Arts & Culture

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.

Stories of trauma, resilience

Love runs through every word in Voices of Resilience: An Anthology of Stories Written by Children of Holocaust Survivors, edited by Deborah (Devora) Ross-Grayman with Wendy Bancroft and the writers.

This compelling, hopeful and inspiring collection of stories will be launched on May 25, 7 p.m., in the Floral Hall at VanDusen Botanical Garden in an event supported by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC). Some of the authors will share parts of their stories, and signed books will be available for purchase.

The 12 contributors of stories and poems are children of Holocaust survivors and members of the Vancouver Second-Generation (2G) Group, which Ross-Grayman joined in 1993 and of which she is now a facilitator. Bancroft, a former journalist and researcher, is a trained instructor of guided autobiography.

“After an extensive investigation to better understand the impact of the Shoah’s legacy, Wendy adapted and crafted themes for our group,” writes Ross-Grayman in the book’s preface.

“What began as a six-week course for six of us grew to a two-year writing project for 12 participants,” she explains. “Through laughter and tears, we marveled at the similarity in our felt experiences despite the varied external circumstances. At times it was challenging to face and hold our parents’ pain and loss; at times we were sleepless and anxious, but we supported each other, developed deep bonds, and persevered. Through listening and reﬂecting on each of the stories, our understanding of ourselves and each other grew as we shared what some of us had never shared and, with understanding, came to a deeper compassion for ourselves and our parents.

“Our narratives so impressed Wendy that she recommended organizing an anthology. We included accounts of our parents’ survival to honour their lives and illustrate examples of post-traumatic growth – the positive psychological changes that can unintentionally arise from a life crisis or traumatic event, even while acknowledging the profound distress such experiences entail.”

The simultaneous holding of grief and contentment, even joy, is remarkable, as is the strength to continue, to grow, to heal – as much as healing is possible. The authors (in order of entries) – Gabriella Klein, Ross-Grayman, Henry Ross-Grayman, Jane Heyman, Marg Van Wielingen, Fran Alexander, Agi Rejto, Marianne Rev, Esther Chase, Barbara Gard, Olga Campbell and Sidi Schaffer – are open, sharing personal, vulnerable experiences on the page. The intergenerational impacts of trauma are clear from their diverse experiences, but so is the capacity for finding peace, for building community, for embracing one’s cultural roots while forging your own individual identity. While specific to the Holocaust, these stories, these remembrances, speak to a universal experience of living through and with historical trauma.

The anthology, put out by Amsterdam Publishers as part of the series Holocaust Survivor True Stories, is dedicated to the writers’ families; “to those who risked everything to save lives; to those who survived; to the millions who perished in the Holocaust; and to all people affected by war, displacement and genocide.” It is published in memory of Rev, who passed away in January.

Dr. Robert Krell, a psychiatrist, author, child survivor and founding president of the VHEC, wrote the book’s foreword, in which he shares some of his own story – he is both a Holocaust survivor and a 2G child – and offers emotional context. Dr. Chris Friedrichs, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, provides historical context.

Krell explains that, in general, “the second-generation consists of those born after the war, thousands in the displaced persons (DP) camps, which, for several years, recorded the highest birth rate in the world!” He talks about some of the experiences that 2G have in common, such as the need to sometimes parent their parents, how it feels to live “with the ghosts of the missing.”

“There are moments one cannot forget, must not forget, and these memories linger and reverberate throughout life, reviving the inner rage about the outrage committed against our parents and us,” writes Krell.

“It should therefore be no surprise that this collection of recollections reveals evidence of a surviving rage, problems with trust, confrontations with the meaning of death, and remarkable attempts to reinvigorate a life with meaning, including a meaningful spiritual engagement, whether within the Jewish traditions or not.”

“Mass murders were nothing new in history, but the Holocaust revealed that a once civilized society could orchestrate a program of extermination of human lives on a scale and in a manner that had never been imagined before,” writes Friedrichs. “It was so extensive and so unspeakably brutal that it gave rise to the very concept of genocide.”

Friedrichs writes concisely of the origins of the Holocaust, what happened and about how there are any survivors, as well as about some of the challenges survivors faced after the war.

“This volume reveals not only the enormous variety of what survivors went through but also the tremendous range of emotions and experiences that shaped the lives of their children,” he writes. “Though the Shoah ended 80 years ago, it is a living presence for all members of the Jewish people, and for none more so than those Jews whose own parents had survived this event without comparison in the modern history of humanity.”

In Voices of Resilience, each 2G writer’s chapter includes a brief biography, their parents’ survival stories and a few of their own stories or poems. Maps near the anthology’s beginning shows where all the authors were born and all the survivor parents’ birthplaces. The geography spans continents: Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America.

Despite vastly different experiences, there are recurring topics: dealing with antisemitism; taking care of their survivor parent; feelings of insufficiency, fear and sadness; being conflicted about religion and feeling like an outsider even inside the Jewish community.

The writers have worked to make their lives and the larger world better, as did their parents. The word “love” is prominent in these stories, as is its expression in the enduring strength of the family relationships, the caring for others, as well as oneself, the compassion shown, the emotional connections forged.

“We offer our stories as a source of hope and the possibility of resilience in the aftermath of trauma,” writes Deborah Ross-Grayman in the afterword.

No one contribution is more quotable than another. The collection does indeed offer hope, as well as thought-provoking explorations of memory, displacement and the generational impacts of genocide.

To attend the launch, RSVP at vhec.org. The anthology is available on Amazon for those who can’t make it on the 25th.

Photography and glass

Wes Bell’s photography and Hope Forstenzer’s sculptures are on display at the Zack Gallery until May 18. (photo by Sarah Dobbs)

The current exhibition at the Zack Gallery is actually two separate shows: Wes Bell’s series of black and white photographs, called Snag, which is part of the Capture Photography Festival, and Hope Forstenzer’s glass sculptures, called If Not Now, When?

The connection between the artists’ works is not immediately obvious.

“I was initially drawn to the idea of colour and black and white and the impact that would have on the visitors to the gallery,” curator Sarah Dobbs explained. “Both Wes Bell and Hope Forstenzer use everyday materials and imagery to explore complex emotional experiences, transforming the ordinary into something deeply symbolic. Their works consider ideas of vulnerability and change, whether through Bell’s weathered landscapes of loss or Forstenzer’s delicate glass forms that capture fleeting human feelings. Together, they create a dialogue about presence, inviting people to consider the fragility and urgency of being alive.”

Bell hasn’t always photographed in black and white. After he graduated from the Alberta College of Art in 1980, he worked as a fashion photographer, first in Milan, then in New York. “I was well known for my colours and my attention to details when I was in fashion,” he said. “I was published in many prestigious magazines, but I burned out after awhile. The commercial freelance roller-coaster hollowed me out.”

In 2008, the global financial crisis was the final straw. He fell into depression. “I felt that my life had too much colour,” he said. “I needed to simplify, but I didn’t know what my new direction should be.”

He went back to school. “I took classes in the history of photography and history of cinema, among others,” he said.

Bell returned to Alberta to say goodbye to his mother, who was dying of cancer. “As I drove back to the airport, my attention drifted to the roadside, to the flapping remnants of plastic bags snagged in barbed-wire fences running alongside the highway,” he recalled. “Mile after mile, the fences lining the ditches were embellished with forgotten shreds of plastic, whipped by the wind. They might’ve been blown off trucks or thrown away out of cars. Frayed, lacerated and punctured, they drew me in. There was melancholy there that resonated, like souls of the people we lost or wings of some fantastic creatures. I stopped the car and took photos.”

He uploaded the photos to his computer and converted them to black and white, to reflect his sadness. “Seven weeks later, Mom passed away. It is in remembrance of her that these images first came to life,” he said.

Bell returned to those ditches and fences. “I came there for three years, from 2015 to 2017, to photograph those bags fluttering in the wind. I photographed 68 different sites, always during the transitional season from winter to spring, when everything appeared dead, when no green vegetation, foliage or flowers distracted from the forms. Every time I took photos, I removed the bags from the barbed wire and put them in the closest garbage bins. I tried to take care of the environment.”

photo - "Snag - 11th Avenue NE, Medicine Hat, AB, Canada, 2015," a photograph by Wes Bell. — “Snag – 11th Avenue NE, Medicine Hat, AB, Canada, 2015,” a photograph by Wes Bell.

For Bell, these images symbolize his grief over the loss of both his parents. His father passed away just a few weeks before the show opened.

“This show for me is about loss and memory, about the universality of grief, not just for my parents but for everyone who dies. There is so much death in the world right now, so much oppression,” he said. “And mourning and funerals in many cultures around the world are often associated with black. That’s why I decided to go with the black and white approach. My original, coloured pictures don’t have the same impact.”

In contrast, Forstenzer’s sculptures are infused with colour. Only one sculpture is white – “Spine.” Every vertebra of that twisty glass spine is inscribed with a negative emotion: despair, trapped, brittle, inferior, inadequate, doomed. The little sculpture inspires profound sadness.

“It is about my sister’s spine,” said Forstenzer. “She has severe scoliosis. She has been grappling with many health issues for years, and this unnaturally curved spine is symbolic of her problems.”

Forstenzer’s road to glass artistry was somewhat convoluted.

“My background is in graphic design, photography and film. I’ve been writing stories since childhood, but I always wanted to have a visual aspect for my stories, too,” she said. “For years, I was the artistic director of a multimedia company in New York. We worked on short avant-garde plays: mine as well as ones written by others. We produced them around New York. It was an amazing job, very interesting and successful, but it didn’t pay the bills.”

For that, she worked as a graphic designer. She also taught graphic design, first in the United States – New York, Seattle, Baltimore – and, later, in Vancouver, after her wife accepted a job at BC Children’s Hospital in 2012 and the family moved here. Forstenzer taught at Emily Carr and Simon Fraser.

After years of working hard but being unable to make a living with art, Forstenzer was burned out. “There is no system to support artists in America,” she said. “We all need a day job to survive. Or a spouse with a paying job, if we are lucky. I’m one of the lucky ones.”

Forstenzer started looking for a new direction.

“I lived down the street from Urban Glass Studio in Brooklyn. I took a class from them and paid in kind with my graphic designer services. I was 30 years old and I fell in love with glass. I knew it was the medium for me, the way to express myself, to tell my stories. In theatre, in painting, in photography, the artist provides the focus, and his audience accepts it. But with glass, my story might be totally different from the one my viewers see. Everyone sees glass through their own life experience, supplies their own interpretation.”

At first, glass art was a hobby.

“I wanted more glass classes – there is so much to learn,” she said. “We moved to Seattle. I took more glass classes and always negotiated to pay with my designer skills for the studio time.”

photo - "Omen 2" by Hope Forstenzer — “Omen 2” by Hope Forstenzer. *(photo by Olga Livshin)*

After moving to Vancouver, glass became her full-time artistic practice, and she joined the Terminal City Glass Co-op.

“When Sarah [Dobbs] asked me if I would like to share the show with Wes Bell, I agreed. I thought it would be a nice contrast. Wes’s photos are all about grief and desolation. I find my place in between grief and optimism. The world is a mess right now, but I want to believe that we can pull through if we act now. That’s why I called my part of the show ‘If Not Now, When?’” said Forstenzer. The famous saying is attributed to first-century BCE sage Hillel the Elder.

Two sculptures of wings attract the attention of everyone who enters the gallery. Both are parts of Forstenzer’s series Dream of Flight. “I made 12 sets, all belonging to different winged creatures, for a show in 2021,” she said. “You know, every human religion, every system of spiritual belief, uses wings or winged creatures in some way.”

Another memorable work is “Mourners.” Four small glass figurines, abstract depictions of people in mourning, occupy a stand in the middle of the gallery. Their bright, intertwined, yellow-and-blue hues shine against the black and white of Bell’s photographs.

“I don’t think grief is always dark or colourless,” said Forstenzer. “When my mom died, I grieved, but I also remembered her beautiful heart and the colours she brought into my life. Death doesn’t remove the colours of our memories. I think it is a different aspect of grief, just as there are different ways to tell the same story.”

The two shows run until May 18.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

Film festival starts next week

Jackie Tohn, left, and Sarah Podemski play longtime best friends Nomi and Mara in The Floaters. (still from film)

The Vancouver Jewish Film Festival opens on April 30 with the award-winning The Ring (Israel/Hungary) and closes on May 10 with the multiple-award-winning Once Upon My Mother (France/ Canada). In between, there are more than two dozen films from several other countries, most of which have been recognized with honours.

Among the offerings at this year’s festival are two locally produced documentaries that the Jewish Independent has reviewed previously: Becky Wosk’s One Thread (jewishindependent.ca/different-but-connected) and Kai Balin’s Son of a Seeker (jewishindependent.ca/sharing-a-personal-journey). Each young filmmaker engagingly investigates, in different ways, what it means to be Jewish. Both docs screen on May 3.

Also screening on May 3 is the American film The Floaters. Leading the cast are Jackie Tohn (Nobody Wants This) and Sarah Podemski (Reservation Dogs) as longtime best friends Nomi, a struggling musician, and Mara, a struggling Jewish summer camp director. When Mara finds herself a counselor short at the last minute, she asks Nomi, who just got fired from her own band, to step in. Reluctantly, Nomi agrees and Mara puts her in charge of a group of teens who don’t fit in at camp for various reasons and who didn’t sign up for any activities – hence, they are “floaters.”

Directionless in life herself, Nomi proves an apt mentor to these lost kids. She learns from them, they learn from her. Nomi and Mara’s friendship is put to the test, the kids are put to a test. It’s a charming movie, with plenty of laughs, that, thankfully, doesn’t resort to crude gags, though a malfunctioning septic tank does add a lightly gross element.

The Floaters is a coming-of-age film about friendship and second chances, firmly rooted in Jewish traditions, from Orthodox to secular, featuring characters who are Jews by birth and Jews by choice. It has a John Hughes-esque feel and a few actors who were popular in the 1980s/1990s have supporting roles. But director Rachel Israel makes the film her own, and Nomi, Mara and the young misfits are at the movie’s heart.

image - Ruth (Niv Sultan) organizes an unorthodox picnic date for her and Baruch (Maor Schwitzer) in Matchmaking 2 — Ruth (Niv Sultan) organizes an unorthodox picnic date for her and Baruch (Maor Schwitzer) in Matchmaking 2. *(still from film)*

Matchmaking 2 (Israel), which screens on May 5, also has a misfit at its heart. Many of the actors from the first movie reprise their roles, including Maor Schwitzer as Baruch Auerbach, a former rising star scholar in his ultra-Orthodox community, now in his late 20s and yet to find a wife. There is no need to have seen the first movie to fully enjoy its sequel. The characters are likeable and, even when Baruch acts like an idiot, you still cheer for him and hope that he’ll find his match.

While Matchmaking 2 gives viewers a glimpse into the cultural differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, and into the ultra-Orthodox shidduch (matchmaking) system, it is mainly a rom-com. As The Floaters does, the movie celebrates Judaism and Jewish life with humour, tenderness and respect.

As entertaining, in a completely different way, is the documentary The Stamp Thief (United States/ Poland/Germany), which screens May 7.

The Stamp Thief, produced/directed by Dan Sturman, is fascinating on many fronts. The filmmakers make a potentially convoluted detective story into an easy-to-follow “page-turner” and there are a few moments where you’ll find yourself holding your breath. There are also many moments – well after the film – where you’ll be thinking about humanity’s capacity for doing good and evil, intergenerational trauma, generational responsibility, and many other issues.

photo - Dan Sturman, left, Dylan Nelson and Gary Gilbert in front of the building in Poland, where the stolen stamps were buried in 1945 — Dan Sturman, left, Dylan Nelson and Gary Gilbert in front of the building in Poland, where the stolen stamps were buried in 1945. *(photo from Boxhead Films)*

In The Stamp Thief, it’s refreshing how open the filmmakers are about the morality of what they’re trying to do – steal back for the Jewish community some rare stamps that were stolen by a Nazi officer whose task was to catalogue and appraise the possessions being stolen from Jews entering Auschwitz. The conversations between producer/writer Gary Gilbert and his family are uplifting, even as his family questions his motives and actions, because that’s what loved ones should do – be supportive but not uncritically so.

The story behind the filmmakers’ quest came from screenwriter David Weisberg’s father, who was a psychiatrist. His dad had a patient in the 1970s who was married to the daughter of a former Nazi. The patient revealed that his father-in-law had buried a case of stolen stamps in the basement of his home in Legnica, which was part of Germany until 1945, but is now in Poland.

Weisberg had no desire to return to Poland, but his friend Gilbert was game, and Gilbert had a plan – one based on an elaborate “fake movie” scheme that Weisberg’s father had

drawn up in the ’70s. Sturman would direct a fake film, giving him, Gilbert, producer Dylan Nelson and their handpicked team a non-controversial reason to explore the former Nazi’s apartment building. The help they receive from Polish film professional Sylwia Szczechowicz-Warszewska is moving, and the resulting documentary is compelling.

The Vancouver Jewish Film Festival runs April 30-May 8 at Fifth Avenue Cinemas, which is a 19+ venue, and concludes on May 10 at the Rothstein Theatre with a few films. For the full lineup and tickets, go to vjff.org.

Musical with heart and soul

Left to right: Josh Epstein, Lisa Horner, Steffanie Davis and Madeleine Suddaby in the Arts Club Theatre Company’s production of Kimberly Akimbo, now at the Stanley until May 3. (photo by Moonrider Productions for Arts Club)

High school is a time of often-volatile highs and lows, joys and sorrows. Now, imagine you are 16 years old but look 72 because you have a disease that ages you faster than normal – a disease that limits your life expectancy to your teens. How do you cope with the stresses of having to pack a lifetime into a few short years while dealing with an über-dysfunctional family?

This is the premise of the quirky Tony Award-winning musical Kimberly Akimbo (best musical, 2023) now at the Stanley Theatre to May 3, presented by the Arts Club. This is not your traditional big-cast musical with toe-tapping songs you sing on the way out of the theatre. With a cast of only nine, Kimberly Akimbo is a layered and nuanced look at who and what we are as humans. Although it takes time to get into the story, the reward comes at the end.

Kimberly Levaco’s family has just moved to small-town New Jersey and she is starting in a new school. The curtain rises on Skater’s Planet, where four Breakfast Club-type misfits (with assorted gender identification and unrequited love issues) are planning ways to raise money to buy school choir costumes. Tuba-playing, nerdy Seth (Jason Sakaki) works behind the counter and is obsessed with anagrams. Enter new-kid-on-the-block Kimberly (Lisa Horner) and cue the teenage politics and romantic possibilities.

Kimberly’s blue-collar family is made up of alcoholic father Buddy (Jewish community member Josh Epstein); narcissist, hypochondriac mother Pattie (Steffanie Davis); and bombastic in-your-face Aunt Debra (Madeleine Suddaby), an ex-con on parole who devises a mail fraud scheme into which she ropes her niece and her niece’s chums.

Horner, who’s in her 50s, has the daunting task of playing Kimberly, an angst-ridden teen in an adult in body – though, when with her family, Kimberly is the only adult in the room. Horner does a terrific job in this role reversal, and she can sing too! At the end of the day, the characters, as flawed as they are – and they are flawed – are likeable, as they grapple with their trials and tribulations. The message: life is finite, so seize the day.

While the songs are not that memorable, Suddaby and Davis can really belt them out. Epstein pleases with two solos and demonstrates some nifty moves in the skating scenes, as do the rest of the cast – kudos to choreographer Shelley Stewart Hunt.

On the design end, the curtain opens on a stark set featuring steel girders and battered school lockers, yet transitions easily from the skating rink to the Levaco home to the school library to the colourful Sweet 16 party and ultimate road trip, the latter backed by large-scale projections. Jewish community member Itai Erdal’s lighting design runs the spectrum to complement each of the changes. To complete the 1990s atmosphere, costumer Stephanie Kong has the teens decked out in grunge and the adults in Value Village-type garb.

Epstein shared his feelings on the show in an email interview.

JI: What drew you to audition?

JE: It’s really an acting role that just happens to live inside a musical, which is my sweet spot. I’ve also loved David Lindsay-Abaire’s writing forever. He has this stream-of-consciousness, offbeat style that I’m really drawn to.

JI: How would you describe your role?

JE: I see him as a deeply loving dad who just doesn’t have the tools or capacity to show up the way he should. He’s overwhelmed, a bit lost in his own fear and vices, and trying to hold onto joy while knowing time isn’t on his side.

JI: What is the message for audiences?

JE: We’re all on a clock, whether we think about it or not, and this show gently forces you to face that. It’s about how beautiful life becomes when you really understand how limited and rare it is.

JI: As far as musicals go, and you have been in many, how would you rank this one in terms of the music, lyrics and choreography?

JE: It’s incredibly smart. Everything has to be precise for it to land and, when it does, it’s kind of genius. The writing, music and movement all support these beautifully strange, nuanced characters in a way you don’t see very often.

JI: What is the energy like with your fellow cast members?

JE: We genuinely love each other and it shows. We’re having a blast even when the material gets dark. There’s a real sense of trust and play, which you need for a show this zany and heartfelt.

JI: Why should people come and see the production?

JE: It’s one of those weird, wonderful shows that only works because it’s so specific and honest, it’ll surprise you, make you laugh, and hit you harder than you expect. Plus, it’s a Tony-winning piece that doesn’t feel like anything else out there, brought to life by an incredible local cast.

For tickets, go to artsclub.com or call 604-687-1644.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Different but connected

Jews are not a homogeneous group in ritual, beliefs, thought or experience. We are diverse, coming from many different places, speaking countless languages, putting our unique spins on food, music and other cultural aspects. We are both a religion and a nation. Yet, despite the differences, we are connected to one another in myriad ways, linked by shared ancestry and core values, as well as by external forces that, all too often, are hostile.

“The documentary you are about to watch highlights the resilience and unity of the Jewish people, surviving thousands of years of persecution, violence and dispersion while staying connected, hopeful and shining light in the darkest times,” narrates Becky Wosk at the beginning of her film One Thread, which screens May 3, 1 p.m., at Fifth Avenue Cinemas, as part of the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival.

screenshot - Becky Wosk’s documentary One Thread, which highlights the BC Jewish community, screens May 3 as part of this year’s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, which runs April 30-May 10 — Becky Wosk’s documentary *One Thread*, which highlights the BC Jewish community, screens May 3 as part of this year’s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, which runs April 30-May 10. *(screenshot from Instagram)*

The documentary is a reminder that, while there are so many reasons to be proud of being Canadian, many (most?) immigrants to Canada, Jews included, have come here from somewhere else not so much by choice, but because of adverse conditions in their home country. We must also remember that Canada has not always been a welcoming place for newcomers or, of course, for the peoples who were here before any Europeans arrived. Sometimes, Canada has completely closed its doors, as in the case of Jews fleeing the Holocaust on the MS St. Louis in 1939.

In One Thread, Wosk interviews 15 members of the BC Jewish community. They share brief overviews of their family histories, how they ended up in British Columbia. Most of their ancestors were fleeing persecution or arrived as a survivor of it. Their families sometimes traveled via other countries or provinces before settling here.

Wosk asks interviewees what being Jewish means to them, what they wish non-Jews knew about Jews and Judaism, their favourite parts about being Jewish, and other questions. The answers are both similar and different. They offer a glimpse into the challenges and joys of being Jewish.

Wosk has done a masterful job at editing some nine hours of interview recordings into a 42-minute documentary that includes some wonderful archival footage and photographs. She lets viewers know that Jews are roughly 0.9% of the Canadian population (2021 data) and 0.2% of the global population (2023). She bookends the film with two quotes that reinforce her themes of resilience, unity and hope, and she highlights Canada’s message to Jews wanting to come here after the Holocaust: “None is too many.” But, mostly, she lets her interviewees tell the story.

“I was a student in the Langara film arts program (directing stream) and the head of the program, Jonas Quastel, sent me the application for the Earl Parker Award for Jewish Film via the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival,” Wosk told the Independent about the film’s origins. “I applied with the idea to document some of the history of the Vancouver Jewish community, as well as the commonalities of Jews in the diaspora. As someone who is a documentary lover, and a genuinely curious human, I really wanted to share local community members and their stories.”

She found those community members by putting a call out through local organizations and social media groups. She wanted people from a range of ages and genders. While everyone she spoke with lives in British Columbia, some of them are from other places originally, including Argentina, the United States and other provinces.

photo - Becky Wosk, director of One Thread, which screens May 3 at Fifth Avenue Cinemas — Becky Wosk, director of *One Thread*, which screens May 3 at Fifth Avenue Cinemas. *(photo by Kristine Cofsky)*

Her own family history illustrates the different places from which community members have come and the impacts they have had here.

“My paternal great-grandparents came to Canada from Ukraine in the early 1900s,” said Wosk. “That side of the family was actually documented in the book by Shirley Barnett, Don’t Break the Chain: The Nemetz Family Journey from Svatatroiske to Vancouver. My paternal great-grandfather, Abrasha Wosk, was a pioneer of the Vancouver Jewish community. He secured the building and funding for the original Schara Tzedeck and helped start the Hebrew Free Loan Association.”

Her paternal great-grandmother, Abrasha’s wife, Chava (Nemetz), was a community builder in her own right.

“My maternal great-grandmother, Rose Cohen (Beckerman), came from North Dakota; her family came over from Eastern Europe. My maternal great-grandfather, Maurice Cohen, was from Lithuania, the rest of his siblings went to South Africa. He came to Prince Rupert and opened a dry goods store called Director, Cohen & Co.”

Wosk’s grandparents were all born in Canada, she said, except for her paternal grandmother, who was from Manchester.

“It reinforced the feeling of being part of something bigger than oneself, something very deeply rooted in ancient spirituality,” said Wosk about making the film. “I loved being able to chat with the interviewees about our favourite foods and holidays. I just love witnessing the common thread in our existence, the ties to our ancestors, and the genuine desire to learn.”

As winner of the 2024 Earl Parker Award for Jewish Film, One Thread screened at the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival in 2025.

“It’s one thing to create something, but to get it in front of an audience is a whole other matter, so having these opportunities is invaluable,” Wosk told the Jewish Federation of Edmonton’s HaKol at the time.

She is very excited to have the film now screen at the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival. “I want our community to know that we are stronger together, and we need to lift each other up – especially in the face of adversity,” she told the Independent.

“As a people, we face a lot of hate, especially online” she said. “It’s easy to open up Instagram and just be bombarded by antisemitic individuals and just awful comments. I try to find peace and strength in the fact that we do have this incredible community of resilient, strong and compassionate people. We are part of an ancient quilt, and we can always tap into that communal comfort whenever we need to.”

Currently working as a freelance director and videographer, Wosk said she will soon be starting a feature screenplay that relates to her family history and, separate from that, she is hoping to start a new documentary film in the next year or two. Her band, Hollow Twin, will be releasing some new music later this year.

The Vancouver Jewish Film Festival runs April 30-May 8 at Fifth Avenue Cinemas, which is a 19+ venue, and May 10 at the Rothstein Theatre. For the full lineup of films and tickets, go to vjff.org.

Musical celebration of Israel

Local Israeli cover band HaOpziot will get people dancing at this year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations on April 21. (photo from JFGV)

“As we hold Israel close to our hearts, we are reminded that our connection transcends oceans,” wrote Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, in a recent enewsletter. “We have the power to bring Israel closer, to feel it and to celebrate it together right here at home through our community’s signature Yom Ha’atzmaut event.”

On Yom Ha’atzmaut, April 21, 7:30 p.m., Israeli musician and producer Ben Golan will headline our local celebration of Israel’s 78th Independence Day. (See jewishindependent.ca/story-of-israels-north.)

Golan came onto Federation’s radar when Shanken saw him perform during a 2024 visit to our community’s partnership region in Israel, the Upper Galilee. Golan is from Kiryat Shmona, where he also runs a recording studio.

In addition to his own performance, Golan will join local Israeli cover band HaOpziot for a couple of songs during their set.

HaOpziot is comprised of Goor Cohen (vocals, guitar), Kobi Gabay (vocals, guitar), Yotam Ronen (bass guitar), Avishai Weissberg (lead guitar) and Omer Yehi Shalom (drums). The group was founded by Ronen and the band’s former drummer, Maoz Kaufmann, in 2022. The pair posted a call-out on Facebook looking for musicians.

“The rest of us responded, we clicked instantly, and the Optziot were born,” said Cohen.

The band performs a few times a year, at clubs around Vancouver, as well as at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. To find out where and when they’re playing, people can follow the band on social media: Instagram, Facebook and/or YouTube.

When asked how to describe their musical sound or style, Cohen said, “In short: high-energy, loud and often fast.

“Our sound is a fusion of hard rock, punk and heavy metal, with subtle touches of Mizrahi influences, creating a style that strongly resonates with Israeli musical taste and culture,” he elaborated.

Each band member brings their different influences to the music, said Cohen, “ranging from mainstream to underground, old-school to contemporary, and classic to anarchistic. That diversity is a big part of what shapes our unique sound.”

Federation’s website page promoting the Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration highlights some of the songwriters whose music HaOpziot performs, including artists like Mashina, Eifo Hayeled, Berry Sakharof and Monica Sex.

The band’s popularity in the local Israeli community is how they came to Federation’s attention, their sound suiting the vibe that Federation would like the event to have, with the night ending in a dance party.

“This will be the biggest crowd we’ve played for so far,” Cohen told the Independent, “and we’re really excited to have more members of the community come see us in action.”

Unfortunately, Gabay won’t be able to make the Yom Ha’atzmaut concert. But no worries.

“For this show,” said Cohen, “we’ve asked Noga Veiman, our unofficial band manager, to join us on stage and take part as a band member – so, together, we’ll deliver the high-energy show we’ve been planning.”

The night, of course, will begin in a more sombre fashion, with the conclusion of Yom Hazikaron, the day of remembrance for Israel’s fallen soldiers and civilians who lost their lives in war and terror attacks. In Vancouver, the community’s memorial service will take place on April 20, 7:30 p.m., both in person and online. To attend or watch, register at jewishvancouver.com/zikaron.

For tickets ($36/adult, $12/youth, $75/family pack) to the Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations on April 21, go to jewishvancouver.com/yh2026.

Reclaiming Jewish stories

Alix West Lefler plays Frida in The Fast Runner. (photo from thefastrunnerfilm.com)

The Fast Runner, a 15-minute short from director David Bercovici-Artieda is about a young girl’s courage during the Holocaust. (See jewishindependent.ca/balancing-education-and-art.) The film screens April 19, 7 p.m., at the Rothstein Theatre, as part of the event Out of the Shadows: Reclaiming Jewish Stories.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, Bercovici-Artieda, playwright Mark Leiren-Young and Simon Fraser University professor Dr. Lilach Marom; author and Globe & Mail columnist Marsha Lederman is moderator. The event is co-presented by Chutzpah! Plus and Pacific Legal Education & Outreach Society, with partial proceeds supporting the Antisemitism Legal Hotline (antisemitismlegalhelp.org). For tickets ($18/$36/$54), go to chutzpahfestival.com/out-of-shadows.

– Courtesy Chutzpah! Plus

Bema presents Perseverance

Co-stars Evan Roberts, left, Jerry Callaghan, centre, and Carl Powell in rehearsal for Bema Productions’ presentation of Perseverance, April 22 to May 3. (photo by Becca Elliot)

photo - Jerry Callaghan and Andrea Eggenberger — Jerry Callaghan and Andrea Eggenberger *(photo by Becca Elliot)*

Bema Productions in Victoria presents Perseverance, by L.E. McCullough, from April 22 to May 3. The play is adapted from the 2019 memoir One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America, written by Melvin Goldman and his daughter, Lee Goldman Kikel. It brings to the stage a timely story of healing and renewal.

Few visitors to the G&S Jewelry Store in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighbourhood during the 1960s and 1970s were aware that the cheerful proprietor, Melvin (né Mieczyslaw) Goldman, had spent his teens enduring the horrors of Auschwitz before arriving in postwar America as a penniless refugee intent on reclaiming his life and reshaping his family’s destiny. The play depicts Goldman’s irrepressible spirituality and unflagging love for humanity as he worked to replace darkness with light, one piece of handcrafted jewelry at a time.

photo - Angela Henry and Jerry Callaghan (photo by Becca Elliot) — Angela Henry and Jerry Callaghan *(photo by Becca Elliot)*

Bema Productions’ mounting of Perseverance stars Jerry Callaghan, Andrea Eggenberger, Carl Powell, Angela Henry and Evan Roberts. All performances take place in Bema’s Black Box Theatre at Congregation Emanu-El. For tickets ($25), go to ticketowl.io/bemaproductions.

– Courtesy Bema Productions

Art chosen for new museum

From a specific vantage point, the dispersed lines of Nicolas Baier’s Candelabra – winner of the Montreal Holocaust Museum’s public art competition for its new building – create the shape of a sphere. (photo from MHM)

The Montreal Holocaust Museum (MHM) has selected Montreal-based artist Nicolas Baier as the winner of its public art competition for its new museum opening in 2027.

Baier’s artwork, Candelabra, will be installed on the museum’s rooftop terraces. The sculpture is a luminous, constellation-like network of polished stainless-steel lines and points of light set against the Montreal sky. The work is reminiscent of countless survivor stories about imprisonment in ghettos and concentration camps, where the only form of escape was looking to the night sky. Inspired by the human impulse to connect stars into meaningful patterns, the piece reflects bonds built between individuals, communities and generations.

Rather than reproducing traditional constellations, Baier has created a new network based on astronomical data from the sky above Montreal. From a specific vantage point on the terrace, the dispersed lines create the shape of a sphere, evoking our shared planet and humanity.

photo - Nicolas Baier’s Candelabra — Nicolas Baier’s Candelabra. *(photo from MHM)*

In a museum dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, Candelabra speaks to the fragility and resilience of human connection. The Holocaust was marked by the systematic destruction of Jewish life, the devastation of whole communities and the severing of social bonds. At a time when antisemitism and other forms of hate are on the rise, the sculpture serves as a reminder that societies are shaped by the networks we build and protect, and that, even in darkness, light endures.

The competition was held in accordance with Quebec’s Politique d’intégration des arts à l’architecture et à l’environnement des bâtiments et des sites gouvernementaux et publics, which mandates that approximately one percent of the construction budget of public buildings be dedicated to the commissioning of a work of art.

The selection committee was composed of Marie-Blanche Fourcade (head of collections and exhibitions at the MHM); Adrian Sheppard (user representative); Renée Daoust (architect); Suzelle Levasseur (visual arts specialist); Stéphanie L’Heureux (ministry representative); Martha Townsend (visual arts specialist); and Helen Malkin (observer, chair and consultant for the new MHM).

“Nicolas Baier’s proposal moved us because it expresses the importance of human connection,” said Rachel Gropper, Holocaust survivor and co-president of the museum. “In a place devoted to memory and education, this work reminds us that each individual life matters, and that together we have the responsibility to uphold compassion and hope.”

To contribute to the MHM’s building campaign, Give Voice, go to museeholocauste.ca/en/give-voice.

– Courtesy Montreal Holocaust Museum