The Magnificent Minyan (excerpt)

Synopsis:

Leo Fishbein has died.  On the toilet.  With flies buzzing.

He is found by his daughter, Maddy, who calls her mother, Freda – Leo’s long-divorced ex- – to go over to the house with her.

Once the body has been dealt with, they make their way to the Chevra Kadishah, where they’re told that they need to get together a minyan of 10 Jewish males over the age of 13 in order to hold a funeral service over the body.  According to Jewish law, this must be done by the following morning.

The problem is that Leo was not such a nice man, and did truly terrible things to virtually everyone he ever encountered in his short, unfortunate life.

And so, in a kind of Yiddishe riff on ‘The Magnificent Seven’, Maddy and Freda must do the rounds, convincing a series of alienated Jewish men to show up for their dead relative.

The result is both hilarious and unexpected.

Character Breakdown:

Certain roles may be doubled, as seen fit.
FREDA  60
MADDY 30
MOISHE  50s
LIEBOWICZ  60s
OLD WOMAN   80s
GOLDFARB   60s
LIESEL  50s
LEDERMAN   60s
RECEPTIONIST  20s
ABRAMS   60s
MORRIE   60s
DRIVER   30s
TRIAGE NURSE   20s
LILLY  30s
GARY  30s
MIDWIFE   40s
MOURNERS 1-11   60s
ARNOLD GLICK   63
JULIAN GINZBURG   60s

Running-time:  65 minutes.

Production History:  Not yet produced.

Excerpt available to download for free.