where women learned about cooking and being a homemaker in the old days whereas Doda Mali went to medical school - the only woman in the class - and “economics” meant she constructed her tiny living space into a home & physician’s office with her husband.
"Economics” also meant navigating the move from a hostile country to a new home (Nazi Germany to pre-State Israel), and then finding the means to establish a home for cognitively challenged adults (AKIM).
MALI SPIGHEL
Seven thousand keys for 7000 individuals to live with dignity. This is home economics. If someone were to ask Gabriel why was AKIM founded, he would say, “Because of me.”
The key to the play, however, is “don’t forget”:
MALI SPIGHEL
I instruct my family to not forget Gabi when I’m gone. Sie lieb zum Gabriel. Sie relt zum Gabriel. Be loving to Gabriel. Be nice to Gabriel.
With the title A street sign in Jerusalem we have an object, a place, and curiosity. What sign? Why is it important? What’s the story?
I learned from playwright William F. Mayfield that the title of a play should tell what it’s about, like his play, Harriet Tubman Loved Somebody. With the title, I couldn’t wait to see the production. I met Mr. Mayfield only a few times at a playwrights gathering at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. At one of these gatherings, he talked about how to title a play. It’s the only conversation I remember from that day. He must’ve been an incredible mentor. He passed away very young, 62, in 2012.
Thank you, Mr. Mayfield.
Playwright Judy Meiksin standing beneath the street sign in Jerusalem named after Malka (Mali) Spighel. January 30, 2018.