WRITING / ANEMONE
Shay Shalem as Nili and Jenna Barricklo as Becca in ANEMONE. Photo by Austin Patterson.
ANEMONE
A story of friendship under pressure, identity in crisis, and the human cost of distance.
A PLAY BY MICHAEL VALDES
ABOUT
THE PLAY
Set in New York City in the immediate aftermath of October 7, ANEMONE follows Nili, an Israeli stranded thousands of miles from home, and Becca, the American Jewish friend hosting her. When Nili’s best friend Eden disappears at a music festival in Israel, she is left suspended between hope and fear as events unfold from afar.
Meanwhile, Becca watches the world around her in New York rapidly change, forcing her to confront questions about identity, belonging, and beliefs she once took for granted. As grief, fear, and an increasingly fractured outside world enter the apartment, their once-effortless friendship begins to strain.
ANEMONE is an intimate bilingual English-Hebrew portrait of friendship under pressure—and what happens when the personal and political can no longer remain separate.
WORLD PREMIERE
APEX Festival at The New School
March 8, 2026
Two sold-out performances
Written, co-directed, and produced by Michael Valdes
Performed in English and Hebrew
The production was subsequently presented through a limited digital stream and encore presentation in Spring 2026.
Shay Shalem as Nili and Hila Kremer as Eden in ANEMONE. Photo by Austin Patterson.
ORIGINAL COMPANY
ORIGINAL CAST
Nili — Shay Shalem
Becca — Jenna Barricklo
Eden — Hila Kremer
Voice of Imma — Liat Shalem
HEBREW TRANSLATION
Shay Harel
Hila Kremer
Shay Shalem
CREATIVE TEAM
Written by Michael Valdes
Co-Directed by Eric Scott Golovan & Michael Valdes
Original Music by Landon Braverman
Dramaturgy — Haïa R’nana Bchiri & Charlotte Stern
Voice Coach — Andrea Haring
Acting Coach — Chaelon Bennett
Movement — Teva Bjerken & Katherine Willis
THE WORLD OF
ANEMONE
October 2023. New York City.
At its center, ANEMONE is a play about distance: the distance between New York and Israel, between what we know and what we fear, and between two friends experiencing the same moment from profoundly different places.
Through Nili and Becca’s relationship, the play explores friendship, Jewish and Israeli identity, grief, belonging, responsibility, and the destabilizing moment when events happening thousands of miles away enter the most intimate spaces of our lives.
Beginning in the recognizable intimacy of a New York apartment, reality, memory, and dream gradually bleed into one another. English and Hebrew coexist onstage as sound, music, lighting, and fragmented memory move the play between the everyday and the surreal—placing the audience physically in one place while emotionally somewhere else.
Shay Shalem as Nili and Jenna Barricklo as Becca in ANEMONE. Photo by Austin Patterson.
PRODUCTION GALLERY
October 7 did not stay in Israel; it followed people home.
FOR PRESENTERS & PRODUCERS
Professional performance footage, scripts, and additional production materials are available upon request.