Amichai Lau-Lavie & Shawn Shafner
Amichai Lau-Lavie, Founding Director of Lab/Shul, is an Israeli-born teacher of Judaic Literature who has studied at various yeshivot, including the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Elul Center in Jerusalem. Between 1992 and 1996 he directed the summer programs at Melitz: the Jewish Zionist Centers in Jerusalem, focusing on the integration of Jewish education via the arts. Amichai has written for/performed at the Theatre Company Jerusalem, The Acco Theatre Group in Israel and the Avodah Dance Ensemble. Between 1997-2000 he served as Artist-in-Residence at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City. Currently, Amichai is a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He is the proud father of Alice, Ezra, and Charlotte-Hallel.
Shawn Shafner is an artist, educator and activist. Founder of The People's Own Organic Power Project, he has been inspiring critical conversations about sustainable sanitation since 2010, from the top of NYC's largest wastewater treatment plant to the floor of the UN. Stage credits include Madison Square Garden, The Culture Project, and almost a decade making ritual Jewish theater with Storahtelling-Lab/Shul. Shawn enjoys public art, clapping for strangers and joining with New Yorkers to make a patchwork rug out of t-shirts. He has designed educational programming for the Children's Museum of Manhattan, JCC Manhattan and the 14th Street Y, and teaches with Urban Arts Partnership and Arts for All. He lives in Brooklyn, where he pickles vegetables without irony.