EPSTEIN ORATORIO, Starring Kathleen Chalfant, Will Have Reading at La MaMa

La MaMa ETC will host a two-night-only benefit reading of Karen Malpede’s Epstein Oratorio, directed by Alex Keegan,  on Thursday, October 1 and Friday, October 2 at 7pm at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4 Street.  The reading stars Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Kathleen Chalfant.

The event, which has been organized by Evangeline Morphos, Michal Gamily, and Julianne Hoffenberg, will benefit the Public Integrity Project, which is currently suing the U.S. Attorney General for the release of the Epstein Files.

Poetic and darkly comic, Epstein Oratorio, an exposé of the ‘Jeffrey Epstein class,’ unfolds against the myth of Demeter and Persephone.  Hades presides over both the modern and mythic worlds while a male chorus speaks in language drawn directly from the Epstein files and mainstream media coverage.  The victims’ stories are based on real accounts.  By weaving fiction and myth, the play confronts the trauma of sexual violence and imagines the possibility of change.

The readings of Epstein Oratorio will be followed by brief talkbacks with Substack journalists Wajahat Ali and Ellie Leonard, who have done extensive research and written commentary on the Epstein files.  The play, published by Tough Poets Review, will be available for sale at the event.

Karen Malpede is the author of 22 produced and published plays, and co-founder with her late husband, actor/producer George Bartenieff, of Theater Three Collaborative, an Obie Award winner for its I Will Bear Witness, the diaries of Victor Klemperer.  She is the author of the new memoir, Last Radiance: Radical Lives, Bright Deaths. Epstein Oratorio is Malpede’s fourth major collaboration with Kathleen Chalfant.

For over 30 years Kathleen Chalfant has been one of the most respected actresses on the New York stage.  She is the recipient of Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle, Obie, Lucille Lortel, and Drama League Awards for her groundbreaking performance in off-Broadway’s Wit, and of a Tony nomination for her work in the landmark play Angels in America.  In 2025 she received Best Actress honors from the National Society of Film Critics for her performance in the film Familiar Touch.