Cassandra Freeman

Multiple Tony n’ Tina roles

Marc Gelmon as the priest in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. Gelmon has played several roles in the production, which will be at Legion #179, on Commercial Drive, May 22-23. (photo from Marc Gelmon)

The priest is drunk and sleeping it off at our table. The bride is slow dancing with her former boyfriend and the caterer is highly recommending that I eat my bun by dipping it in the chicken sauce. The nun keeps chatting me up and, by now, I’m thinking she has a crush on me.

Welcome to Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding (TNT), an interactive, comical dinner theatre production starring, among others, Jewish community member Marc Gelmon. The night I attended in April, he was playing the caterer and emcee.

In one scene, he ran around the large, decorated hall wrapped in an Italian flag. In another, he joked about the 10 things you will never hear from an Italian husband. The almost 100 audience members laughed or groaned in appreciation.

Gelmon has played several different characters in TNT, first with Hoarse Raven Theatre Etc. from about 1995 to 2005 and, in the last year, with Hammer Up Productions. You never know, but he might be playing the priest when you arrive on May 22 or 23 at 6:30 p.m., upstairs at Legion #179 on Commercial Drive.

“For the show’s purpose and for my fun of pretend, I take each role seriously and immerse myself as much as I can into that world and character,” Gelmon told the Independent. “In doing so, I have had many audience members ask if I’m really a priest!”

In real life, Gelmon works in the health sector, including having been a mental health worker. He says that TNT does wonders for both his and his audience’s mental health.

“It’s just a great way to escape for a few hours amongst the mishigas [craziness] that goes on,” he said. “There’s always somewhere to look and someone saying or doing something ridiculous. The cast and production team are all really great people who want nothing more than to ensure the audience has a good time.”

photo - Marc Gelmon as the emcee in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding — Marc Gelmon as the emcee in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. *(photo from Marc Gelmon)*

Gelmon has had many adventures with TNT, including one time where the Vancouver Police showed up to break up a pretend altercation between Tina’s ex-boyfriend and the groom and groomsmen.

“I can recall when we’d have the final fight scene and, at that time, we ran outside the restaurant, and around to where there were these big windows, so audience members could see us outside against the windows in this fight. I’m aware of at least two times when the VPD happened to be in the vicinity and ran after us to stop the ‘fight.’ We also had an audience member decide to strip during the end of the show.”

Incidents like this are rare, though, Gelmon insisted.

“My experiences with both shows have been really wonderful. Michael Fera and Tanja Dixon-Warren were the first ones to bring Tony n’ Tina’s to Vancouver and they gave me the room to grow and develop as a performer, as well as becoming lifelong friends. I hold them in the highest esteem, as they have been a source of love and support for decades.

“Director and producer Jeff Laurin has taken this production and infused it with his love, care and devotion,” Gelmon continued. “Plus, our stage manager, Chellé Tanner, and the loving and funny cast have really made this second time around so good for my soul!”

Gelmon said he has been influenced by watching actors on SNL and SCTV. His favourite comics today include Gary Gulman, Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman and Gianmarco Soresi.

“These are my favourite comics because they’re all really smart, make me laugh, especially Gary Gulman, and they all talk about their Jewish experiences, and I love that,” said Gelmon, whose big break was performing in the children’s play Puss in Boots at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in 1994, where he played a lord and the king’s assistant.

“I was absolutely terrified, as this was my first actual play and I had two parts in it,” he said. “All I can tell you is that I loved it. I loved the costumes, makeup, being on stage, and camaraderie. That gave me a bit of confidence that I was really lacking, when I saw an advert in the Georgia Straight for Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding.”

Gelmon also loves the stories of Yiddish theatre and how many people in the early days of music, theatre and TV were often Jewish.

“I always feel that I have a Jewish sensibility to life and that always adds to my performance, even when playing a Catholic priest!” he said.

Over the years, Gelmon has been part of a few different community events.

“I think I’m most proud of participating in the Hanukkah convoy, which I first heard about over Facebook a few years ago,” he said. “I am not someone who people know I’m Jewish unless I tell them, so this was a great feeling of pride to drive, alongside many other cars, with these big electric menorahs on the tops of our cars, driving through downtown.

“The first time I did this, the folks at Chabad let me keep the menorah on my car for the remainder of the holiday. At that time, I was working at an elementary school and the teachers loved it, and a couple asked me to come and talk about Hanukkah to their classes. Also, someone left a note on my car. At first, I was worried, but then I read it and smiled. Whoever wrote the note described being thankful for seeing other people’s traditions and it made them feel good to see the menorah on the roof of my car.”

TNT runs for close to four hours, so you might want to bring a cushion if you have a sensitive tush like mine. If you have mobility issues, you can sit on the legion’s stairlift all the way to the festivities. Dress up and put on your dancing shoes because you are going to a wedding!

For tickets, go to linktr.ee/Tntweddingshowvancouver.

Cassandra Freeman is a Vancouver storyteller and improviser.

Recalling a shining star

My mother, Joyce, met my father, Bernie, at a dance at the Jewish Community Centre in Vancouver. She was selling tickets. He just wanted to talk to her, but she sent him upstairs to check out the other young women at the dance. He did, then came right down and asked her out, even though she told him she had two children and was in the middle of a divorce.

photo - Joyce Freeman with Ria, her first grandchild — Joyce Freeman with Ria, her first grandchild. *(photo from Cassandra Freeman)*

My mother was both elegant and beautiful. When I was a child, she ran a “model and poise” class for teenagers out of Kerrisdale Community Centre. My sister and I modeled there for an audience when I was about 4 years old. Later, I did some ballet on stage as well, with my partner from the dance school. I still remember how nervous I was, but it was so much fun.

I grew up with the many people in the house my mother invited over. They were from all over the world and spoke English, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish and other languages. (Looking back, I see why I chose to get a degree in international relations!) Mom would literally ask people she met shopping or on the street back to the house for dinner. A lot of them were single and lonely.

My dad worked as a court reporter and often had late hours, so refused to go out. My mother, therefore, had parties at home. I remember pancake and waffle brunches with at least 50 people going in and out. The toppings were cherry, pineapple, strawberry, blueberries, peaches and, of course, whipping cream and syrup. All my friends from the neighbourhood would be there, too.

My friends got an education in Judaism, including the Jewish holidays and the basics of keeping a kosher kitchen. One friend, Madeleine, credits my parents for her choice of a career that involved prosecuting war criminals. I’m guessing that’s because dad was a court reporter and she learned about the Holocaust from us.

I was thrilled when my mother invited the National Ballet of Canada company over for dinner after their performances – if my Uncle Sam had not been performing with them, she might have done it anyways.

I remember two things about the dancers. One was that they seemed to go back to the table and eat at least three times. The second was that, even though they were athletes, they didn’t have a hope when playing table tennis in our basement. Apparently, they had little hand-eye coordination. I remember meeting Karen Kain. She said I had a nice straight back and should continue to dance – and she left me all her beads.

My mother had good friends she would call almost every day. One was my godmother, Helen Friedman, who became like a grandmother to me. We spent a lot of time together. I took on her left-wing perspective and voted NDP for a very long time. She was also a feminist with a capital “F” and I took that on, too.

Growing up in my parents’ house, it was like all three of us kids – Devorah, Tzvi and me – ate social justice for breakfast. Now I see that this was clearly the ancient Jewish tradition of tikkun olam, healing the world. My sister said I had it so bad that, at age 8, I wrote to the Vancouver Aquarium and demanded they let their whale go back into the ocean.

My mother was clairvoyant. She taught me how to send her a psychic message about what I wanted for lunch on my way home. I normally got what I requested but that’s likely because I either wanted macaroni and cheese or a salami sandwich. My father says that, when we kids left home, my mother could make us call her at will, which I believe.

Mom’s favourite psychic story was about Dad and Grandma. Dad would come home from work and say, “Joyce, I don’t know why I bought that.” And Mom would say, “Oh, Grandma wanted that.”

I inherited my mother’s ability to communicate with spirits. Just before my Uncle Steve’s funeral, I was ironing. He said, “Hurry up and get to the funeral.” Mom got a message from him, too. During the transmission, it feels perfectly normal. Sometime after Uncle Sam died, I got an energy hug from his spirit. It didn’t diminish the sadness, but it was comforting.

At some point, my mother began doing I Ching readings for guests and family. I have her I Ching book and display it proudly. It is a book of strategy above all. It doesn’t tell the future, as most people think. It says that, if you are in this situation, you should do this; if you are in that situation, you should do that. It’s difficult to read but my mother was smart and seemed to know exactly what it was saying, even if it talked a whole lot about princes and generals and varied states of mind.

The other thing Mom did was cook – and she is famous for it. I remember helping her by cutting cucumbers. They all had to be about one-eighth of an inch thick or they were no good.

My mother got sick when she was 40 and was never really well after that. She had become a Chabadnik, which I believe helped her with the pain.

We knew when she was going into hospital because she would cook meals for us and put them in the freezer. In her late 70s, she was diagnosed with a cruel disease called Supranuclear Palsy. They tried a Parkinson’s pill, but it didn’t work. Mom died, at age 84, just as the sun was setting, bringing in the first night of Passover. We recently marked her yahrzeit.

A few days after she died, both my sister and I got the same message from her spirit. She said, “I am skipping.” I took this to mean she was ecstatic at being without her painful body. Now, I imagine she is a shining star in the universe. And that’s how I remember her.

Cassandra Freeman is a Vancouver storyteller and improviser.

Rescue dog brings joy

photo - Bo begs for more cabbage. A rescue dog, he is slowly learning to trust humans — Bo begs for more cabbage. A rescue dog, he is slowly learning to trust humans. *(photo by Susan Kars)*

My friend Susan Kars recently got a male rescue dog from Chile so, of course, I volunteered to come over and speak to him in Spanish. As my husband and I walked into her apartment, we were greeted by a small, black 2-year-old dog with a big growl. And then, all of a sudden, he fell asleep.

“I have always been a proponent of animal rescue,” my friend told the Jewish Independent. “I don’t feel that people should buy dogs when there are so many rescues out there … and rescue dogs show a different level of gratitude.”

Susan began walking dogs in 2008 for friends and recently felt that it was time for her to get her own. She believes that healing is part of Judaism. She is a member of Or Shalom, a Jewish Renewal synagogue. She started going there when Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan was the congregation’s spiritual leader.

“Rabbi Laura was amazing. She was really connected to a lot in the universe,” said Susan, who attended the celebration earlier this year of Duhan-Kaplan’s appointment as dean of the ALEPH Ordination Program, the Jewish Renewal seminary.

Susan decided that her new dog’s Spanish name, Bom Bom, wouldn’t work, that calling “Bom Bom” out in a park would sound too much like “Bomb! Bomb!” So, she named him Bo.

My friend volunteers at a supermarket for financially challenged folks and walks with Bo and one other dog once a day.

She tried the Spanish doggie commands I gave her with Bo and had some success. She was and is very determined to heal this dog.

When we met Bo, the poor thing had just spent 30 hours on an airplane and this was his second night in his new home. Susan got him from an organization called Homeless Pets Canada. Unmentionable things had been done to him by humans and he was very suspicious of us.

I asked Susan what kind of dog he was and she exclaimed, laughing: “He’s a mutt!” And that’s what he looked like until she gave him a haircut and a very long bath. Now, I’d say he looks like a very long terrier of some sort, but no one really knows.

Susan has found that training a rescue dog is the most time-consuming thing she’s ever done.

“I left him twice in one day and came home to a full roll of toilet paper shredded all around the apartment. But you can’t get angry at them because they don’t do it to hurt you.”

That same day, Bo “took out a piece of the wall” by pulling at the leash that was hanging on the hook.

Susan put this down to separation anxiety and fear of being in a new place but, weeks later, she also acknowledged that Bo is mischievous. For example, a few weeks after our initial encounter, I was sitting in Susan’s kitchen while she was loading the dishwasher. When she opened a cabinet near the floor, Bo didn’t miss a beat. He grabbed a small plastic funnel in his mouth and marched out into the hallway.

“He’s a sly dog,” Susan said.

Bo also acted up later in the evening. At first, everything was fine. He let me pet him for a long time, licked my hands and even sat down when I said “sientate,” which means “sit down” in Spanish. Then, I threw one of his toys for him to retrieve and all hell broke loose. He started barking and growling and trying to nip me.

Clearly this dog has post-traumatic stress disorder, I thought. And Susan agrees. But she is not allowing this to defeat her. She says it takes three days for a rescue animal to “decompress” and start to realize that they might be OK. It takes another three weeks for their personality to emerge and three months more for them to realize that they are safe and at home with a new life.

Bo already has started to give back. Recently, he comforted one of Susan’s friends whose dog was run over by a car and didn’t survive. Bo sat with the friend on the couch for a very long time.

Susan’s advice to others who adopt a rescue animal is that they should know “this is a major life decision.” She is spending about $500 a month on a long list of items, including vet fees, insurance, food, toys, bowls, mats, a blanket, puppy pee pads, poop bags, leashes, grooming, treats for training and a camera to see what he’s doing when she’s away. Bo has a bad knee, so Susan has had to buy him joint supplements and a set of dog staircases.

It’s not only costly, but time-consuming to care for Bo. But, it’s also so rewarding.

“I smile every day,” she said. “I have something to smile about. When he’s in his round bed and he gives this big release of breath at the end of the day, it’s so satisfying to hear.”

And, my husband and I have something to be happy about, too, since we’ve officially been made Bo’s adopted aunt and uncle.

Since Bo can be a fierce little dog, Susan said she will be training him as a K9 for Israeli intelligence – just kidding! He’s most definitely a Jewish dog though, said Susan, because he goes “berserk” over challah buns. They are definitely his most favourite treat. She left one on a plate for her neighbour and Bo snuck behind her and scarfed it down in seconds.

If you want to adopt a rescue dog, “just know that the hard work is worth it,” said Susan. “You are saving a life and, by taking a dog into your home, there is room for another dog in the rescue centre.”

When she was volunteering for Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association (VOKRA) about 15 years ago, Susan made T-shirts that said, “Open your heart and empty a cage.”

And that’s exactly what she’s done.

If you can’t adopt a rescue, Susan suggests donating to Homeless Pets Canada, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, VOKRA or other such organizations.

Cassandra Freeman is a freelance journalist and improv comedy performer living in Vancouver.

Living life to its fullest

My Aunt Hazel is 98 years old. They call her “the Queen” at Louis Brier Home and Hospital because, when she enters a room, she commands attention. I visited her in February, and she told me about her life in India, Iraq, Canada and elsewhere.

photo - Hazel Stevens, 98, has had quite the life — Hazel Stevens, 98, has had quite the life. She still commands attention. *(photo from Lisa Stevens)*

Hazel Stevens (née Moses) was born in Bangalore, India, in 1928. By the time she was 18, she had five brothers and five sisters. Her parents, my grandparents, were from Baghdad, Iraq.

Despite being one of maybe five Jewish families in the whole city, they kept kosher and made their own matzah. When Passover was over, their Hindu and Muslim friends would bring them bread.

Hazel’s mother and father ran a clothing store, so, to some degree, the six girls in the family, who were born first, were brought up by the servants. The five boys who came next were brought up by the girls.

What I noticed as a child growing up was that Hazel was clearly the funniest person in the family. When we all got together, she would chant slogans from Gandhi’s National Congress Party with incredible enthusiasm. Everyone would laugh. I think that part of my love for comedy came from her.

photo - Hazel Stevens (née Moses) was born in Bangalore, India, in 1928 — Hazel Stevens (née Moses) was born in Bangalore, India, in 1928. *(photo from Lisa Stevens)*

Hazel was also unequaled in her bravery. One day, a monkey grabbed her sister’s little girl, who was just a baby, and took her up onto the roof of the family’s home. Hazel climbed up to the roof to save her.

“I was frightened because the monkey could bite the baby or throw it off the roof,” Hazel told me. “I had to be very calm. I calmly patted myself and said, ‘Give me the baby.’ Finally, the monkey threw the baby at me.”

Luckily, no harm was done.

A few years later, in 1946, when Hazel turned 18, she visited Baghdad with her parents. It was a time of unrest, just after the Second World War. It isn’t well documented, but my aunt says that there was one week of “hysterical mobs” trying to kill their Jewish neighbours. The Jewish community had faced increasing insecurity for years, including the Farhud (pogrom) in June 1941, during which between 150 and 180 Jews were murdered, 600-plus injured and about 1,500 stores and homes looted, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. In the 1940s, about 90,000 Jews lived in Baghdad, notes the museum, making up a significant portion of the population.

During this time, Hazel and others in the Jewish community were given hand grenades by the Baghdadi government. She fearlessly carried an urn full of them on her shoulder, as she went around the city, delivering grenades to Jewish households.

photo - Hazel Stevens in Baghdad in 1946, with an urnful of hand grenades provided by the government, which she delivered to Jewish community members to use in defence against hostile neighbours — Hazel Stevens in Baghdad in 1946, with an urnful of hand grenades provided by the government, which she delivered to Jewish community members to use in defence against hostile neighbours. (photo from Lisa Stevens)

“When you are young you are not afraid … because you could run,” she told me.

One night, Hazel joined her family on the roof, throwing stones down at a malicious crowd, which eventually left. Miraculously, no one in Hazel’s immediate family was hurt during this period.

Before her stay in Baghdad, Hazel had begun dating a young British soldier named Desmond (Steve) Stevens. He lived by the YMCA where she played tennis and he would come over and tell her not to hit or throw the balls so far away because the young Indian men would have to run far to retrieve them.

Steve would visit Hazel when she worked in her parents’ store. This was dangerous because girls weren’t allowed to speak to boys in those days, she told me. Dangerous in the sense that she should have been chaperoned.

Hazel would say to Steve, “Quickly, buy something, my parents are coming.”

The pair fell in love, but Hazel’s parents did not approve, as Steve wasn’t Jewish.

When Hazel was in Baghdad, her grandmother set her up with a man she hoped Hazel would marry. But my aunt was as smart as she was daring. She says that, when she met the man, she made all kinds of faces and threw her arms about. It was a very long 30 minutes, said Hazel, but she succeeded in turning him off.

Her daughter Lisa said: “It was her act of insanity that proved to her parents that she loved my dad. She wired him after her parents acquiesced, and he came over to Baghdad to spend some time with her. She told me they took walks and held hands.”

photo - Hazel and Desmond (Steve) Stevens were married in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1947. — Hazel and Desmond (Steve) Stevens were married in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1947. *(photo from Lisa Stevens)*

Steve promised to convert to Judaism and he did. The two were married in one of the beautiful synagogues in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1947. I remember that Steve was very knowledgeable when it came to almost anything Jewish.

Most of our family left India when it looked like there was going to be a civil war in 1948. Hazel and Steve went to England. I’m not sure of the order of their travels, but Steve remained part of the British army and so he and my aunt lived in various places in Canada and Europe. During this time, their first two children – Anita and David – were born.

Hazel told me that she was a dancer and remembers winning a $50 prize in her 30s – she can still pull one leg over her head. At the parties she threw, she would dress up in a belly dancing costume that she made, turn on Middle Eastern music and perform for everyone throughout the house. All the kids at the parties would crawl behind her, picking the shiny gold beads that would fall off her dress.

Nineteen years after her first child, Hazel gave birth to Lisa in Vancouver and soon enrolled her in dance classes. Today, Lisa is a director and choreographer, based between New York and Toronto.

Steve was a communications engineer at BC Tel (now known as Telus). He worked with new technology and, unknown to the family until after he retired, he provided spy satellites for NORAD. He was responsible for much of the communication capabilities when NORAD was first built, says Lisa.

Hazel was the homemaker for Marpole Neighbourhood House, where she provided in-home care for seniors and for people with disabilities. She won Homemaker of the Year several times. She also spent a lot of time organizing charity events for Vancouver’s Jewish Community Centre and the Hadassah Bazaar.

Steve and Hazel spent much of their spare time in the spring and summer caring for the front and back gardens of their house on Oak Street. Lisa says they often saw people stop their cars in front of the house and take pictures of the abundance of colour and the foliage.

Hazel ran a bed and breakfast out of her home on Oak Street and continued that after Steve passed away about 26 years ago. She also provided a room for out-of-town families who came here to visit their loved ones at Vancouver General Hospital, as the house was on that bus route.

In her late 80s, Hazel moved into Legacy Senior Living, where she says she led the exercise class at least once when the fitness instructor was away.

In a wheelchair now, Hazel lives at the Louis Brier, where she told me all about her incredible life.

I have a tendency to create funny, bold and daring characters when I improvise onstage and I think that maybe, just maybe, I get that from my aunt.

Cassandra Freeman is a Vancouver storyteller and improviser. She wrote this article with files from the Moses family and from Hazel Stevens’ daughter, Lisa Stevens.

Bringing joy to people

Ira Pettle, middle, with actors Dave Francis and Cedar Lynn Dobbin. (photo from Ira Pettle)

Laugh Out LIVE! will be hitting the road in the fall. On the list of cities and towns it will be visiting are Pemberton, Squamish, North Vancouver and Bowen Island, with classes on the North Shore coming this winter.

Known as a children’s entertainer for the last 25 years, Ira Pettle began producing Laugh Out LIVE! in December 2021 in Whistler with funny woman and partner, Rebecca Mason.

“Comedy has always been on my radar. Laughter is the best medicine and it lights me up to bring joy to others. Being raised on SNL, In Living Color, and a countless number of comedy films, TV shows, actors and the like, I feel like I’ve always known this was one of the paths for me,” Pettle recently told the Jewish Independent.

Currently, Laugh Out LIVE! brings stand-up, improv and sketch comedy shows to packed houses at various venues in Whistler, including the Maury Young Arts Centre, Rainbow Theatre, Whistler Conference Centre, Dusty’s Bar & BBQ, and the Garibaldi Lift Co. Bar & Grill (GLC). Pettle performs in all three shows.

The Marquee Variety Show is devoted to a mix of different comedic acts and can involve improv, sketch, musical comedy, film and parody. The Improv Battle pits teams against each other weekly “to claim unscripted victory,” and Stand-Up Standoff is a monthly competition where the best comics win $500 in prize money. There are also opportunities for writers, theatre technicians, stage managers and filmmakers on the show’s website.

Pettle began his improv and sketch career at the Second City Conservatory program in Toronto but was drawn to comedy from an early age.

“As a kid, I was always drawn to and fascinated by comedy. Watching The Carol Burnett Show, and SCTV (Second City Television) with John Candy, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Rick Moranis … those were the most influential comedy shows for me as a young, aspiring performer,” said Pettle, who lists Jerry Seinfeld, Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, Adam Sandler and Bob Einstein as the Jewish comics he has been most influenced by.

Pettle has a master’s of education and has taught improv, acting and music to thousands of kids, teens and adults. In 2022, his debut children’s album, A Little Bit, co-written with Juno Award-winning singer/songwriter Norman Foote, was nominated for children’s artist of the year at the 2023 Western Canadian Music Awards. His next record is slated for release this winter.

Known as “DJ Ira” throughout the Sea-to-Sky Corridor, Pettle is a sought-after family entertainer. As a key player in the BC performing arts scene, he was named the 2019 Champion of Arts and Culture at the Whistler Excellence Awards, with another nomination at the 2023 awards.

“I discovered very early in my life that I was a performer,” he said. “An entertainer. I remember as a kid, the joy I felt bringing a smile to someone or soliciting a laugh. In those early days, it was my coming to the dinner table on all fours, pretending I was an ape, making my mom giggle, or going to the Blue Jays baseball game when I was 14 with my buddies and pretending to fall down the stadium stairs, getting 500 people sitting in the stands to simultaneously gasp.”

Today, when he’s not entertaining children or performing comedy, Pettle leads a number of improv, stand-up comedy, public speaking and presentation workshops. He uses improvisation as a tool to “release tension, awaken joy and return to the present moment.”

Many of the performers on his improv stage started out taking classes with him.

Pettle grew up in Toronto and says that learning about Judaism was a huge turning point in his life.

“Having been raised Reform, and being the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor, I was always told how important my Jewish roots were,” he shared. “But, because my family’s religious practices were very surface level, I was confused and became deeply confronted by what I was told versus what I was doing in my daily life as a ‘Jew’ and, through a series of divine interventions, became committed, for the first time, to seeking out a deeper understanding of my Jewish roots.”

Pettle eventually found out about the yeshivah Ohr Somayach and studied with them in Israel.

“I felt ready (and passionately interested) in making a clear choice on whether to declare myself Jewish definitively and pursue/develop a more conscious connection to Judaism, or allow my Jewish roots to remain as is, or simply fall by the wayside/disappear. I needed to dive deep into the learning at the source.”

Pettle’s connection to Judaism was affirmed and, with a renewed and more solid understanding of his cultural roots and heritage, he remains, he said, “very honoured to be Jewish.”

To contact Pettle regarding his work as a kids entertainer, go to irapettle.com. For Laugh Out LIVE! inquiries, contact him via laughoutlive.com.

Cassandra (Cass) Freeman is a Vancouver improviser and journalist.

Dance as prayer and healing

Aliza Rothman is “passionate about bringing this kind of expressive dance and healing movement to others and into the world.” (photo from Aliza Rothman)

It’s a musical Shabbat at Or Shalom Synagogue. There are four musicians playing. The rabbi is singing and chanting prayers with the congregation and a woman is dancing. Her face glows.

Hasidic leaders like the Ba’al Shem Tov and Reb Nachman of Breslov emphasized the power of dance as prayer and healing – and Aliza Rothman is part of the Jewish Renewal movement that values these teachings. She sees dance as a form of expression and prayer.

“When I move, I feel better, more alive, more connected to myself, others, my body, my emotions, my life force. And I am passionate about bringing this kind of expressive dance and healing movement to others and into the world,” she told the Independent.

Rothman is an expressive arts therapist who has been teaching a Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) movement class at Or Shalom since she moved back to Vancouver in 2023. Dance is both her passion and her medicine.

After many years of classes and choreography, she found herself at a drum circle at a music festival. Moving to the beat, it became a kind of trance dance. Ever since, she has been drawn to free-form movement.

In her mid 20s, Rothman traveled to India and participated in dance meditations as well as trance dances. Her journey then brought her to live in Jerusalem, in 2000, where she attended a weekly class called the Boogie – a dedicated free dance space, a place to be yourself, to connect and be playful. She traveled around Israel to dance at music festivals.

Jewish Renewal and dance came together for Rothman “on a soul level” when she was in her 20s. She dreamed of becoming a dance therapist.

“I had just come back from India, where I spent a few years traveling and on a spiritual quest that involved dancing, art, yoga and other healing heart-opening practices,” she said. “When I returned, I remember dancing outside on my own, and Hebrew songs and prayers came to me as I moved…. Years later, they really merged, when I went back to Israel, and then when I started facilitating dance workshops in Berkeley, Calif.”

Rothman moved to Berkeley with her now husband – Rabbi Arik Labowitz, spiritual leader of Or Shalom – to get a master’s in counseling psychology and expressive arts therapy. She led Rosh Chodesh and Omer dance groups there for close to 20 years.

She is also an open floor movement teacher. She discovered the activity in the Bay Area soon after it had begun, founded by five teachers who studied under the late Gabrielle Roth.

“Open floor is a form of conscious dance – there are no steps to follow, there is no right or wrong way to move. We let the rhythm of the music move us. We teach, practise and embody core movement resources – it is a life practice.” explains Rothman on her website.

“We work with 10 core movement resources: pause, release, centre, spatial awareness, toward/away, contract/expand, vector, activate/settle, dissolve, as well as four hungers – solitude, connection, belonging and spirit. Open floor is movement therapy.”

Since returning to Vancouver from Berkeley, Rothman has established her own private practice.

“I work with individuals as a somatic/trauma/movement and expressive arts therapist,” she said. “I believe in the body’s wisdom and innate ability towards healing and wholeness. I encourage people to move with their range of feelings – dancing our grief, anger, joy.”

Dear G-d,
if only my heart would be
straight with You all the time,
I would be filled with joy.
And that joy would spread all the way
down to my feet,
and uplift them in dance.
Please, never let my feet falter,
release them from their heavy bonds,
and give me the strength
to dance, dance, dance.

– Rebbe Natan Sternhartz, student of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (Likutei Tefillot I:10)

Rothman grew up in the Jewish Renewal movement. Her parents were some of the first members of what is now Or Shalom but, back in the day, it was called “the Minyan,” led by Rabbi Daniel Siegel and his wife, Rabbi Hanna Tiferet Siegel.

“It rotated between all of our living rooms,” said Rothman.

Rothman’s parents are Myrna Rabinowitz, stepfather Barry Rabinowitz and father Leo Rothman. Myrna Rabinowitz is widely known in the Vancouver Jewish community as a singer, including as a member of the band Tzimmes.

“My mom had a lot of music playing in our house and, when I heard music, I danced,” said Rothman. “I danced all the time as a child – putting on shows, dancing in my yard, etc. I grew up with a soulful musical Jewish connection at home, a heart-centred, joyful Judaism, which I found more of when I moved to Berkeley.”

This month, Rothman is leading outdoor dance on Tuesday evenings in Queen Elizabeth Park. She will be teaching another Rosh Chodesh dance group beginning in the fall and hopes to begin some small dance-based expressive arts therapy groups in the fall, as well. She also teaches classes online. She can be reached at alizarothman.com.

Cassandra Freeman is a freelance journalist and improv comedy performer living in Vancouver.

Welcoming by example

Shifra Sharfstein and her husband, Shlomo, run Georgia Tech Chabad House with the help of their children. (photo from Shifra Sharfstein)

My parents invited countless people into their home over the decades and fed them on Shabbat and Passover. Little did we know that their acts of kindness would inspire one of their grandchildren to bring Shabbat dinners to hundreds of Jewish students at Georgia Tech in Atlanta each year.

Shifra Sharfstein grew up in Vancouver until she was in Grade 7, going to school at the local Chabad House and also learning about Judaism with her parents, Tzvi and Nomi Freeman, and grandparents, Joyce and Bernie Freeman.

“We went every Wednesday night for a special dinner,” Shifra recalled. “Grandma would spoil us with our favourites each week. She would read us a book and chat with us. She would listen to us talk and let us help make desserts in the kitchen. It was a space that was just all love, pure unconditional love.”

Shifra also gives credit to her grandfather, who supported my mom’s efforts to bring what seemed like the entire Jewish community into our house to feed them.

My mother grew up in India and her parents were from Iraq. Shifra remembers the Sephardi tomato soup with potatoes and meatballs, which took Mom a whole day to make.

“My cousin Ariella and me would talk all night about how much we loved that soup!” she said.

When Mom passed away, Shifra compiled a recipe book for family and friends called With Love from Joyce.

She remembers Mom’s international food.

“Baked Alaska coming out of the oven with cold ice cream inside always seemed like magic,” she said. (And then there was the cherry pie, which I can still taste.)

She remembers gathering together with her cousins before every Jewish holiday, making hundreds of hamantashen.

“I do the same with our college students, today,” she said.

Shifra runs Georgia Tech Chabad House with her husband Shlomo, and with the help of their eight children.

“I could go on forever talking about how much my grandmother and grandfather inspire me,” she said. “Whenever I’m in the kitchen for awhile, especially the week before Pesach, which is grandma’s yahrzeit, I feel her there with me. Sometimes, the powerful work we do is overwhelming, especially when we’re helping students deal with tragedy, and I close my eyes and see Grandma’s smile and feel the beautiful love she had channeled through me, her granddaughter.”

Recently, the couple threw a dinner for 500 Jewish students and dedicated it to the memory of Shifra’s grandparents. It was the first time so many people had dined there.

“Thank G-d we have lots of help and an amazing community of beautiful Georgia Tech students!” she said. “But we keep it all homemade at Chabad and I always incorporate Grandma’s flavours in it.”

Shifra said she also was inspired by the way her grandparents had so many guests who were welcomed like family.

“Grandma always said that what mattered was that we all got along,” Shifra explained. “She told us stories of Jews from different backgrounds and how what was most important is that we all came together, no matter our differences, with love … she truly loved every Jew with zero judgment. I think I absorbed that from her. She looked past the outside and saw that each person has a beautiful soul. She taught me how to do the same and I truly try to make that my focus every time I meet someone new.”

Shifra considers herself a feminist, running the Chabad House they live in and taking care of her children side by side with her husband. She is an accomplished speaker, as well.

“Knowledge is power,” she said. “I grew up being taught to always ask questions. My father and mother spent time learning with me as a young girl in Vancouver and the more I learnt and [the more] I asked, the more I realized how much I could accomplish.”

She added that she is inspired by the late Lubavitcher Rebbe’s teachings about women.

“As a Chabad leader, I know my Rebbe taught me that Jewish women in leadership have a unique power as nurturers who can change the world with love,” she said. “It’s the same message [now] and I intend to take it with me and change my part of the world with that feminine loving touch.”

Chabad Georgia Tech has seven Jewish classes each week, a weekly BBQ, social events, events where they counsel students and, of course, the highlight of their week is Shabbat, with anywhere between 80 and 130 students who come and then stay, chatting late into the night after dinner.

All this activity has had an impact. For example, there have been three weddings in the last 14 years and, right now, another couple is engaged to be married.

Shifra says their success is due, as well, to their dedicated team of students, who run many of the events. There are about 1,000 Jewish students on campus.

Cassandra Freeman is a freelance journalist and improv comedy performer living in Vancouver.

Theatre from a Jewish lens

Laen Hershler performing REMNANTS. Hershler brings an interactive version of Dr. Hank Greenspan’s play, which is based on 40 years of conversations with Holocaust survivors, to the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture on June 8. He will be joined by Vancouver Playback Theatre. (photo from grad.ubc.ca)

In June, Laen Hershler celebrates his first year as artistic director of Theatre Terrific. He also hosts, on June 8, Listening with Survivors, “an evening of deep listening and shared reflection as monologues from Holocaust survivors open into a live, interactive performance with Vancouver Playback Theatre.”

“I was deeply honoured and excited to step in as the artistic director of Theatre Terrific,” he told the Jewish Independent. “This community has always felt like home to me, both as a person and an artist. I look forward to continuing this welcoming tradition.”

“Theatre Terrific Society is a trailblazing mixed-ability theatre company that has been championing inclusivity in the arts since 1985,” reads the website. The society is “dedicated to tackling the challenges of accessibility, representation and inclusion in the arts by breaking down stereotypes and fostering empathy across diverse communities. It creates work that resonates with universal human experiences, bridging differences through storytelling. With a compassionate yet bold approach to theatre-making, it cultivates spaces where respect, rigour and risk drive the creative process.”

Theatre Terrific’s last production, called Proximity: The Space Between Us, was well received at the Vancouver Fringe Festival last September. Directed by Hershler and Susan Bertoia, it was created with the cast and is about the struggles of aspiring artists.

photo - In June, Laen Hershler celebrates his first year as artistic director of Theatre Terrific — In June, Laen Hershler celebrates his first year as artistic director of Theatre Terrific. (photo from instagram.com/theatreterrificvan)

Hershler is also an actor and improviser, and he is pursuing a doctorate in research-based theatre at the University of British Columbia. He is part of Vancouver Playback Theatre, as well, and, as an observant Jew, he performs complete with head-covering and tzitzit.

“Since my shift to diligently keeping Shabbat about eight years ago, my acting career moved from mainstream theatre, which almost always necessitates working on Friday/Saturday nights, to applied forms of theatre,” he said. “These include playback theatre, forum theatre and academically situated theatre, which are much less dependent on weekend shows. I love performing in these types of shows since they tend to be very socially engaged and meaningful projects.”

Hershler’s responsibilities at Theatre Terrific include arranging all the classes, courses and productions, and hiring the instructors, directors and other artists for TT’s projects. He teaches, directs and sometimes performs in the company’s offerings, and works on establishing connections with the broader community of theatre companies regionally and internationally, especially all-abilities arts organizations.

“I love the meaningfulness of the work, the creative freedom and the amazing human beings I get to work with,” he said. “I appreciate the opportunity to create work and opportunities for theatre artists of all abilities and to produce meaningful and evocative theatre. The challenge of the work – which is learning to hold a radically inclusive space that allows for high-level artistic work while including artists across spectrums of physical, neurodiverse and cognitive abilities – is also something I cherish.”

Hershler’s theatre career began at the Jewish Young People’s Theatre of Vancouver, which was based out of the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. The program was guided by Lynna Goldhar Smith, who he credits as being a huge influence – he began classes with her when he was 8 years old and stayed with YPT until he was 14. He said a large percentage of people that he acted with in YPT are still involved in the arts today.

Since graduating with his master’s at the University of Cape Town in 2011, Hershler has been an instructor in the education faculty at UBC in Vancouver and in the creative studies faculty at UBC in Kelowna. He began his career as a performer and educator touring and giving workshops in France, Korea, Australia, Kenya, South Africa and elsewhere on various aspects and uses of physical theatre for both children and adults.

“I loved my role as the Tooth Prince while performing for 5-year-olds (and their parents) at one of the most prestigious theatres in Seoul, Korea,” he said.

A couple of years ago, at the Peretz Centre and at Or Shalom, Hershler performed the one-man show REMNANTS, which was written by Dr. Hank Greenspan and first produced, for radio, in 1991. Based on 40 years of conversations with Holocaust survivors, the work delves into the survivors’ experiences, exploring themes such as loneliness, rage, storytelling and the dynamics of relationships across generations.

“It was a deeply meaningful project,” said Hershler, who is bringing REMNANTS back to the Peretz Centre on June 8, in a different form.

“In this version,” said Hershler in an email, “these monologues will open into a space for collective reflection, storytelling and discussion through playback theatre – a form of theatre that invites the audience’s voices and experiences into the performance itself, creating a space for deep listening and dialogue. For this, we will be joined by Vancouver Playback Theatre.”

The evening will be about listening to the Holocaust survivors, as well as one another, he said, “to find overlap and connection with our own lives, today, in this moment in time – to learn with, to learn from, to learn alongside.”

Hershler would like to do more Jewish storytelling.

“I would love to create work that brings down the mystical tales of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, an interest I inherited from my father, who has long been a storyteller of Nachman tales…. Being Jewish is who I am, and it pulsates through all the work I do,” he said. “All my artistic work emerges from this prism, from a Jewish lens, from a Jewish neshamah (soul).”

For tickets to Listening with Survivors, go to peretz-centre.org. For more information about Theatre Terrific, visit theatreterrific.ca.

Cassandra Freeman is a freelance journalist and improv comedy performer living in Vancouver.

Reflections on being a rabbi

Rabbi Hannah Dresner recently retired as Or Shalom’s spiritual leader. (photo from Or Shalom)

On Nov. 30, the Or Shalom community comes together to celebrate Rabbi Hannah Dresner’s nine years of service to the shul. Dresner retired as Or Shalom’s spiritual leader on Oct. 31.

Daniel Siegel, one of Or Shalom’s founding rabbis and one of Dresner’s ordaining rabbis, calls her “a gift to the Jewish Renewal movement, Or Shalom and the greater Jewish community.”

The Jewish Independent interviewed Dresner earlier this month.

JI: What were your childhood influences that eventually led you to becoming a spiritual leader?

HD: I grew up in a spiritually oriented home, with my father a close friend and student of Abraham Joshua Heschel and, in his own right, a scholar of Hasidism. I was always attracted to the perspectives of the Hasidic masters, as they were presented to me – centring on holiness to be found in all people, places and things….

My maternal grandfather, a product of German Modern Orthodoxy, although not at all of the Hasidic or Neo-Hasidic milieu, helped to concretize this idea of a sacred physical world by teaching me and my sisters blessings to be recited in all situations – most memorable, the blessings he taught us in his garden as we watched morning glories unfold or picked first raspberries or encountered snails under the soil.

But I did not take this sensibility in a religious direction, rather I became an artist, mining what you might say is a secular devotion to the nexus between matter and spirit.

JI: Was there a turning point where you knew that you wanted to become a rabbi?

HD: When I had children of my own, I began to recognize the importance of Jewish community and worked to found a lay-led chavurah in which to raise them, creating a spiritual laboratory that allowed for experimentation with modes of prayer and expressions of Jewish ritual. I did not think of this as leading to a professional shift, but, looking back, I was developing the very tools that have allowed me to succeed as a community rabbi. It was over 20 years later that I began to move toward the rabbinate.

There was no turning point, rather, a gravitation toward more and more serious study of the Hasidic masters and toward strengthening and broadening my capacity in areas of meditation, prayer, song practice, and writing on matters of Torah. Next thing I knew, I had morphed my ad hoc studies into matriculation in a rabbinical program that would lead to ordination.

JI: What are some of your happiest memories at Or Shalom?

HD: I will carry with me so many happy memories of Or Shalom, from my delight in teaching students first encountering Judaism, to the inception of our Zusia Bet Midrash, 90 community members studying Talmud led by the head of Svara: The Queer Yeshiva, to decorating our sukkah with plastic recyclables alongside our little ones, experiencing the community’s joy in mastering and singing the wordless melodies of the Hasidim, our Shabbat Soul evenings, to the ovation that followed my sermon for Rosh Hashanah of 5784 – in which I challenged the community to broaden our definition of who is a Jew to accept anyone born to one Jewish parent, regardless of gender.

What made these memories particularly happy was the collaborations of which they were born, collaborations with so very many Or Shalom members. It has absolutely taken a village.

JI: What were some of your greatest achievements?

HD: Although it was certainly not what I anticipated dedicating myself to, one of our great achievements during my tenure was our handling of the challenges of creating virtual community during COVID. Perhaps it is because of my background in theatre direction and production that this challenge, though certainly daunting and exhausting, was an adversity I was suited to mastering – in collaboration with very talented lay leaders and a score of dedicated volunteers.

Together, we produced state-of-the-art Zoom services and hybrid High Holiday experiences, in addition to beautifully conceived adult education programming. Some of our most intimate classroom experiences have been virtual and we upped the ante on arts-based programs – from writing workshops and singing circles to studio arts experiences, laptop lids tilted down so that we could see one another’s hands at work.

Arts programming, in general, solidified as a part of the Or Shalom ethos, with art historically-based classes and visual art as response to textual learning, to our Koreh program of readings by Or Shalom writers, to season upon season of our Lights in Winter concert series. The journal e-Jewish Philanthropy has written about our arts focus and Or Shalom.

The revamping of our Gemilut Chesed committee and delivery of care for Or Shalom members needing assistance has been a highlight, including our Nechama program, which offers a listener to a mourner for the 11 months of grieving.

Of course, an achievement is our ratification of all-gender Jewish descent, a step beyond patrilineal descent.

And, as an outgrowth of this achievement, is the inception of our new chevra kadisha, to offer Jewish burial rites to anyone our communal chevra cannot serve. Details of the Or Shalom chevra kadisha will unfold even as I retire.

Perhaps overarching and underlaying all of this has been the success of our Or Shalom Dialogue Project, which, over time, revealed important needs in the community, particularly longings for inclusion, and which has allowed us to converse about difficult subjects, including the variety of our thoughts and feelings regarding Israel and Palestine.

JI: What were some of the challenges?

HD: COVID was a challenge. The war in the Middle East continues to be a deep and terrible challenge. To some degree, fear of change has been a challenge, although I well understand that resistance to change is an expression of loss – sometimes loss of something precious.

Finances have been a challenge. And space has been a challenge. Now, with our renovation project, Or Shalom will expand to provide offices for all our employees and our first classrooms. It is hard to believe our child, youth and adults programs have been so vital and vibrant without a single dedicated classroom in our building.

JI: What do you see as your lasting influence over the Or Shalom community?

HD: I hope it can be said that I have both deepened and broadened Or Shalom, cultivating brave space for profound experiences and repeatedly looking to our margins to see who else must be embraced, companioned and brought to the centre of community.

JI: What, in life, brings you the most joy?

HD: Song and silence among spiritual friends, making art, knowing people for a long, long time, growing flowers, cooking from the garden, walking in the city and in the forest and in the meadows and on the shore.

JI: Do you have some advice for the Jewish people about getting along in this difficult time?

HD: My advice for the trying time we live in is to cultivate lack of certainty, to be both curious and courteous, never to let go of joy, folding our sorrows into our joys, and to believe in our powers of restoration and renewal.

JI: Is there anything else you would like to add?

HD: Have the holy audacity to pull your chair up to the table! If you don’t, decisions that affect you will be made by others.

You can read some of Rabbi Hannah Dresner’s writings at myjewishlearning.com.

Cassandra Freeman is a journalist and improviser who lives in East Vancouver.

Name inspires artist’s work

Growing up in Vancouver during the 1960s and ’70s, I was the dancer, my brother was the guitarist and my sister was the writer, soon to blossom into a visual artist as well.

Devorah Stone, my sister, is one of the contributors to this year’s Calling All Artists exhibit, which opens at Victoria’s Congregation Emanu-El on Aug. 26. Since the early 2000s, the mostly annual event has celebrated artists of many kinds – sculpture, ceramics, textile, poetry, mixed media, fabric, music – who offer their interpretation of a rabbinical or biblical text that they’ve studied with the synagogue’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Harry Brechner.

photo - Devorah Stone created a honeybee circle for this year’s Calling All Artists exhibit, which opens at Congregation Emanu-El Aug. 26 — Devorah Stone created a honeybee circle for this year’s Calling All Artists exhibit, which opens at Congregation Emanu-El Aug. 26. (photo from Devorah Stone)

“This year’s theme is ‘animals’ and since my name means ‘Honeybee’ in Hebrew, I went with that,” Devorah told me. “The bees in my work are all hand-felted, a technique that involves pocking at wool and shaping the form. I decided to present the bees in circles because they are so crucial to the circle of life.”

The artists’ works are up for six months in the shul’s social hall. Devorah has been involved with the event for the last 10 years. Rabbi Brechner gives a lecture on the theme and how it pertains to Jewish traditions, sacred writings and thought once a month for five months before the celebration. This year, his teaching focused on the significant symbolic and ritual roles animals play in Jewish texts.

“I’ve learnt so much about both art and Judaism attending the rabbi’s lectures,” said Devorah. “Anyone can join … you don’t even need to be Jewish.”

The Calling All Artists project is run by self-proclaimed “den mother” Barbara Pelman. She said there is a chapbook written every year with an explanation of each artist’s creative process and a copy of that is given out to guests.

“In last year’s Calling All Artists, I did the kohain gadol’s (high priest’s) breastplate with references to all the various colour and gem stones as described in the Torah,” said Devorah. “The only difference was the mannequin I used was a woman’s so I pretended that there might have been female priests at the time of the Temple!

“I’ve also done a collage of a person wearing a tallit and the burning bush, a three-dimensional piece of the Rosh Hashanah dinner, and another collage on a wooden cradle of the story of Abraham and Isaac.”

Devorah has always been fascinated with art.

“As a child, there was nothing better than a box of crayons and endless paper,” she said. “I drew space ships, planets and alien worlds. I also drew castles and princesses. I loved it. My imagination had no limits.”

In her 20s, Devorah spent four years at the University of Victoria, earning a bachelor of fine arts. All the while, she felt inspired by Emily Carr and Indigenous art.

“I loved the way Carr personified nature and her magnificent trees,” she shared. “I marveled at the complexities, elegance and craftsmanship of the First Peoples of the land.”

Our parents also brought us up with a strong Jewish identity.

photo - Devorah Stone — Devorah Stone *(photo courtesy)*

“Being Jewish, I was taken by the imaginative work of Chagall, his goats and houses and how everything seemed to be floating or suspended,” said my sister. “Later on, I began to be influenced by the school of Bauhaus design, especially Kandinsky, his calculated and yet whimsical designs.”

After Devorah moved to Victoria 20 years ago, she joined the Pandora Arts Collective Society. The group exhibits its works at the Little Fernwood Gallery twice a year and Devorah recently sold a painting there.

The collective is a community of people whose mandate is to facilitate and support mental health through the social and educational benefits of a free and welcoming creative arts space. The studio is open to everyone: professionals, students and beginners. The atmosphere is especially sensitive to people who are using art therapeutically. Devorah is on their board and has planned events for them in the past.

“We inspire and mentor each other,” she said. “I have learnt so much about art from that group. I’ve been introduced to many different kinds of art and artists, as well as being influenced by so many artists in our synagogue. The joke is that you can’t throw a rock without hitting an artist in Victoria!”

When she was living in and around Vancouver, Devorah brought up three children, two of whom live in the Lower Mainland. She visits all of us frequently and spends a lot of time on the ferry.

“I love doing fast sketches of the scenery as it goes by,” she said. “I also do fast sketches at outdoor concerts and festivals, which Victoria has so many of.”

Devorah uses pencil crayons, acrylic paint and watercolours, creates collages and sometimes three-dimensional art made out of whatever she can find.

“I love experimenting and I feel that all my art is influenced by being Jewish,” she said. “It all has a profoundly Jewish way of seeing nature and of being.”

The best way to view Devorah’s art is through Instagram @devlovesart.

Cassandra Freeman is a journalist and improviser who lives in East Vancouver.