The Unbelievable Story of Maggie Rom • Unforgettable one-man show

introduction

About two weeks ago I witnessed a solo show that left a deep impression on me. In this show, an artist I had not known before shared her life story. The story sounds like something concocted by a writer who has seen too many action movies and Turkish dramas, and came up with an unreasonable and exaggerated plot, but it is a chain of events that happened in reality. After the show, I contacted the artist, Maggie Rom, and asked her permission to bring her story here.

Immigration

At the end of 1973, immediately after the Yom Kippur War, Maggie's family immigrated from Tbilisi, Georgia, and settled in Jaffa. Before her immigration, the family converted all their possessions into gold and diamonds. All of these the family escaped to Israel in the soles of their shoes and the bottoms of chess and checker boxes.

On the same day that Maggie celebrated her first day at an Israeli school, the family's apartment was broken into. All the property was stolen, and the wealthy family suddenly became a poor family. But Maggie acclimated well to her new surroundings. Israeli music conquered her, and the pleasantries of Mati Caspi, Naomi Shemer and others played in her mind, and found their way to her piano. From a young age, playing the piano and drawing were Maggie's close friends, and the channels through which she knew how to spread her wings.

Another family of Georgian origin lived next door to the family's residence in Jaffa. Maggie didn't know it, but Simon (pseudonym), the neighbors' son, who was several years older than her, marked her as his bride-to-be.

The nightmare - first chapter

One Friday morning, 13-year-old Maggie went to the neighborhood market to buy something for her mother, who was worried about the Shabbat meal. On the way to the grocery store, someone called her name. Simon, the neighbor, was standing next to a car, and asked for her help to get something out of the car.

Maggie got in the car to help. But then the car doors closed on her, Simon jumped into the driver's seat, and the car began to drive fast. She was kidnapped!

The girl was struck by a terrible fear, but managed to keep her cool. She noticed a police car driving after them, and decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Maggie mustered up courage and managed to jump out of the car. The police noticed this, stopped the kidnappers' car and returned Maggie home. The frightened family decided to change their place of residence, to leave the neighbors and this disturbing event behind them.

The nightmare - chapter two

A little over a year has passed. One day, while Maggie was sitting in class at her new school "Tikhon Ironi T" in Tel Aviv, she was urgently called to the school office. Instead, a woman in a nurse's uniform was waiting for her with bad news:

Maggie's mother had a serious car accident. The mother is hospitalized in a serious condition on her deathbed in the hospital, and she urgently asked to see her home. The nurse accompanied the frightened Maggie to the car that was waiting for them near the school. The 15-year-old girl got into the car, and then, again, the doors were locked on her. The nightmare returned - she was kidnapped again. This time it was harder.

For five days, Maggie was kept in a hiding place by her captors. One of her captives bothered to remind her that she now belongs to her intended husband, and that without him "she is not worth a hairpin". During this nightmare, the young girl was raped by the same Morris, who saw himself as her intended son-in-law, and in the act of rape marked her as his property. Maggie was a victim of the cruel practice of "kidnapping brides", who immigrated to Israel.

The kidnappers started negotiations with the frightened parents, and set up a meeting with them at the central station in Tel Aviv. The parents informed the police, and Simon was caught in the police ambush. He led the police to the hiding apartment, and the unfortunate girl was released. The case caused many echoes in the media.

To add insult to injury, the defendant's lawyer leaked to the media, as if it was an affair between the two, that the girl was an accomplice, and that the kidnapping was done with her consent, to overcome her parents' objection. Of course, there was nothing between this leak and reality itself, and this only added to Maggie's distress, which required all the strength of her soul to testify. The court accepted Maggie's testimony and sentenced the kidnapper to twenty years in prison.

The Nightmare - Chapter Three

But the nightmare is not over. The family of the kidnapper Hans threatened Maggie's family with murder, as punishment for the "betrayal" of the family, which cooperated with the police.

To save her family, Maggie was forced to return to court, and with humiliated eyes she retracted her testimony. The rapist received a reduced sentence, and was released from prison after two years, and she, an 18-year-old girl, was forced to carry him, and later give birth to his child.

After several years of living in a nightmare, Maggie was called to the police. She was warned that she was married to a criminal family, which was targeted by the police and Interpol. The officer who spoke to her knew about her condition and knew that she was not related to the family business. He hinted to her that this was her chance to escape. At the age of 24, after six years of difficult marriage, Maggie packed a small suitcase and left home with her little son. 

Turning Point

It's hard to think of a lower place than the one Maggie has reached at this point in her life. The affair left her with a bleeding heart and a wounded soul. Sometimes she even contemplated the possibility of ending her life, and only the thought of her little son who needed her gave her the strength to continue.

One day Maggie happened to meet a friend from other days. The friend, remembering Maggie's love of painting, invited her to join him in visiting a painting exhibition. At first she refused. She told him that her life had kept her away from painting. But the friend insisted and she gave up. And then it happened.

At the exhibition, Maggie came across a portrait painting by the artist Lucian Freud, which enchanted her. Excited Maggie returned home, gathered all the colors she could find, and began to paint.

new life

Since then Maggie has not stopped drawing, creating and being an inspiration to others. She found love. She married, and Maggie's eldest son had two more brothers. Maggie continued to grow and strengthen. She developed into a multidisciplinary artist. Today she is a valued painter who exhibits in exhibitions in Israel and abroad, and she also plays the piano and acts. Maggie has finally arrived at Mitvathim beach.

A recurring motif in Maggie's paintings is the flying piano.

With the help of the flying piano, Maggie reminds herself again and again how playing the piano and her drawing talent gave her the wings to take off from the deep pit her life had fallen into, up into the blue sky.

Maggie wrote a one-man show and called it "Not Worth a Hairpin", in which she acts, sings, plays the piano and tells the story of her life. Maggie's mesmerizing paintings blend in and become part of the unfolding plot on stage.

Maggie appeared with the play at Cafe Chamber, opened the Tel Aviv University's 2021, and performed with great success in many cultural halls and cultural institutions. The play was sent on behalf of the Israel Artists Union to a single play festival in Moscow in XNUMX, was published by the "America Israel Culture Fund", and received a warm recommendation from the "Israeli Culture Council".

Maggie Rom shows at her home on Fridays as well as in home circles (for reservations 052-6702088).

And Maggie doesn't stop drawing, drawing and drawing

And sometimes it also happens that her paintings, like that portrait of the artist Lucian Freud that changed her life, also go beyond the walls, touch people and change their lives. We will bring the story of such a painting, which touched a Haifa family, next week.