Souls was first published in Hebrew in 2020, and has since been reborn in English, Italian, Russian, and Ukrainian. Now, it takes on a new incarnation as theatre, with a new form and voice. My hope is that this life will be guided by kindred spirits toward rectification.
Rectification – so central to the theory of reincarnation – feels urgent today. The Jewish people know rebirth: rising from ashes, wandering between lands and tongues, seeking meaning. What fault requires rectification, and what happens once it is achieved? Perhaps it lies in the journey itself.
Grisha, the novel’s protagonist, claims to have reincarnated for 400 years. His mother, Marina, insists that life happens only once, and the rest is metaphor. Between them, I found space for history, imagination, and my own biography – family roots in Morocco, literary origins in Russian and Yiddish, theatrical ones in Purim spiel, and a future origin in Venice.
Reincarnation is not only mystical; it mirrors immigration, identity shifts, and metamorphosis in all our lives. True rectification, I believe, can only be found alongside kindred spirits – friends, strangers, even adversaries – who transform our journey into something shared.
Roy Chen is a writer, playwright, and translator based in Tel Aviv, Israel, with ongoing work in Italy and Germany. His most recent novel, Great Uproar, was hailed as prophetic for its final chapter foretelling the outbreak of war. The book has been newly translated into Italian and Russian. His previous novel, Souls, became an international success and has been published in multiple languages: Italian (Anime, Giuntina, 2022), Russian (Души, Phantom Press, 2021), Ukrainian (Душі, Dukh i Litera, 2025), and most recently English. An autodidact and polyglot, Chen translates from English, Russian, French, and Italian, with more than 50 plays and classic works to his credit. He has received numerous awards, including the S.Y. Agnon Prize (2023) and the Elliot Norton Award (2025).
Chen’s plays are staged worldwide. Recent highlights include Chi Come Me at Franco Parenti Theatre in Milan (also published by Giuntina), State of Affairs at Hamburg’s Thalia Theatre, The Dybbuk at Arlekin Players Theatre in Boston, and Souls at Gesher Theatre in Tel Aviv. Since 2017, he has been Gesher’s in-house playwright, producing original works, adaptations, and translations. His plays Floating Island, In the Tunnel, Anybody Here, and The Odyssey have toured internationally.
Itay Tiran is a graduate of Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts, where his exceptional talent was immediately apparent, and gained him many scholarships and awards. Upon completing his studies, he joined The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, and is now part of the ensemble at Burgtheater in Vienna.
His had his directing debut in 2010 with Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck, in which he also played the title role. Tiran directed and adapted the book Kleiner Mann, Was Nun? by Hans Fallada. In 2015 he directed the open-air production Le Nozze di Figaro at Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre (The Israeli Opera). In 2018 he directed the world premiere of Die Banalität der Liebe at Theater Regensburg. In 2019 he directed Salome at The Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv.
In 2019 he opened the season of the Burgtheater, directing Vögel (All Birds) by Majdi Mouawad. In 2020 he directed Mein Kampf by George Tabori. In the 2021 season, at Akademietheater, he directed Moskitos by Lucy Kirkwood. In 2022 he directed Eurotrash by Christoph Kracht. In 2023 he directed Shakespeare’s Richard III (which was also presented at the Festwochen in Vienna in 2025), and again in 2025, and Souls (by Roy Chen) at Gesher Theatre in Tel Aviv.