Arts & Culture

Dialing up the perfect thriller

Tyrell Crews and Emily Dallas in Dial M For Murder, mounted by Theatre Calgary in 2025. Crews and Dallas reprise their roles in the Arts Club Theatre Company and Theatre Calgary co-production now playing at the Stanley until March 8. (photo by Trudie Lee for Theatre Calgary)

What do a latch key, a handbag, a compromising letter, two blackmail notes and an unexpected telephone call have in common? They are the primary clues in what is supposed to be the perfect murder – you know, the one you get away with. This is the premise for the Arts Club Theatre Company and Theatre Calgary co-production of Dial M for Murder, now playing at the Stanley.

Frederick Knott’s 1952 play was adapted for cinema early on, with the 1954 thriller starring Grace Kelly and Ray Milland directed by the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. About six ago, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher updated the story to add a contemporary and surprising twist. While the 1950s London setting has been preserved, giving it that quintessential British vibe, the cheating wife’s lover is now a woman – definitely a taboo to audiences of that era. Hatcher has also injected comedic moments and witty bon mots into the script, in contrast to the more noirish original.

This is not a murder mystery where the sleuthing detective ultimately exposes the culprit. In this iteration, we know from the beginning what the plan is, how it is to be executed and by whom – the only question is whether the perpetrator will get away with it.

It all starts when Tony Wendice (Tyrell Crews) discovers that his heiress wife, Margot (Emily Dallas), is having an affair with murder mystery writer Maxine Hadley (Olivia Hutt). Since he married Margot for her money, not love, he has no qualms about doing away with her to inherit her fortune. However, he does not want to do the dirty deed himself, so he blackmails a distant acquaintance from his past, Lesgate (Stafford Perry), to carry out the hit. Unfortunately, the plan backfires. Enter Chief Inspector Hubbard (Shekhar Paleja) of Scotland Yard, who, with Maxine’s assistance, attempts to recreate the murder scene to ferret out the mastermind behind the plot. But will they succeed?

Tony is front and centre of the narrative. At the beginning, he is in full control of the situation, callously planning the murder with painstaking attention to the details. He takes the art of manipulation to new heights. As his plan starts to unravel, we see the layers of his confidence peel away.

Crews commands the role of Tony and Perry ably portrays Lesgate’s nervousness and angst in confronting Margot with the news that he is about to kill her. Dallas, who portrays Margot in a rather subdued fashion initially, is sublime in her portrayal of the hunted housewife, taking the audience on a melodramatic roller-coaster ride of emotions. Flamboyant Hutt infuses the character of Maxine with intelligence, charm and sleek sophistication, and comes across as the smartest person in the room.

It is a testament to the abilities of these actors that such a small cast can pull off the highs and lows of this psychological thriller. They are assisted in this feat by a talented design team, including Jewish community members Itai Erdal, whose pinpoint lighting directs the audience’s attention to significant clues during scene breaks, and Anton Lipovetsky, whose sound design increases the suspense.

Then there is set designer Anton deGroot’s revolving turntable stage. All the action takes place in the Wendices’ sparsely furnished drawing room, which slowly and imperceptibly moves back and forth, providing the audience with different perspectives of the action and emphasizing the fluidity of the story. Even the walls and windows move, providing additional layers to the puzzle.

Jolane Houle’s costumes capture the essence of the stylish 1950s, elegant frocks for the ladies and tailored suits for the gents, all with colour palettes ranging from brown to blue to green that change with Erdal’s lighting. The ladies are perfectly coiffed and made-up à la that glamorous era. Jillian Keily directs her crew well.

This dialogue-dense production requires the audience to pay attention and focus on the various subtle clues that are dropped to determine if indeed Tony gets away with his deception and betrayal. It’s a cat and mouse game at its finest.

Dial M for Murder runs to March 8. For tickets, go to artsclub.com or call 604 687-1644.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Songs in war of peace

Naomi Cohn Zentner shared how music in the time of war can offer resilience and hope. (photo from Naomi Cohn Zentner)

Earlier this month, ethnomusicologist Naomi Cohn Zentner gave the lecture Music and War: An Optimistic View. Her talk was the fourth in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2025/26 Many Voices of Jewish Music Zoom series.

Speaking from Israel, Cohn Zentner, a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, examined how music in the time of war can offer resilience and hope, and is not solely about tragedy and mourning. She started with a photograph of Leonard Cohen and Israeli musician Matti Caspi, who passed away on Feb. 8, the day of her talk. The pair were performing for soldiers during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Ariel Sharon at their side.

Cohn Zentner then played two songs, composed more than a century apart: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” written during the American Civil War, and a 1967 performance by the Nachal Entertainment Troupe called “Hallelujah.”

Contrasting the two, Cohn Zentner argued that the former is a sacralizing, providential song in the war hymn tradition, seeing war very much within a religious way of life and values, while the Israeli song – with lines such as, “If there were no need for rifles anymore, then we would sing ‘Hallelujah’” and “If children could play by the border, then you’d hear their mothers sigh in relief, ‘Hallelujah’” – offers a hope for peace, or a prayer for peace.

“It’s an Israeli war song tradition, which shows just how important peace was in these fighting units,” Cohn Zentner said. “We can see this as two opposing examples of what war songs are about.

“The religious hymn of the Civil War is ‘Glory, Hallelujah.’ The conflict itself is very religious and violence, while terrifying, is also cleansing and purifying, and death and martyrdom make men free,” she said. In the Israeli song, war is de-romanticized, death is not glorified but used as a reason to end wars, life itself is considered holy, peace is the desired goal, and the music is more national and secular in outlook.

Last year, on the Israeli reality show, Hakokhav Haba (Rising Star), during which a contestant is chosen to represent the country at Eurovision, Daniel Weiss, from Kibbutz Be’eri, selected Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as one of his songs. Weiss, who lost both of his parents during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, performed a duet with Arab singer Valerie Hamaty in both Hebrew and Arabic.

“Of course, this image was so powerful and iconic – of them singing this song together in Hebrew and Arabic after everything that had happened. It was a very emotional moment,” Cohn Zentner said.

Another song Weiss performed, in honour of his parents, was “Ani Guitar” (“I Am a Guitar”) by Naomi Shemer, which contains the lyric “I remember all those who played on me before, and I say thank you.”

“This symbolic issue of a guitar, which used to be a tree, but still has in it the ability to thank all those who [have] played on him … is very, very emotional,” she said.

Weiss lost out to Yuval Raphael in the contest to represent Israel. Raphael, a survivor of the Nova music festival, performed ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” as her final song in the show. She dedicated it to those who died at Nova.

“I sing about the angels who weren’t fortunate enough to be here now. It hurts because I had this chance not only to come back [from the festival] and to live, but to fulfil my dream. There are those who stayed there, and the shadow behind me is the only thing left of them,” said Raphael, who went on to place second in the 2025 Eurovision with the song “New Day Will Rise.”

At the end of her talk, Cohn Zentner played “Not Alone,” a song penned by Doror Talmon of the band Jane Bordeaux in the weeks following Oct. 7. The song speaks to the feelings of being in the close-knit community of a kibbutz in which everyone has a role and nobody is dispensable; if one person is lost, it affects the entire community.

“The song starts by telling us about all the sad and tragic things that happened, and asks who is going to bring the kibbutz back to what it was,” Cohn Zentner said.

Then, she pointed out, there is a shift in the song to where it answers, “We’ll all extend a hand, we are not alone, and we are partners in fate, in pain and in love, as one people. We will cry and we will overcome, we’re not going to break, we’re going to come together, we have each other, the roots of the trees will go into the earth, and we’re going to be rebuilding.”

The next speaker in Kolot Mayim’s series is Joshua Jacobson, an author, composer and choral director. Jacobson, professor emeritus of music at Northeastern University in Boston, will delve into the history and ongoing evolution of Jewish music in his April 5 talk, Jewish Music: What’s That? For more information, go to kolotmayimreformtemple.com.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Personal stories, vital lessons

“In the pages of this book,” write Oga Nwobosi and Christina Myers, co-editors of Beyond Blue: Stories of Heartbreak, Healing and Hope in Postpartum Depression, “readers will find the personal stories of 26 writers who all encountered some variety of perinatal mood disorder, whether officially diagnosed at the time or identified only in retrospect many years after the fact. There is rage and sadness and tears and trauma; there is also hope and humour and healing. What these stories have in common is the vulnerability it requires to share out loud – one of the most powerful manifestations of courage.”

Nwobosi and Myers, who met in 2007 at a meet-up of new mothers facilitated by the Pacific Post Partum Support Society in Richmond, note that, while “perinatal mood disorders are better known and openly discussed today than they were then, there are still too many layers of stigma, shame, isolation and uncertainty. Many people still don’t get timely help; most don’t get any help at all.”

There is a lot to learn from reading Beyond Blue, notably that “depression,” or feeling “blue” doesn’t begin to cover the complexities of postpartum depression. It takes many forms – sadness, fear, pain, exhaustion, anger, some of the above, all the above, and so many other configurations. It’s not a matter of every woman feeling any one thing or all women experiencing the same range of emotions and physical sensations. Every instance is different, in both causes (to the extent they can be known) and effects. Every woman is different, not only in personality, but in health, social and other circumstances.

Leanne Charette, for instance, has cerebral palsy. “I pushed for many long months, trying to get apathetic, or downright ableist, doctors to help me achieve the dream of birthing children from my disabled body,” she writes. The doctors’ attitudes impacted her, of course, increasing her anxiety, among other things. She not only successfully conceived, but gave birth to twin boys.

“As my children were placed in my arms for the first time, their tiny fingers and IV tubes tangling with my own, a hypervigilance awoke alongside the all-consuming love in my heart,” writes Charette. “Sleep became impossible. For days, as we waited to be discharged from the hospital, I would hardly close my eyes, convinced my children might be taken away, starved or harmed in the space of a blink.”

Other women also write about the fear of someone, including themselves, harming their children. Sleeplessness is common, as are feelings of guilt about so many aspects of motherhood, such as having trouble during pregnancy, giving birth or breastfeeding.

Contributors talk about good and bad advice they received while struggling with postpartum depression. In a few instances, seeing a mental health professional was life-saving.

Jewish community member Kelley Korbin is one of the contributors. Her bio notes, “She is the proud mum of three thriving adults, but the early years were not easy as she experienced the shame, anxiety and confusion of postpartum depression following two of her pregnancies.” Her essay is about the first turbulent year of her son Jake’s life.

“Just half a day into motherhood I was doubting my ability to nurture,” writes Korbin. Weeks later, things were not going well. “If Jake was awake – and he was awake most of the time – he was either fitfully nursing or crying.”

Korbin mustered the courage to ask the public health nurse what she was doing wrong. “‘Colic,’ the nurse pronounced, and hastily retreated to the get-away car she had parked in the driveway. I was drowning, but she had thrown me the teeniest of life preservers,” writes Korbin. “Armed with a diagnosis, however vague, and the doggedness of my gritty pre-motherhood persona, I scoured the parenting sections of bookstores and libraries.”

What she found was that “evening colic” normally “vanishes after three months.” Even though Jake cried all day, not just at night, Korbin started the countdown. After “the promised three-month colic finish line” came and went, she took Jake back to the doctor for the “umpteenth visit.” He pronounced Jake healthy, but warned the colic wouldn’t end soon. Two months later, she started therapy. By Jake’s first birthday, “he was sleeping through the night,” and so was Korbin.

Beyond Blue should be read by anyone who’s thinking about having children, new parents, and everyone who knows someone who’s just had kids. So, basically, everyone.

A range of Jewish literature

The 41st annual Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival opens Feb. 21 with award-winning novelist John Irving and closes Feb. 26 with award-winning singer-songwriter, composer and author Peter Himmelman. In between, a range of writers and topics are presented. As always, this year’s festival fulfils its mission, as expressed by director Dana Camil Hewitt in the program: “to expose the general community to a curated snapshot of recent Jewish literature and ideas.”

While Irving, the opening author, is not Jewish, his latest novel, Queen Esther, takes readers back to the era and place of one of his most popular stories, The Cider House Rules, which was made into a movie. He focuses this time on the Winslow family, who adopt Esther Nacht from St. Cloud’s orphanage in Maine. The 14-year-old Viennese Jew was born in 1905 and came to the United States with her parents, her father dying on the voyage, her mother a few years later. Esther was left at the orphanage as a little girl, but no one had wanted to adopt a Jewish child, until the Winslows.

The Winslows are, to say the least, an unconventional family and, among other things, don’t adhere to the antisemitic attitudes of the times. The novel sheds light on Esther’s background and we witness a bit of her life with the Winslows, but then she mostly drops out of the story, returning to Europe to reconnect with her roots and then settling in Israel. The bulk of the novel centres on Jimmy, Esther’s son, born and raised in true Winslow style – unconventionally.

Truth be told, Queen Esther is not Irving’s best novel, it rambles and doesn’t quite hit the right message, but it’s written with heart and a seeming desire to counter antisemitism and change the narrative about Israel. Irving fans will enjoy reencountering some old “friends,” like St. Cloud’s Dr. Wilbur Larch, and recurring themes, including chosen family, Vienna, wrestling and sexual politics.

Irving is in conversation with Marsha Lederman Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $36 ($65 with book).

* * *

Politics and antisemitism are at the fore in Dr. Ted Rosenberg’s book Ayekha, Where Are You? Reading it will provide some healing for fellow members of the Jewish community, most of whom will know that Rosenberg resigned from the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine in 2024 (after a 30-year career there) because of the school’s refusal to do anything about the rampant antisemitism on campus, which escalated after Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. The situation was so toxic that Rosenberg no longer felt safe.

In his resignation letter to the faculty’s dean, Dermot Kelleher – sent after other attempts to warn UBC leadership of the problems – Rosenberg wrote:

“I lament the carnage and deaths of both Israeli and Palestinian civilians during this horrific war and this seemingly insoluble and interminable complex tragedy. I also understand and appreciate the strong convictions held by people on both sides of this conflict. However, oversimplistic ahistorical demonizing narratives and rhetoric, by either side, will do nothing to deepen our understanding, empathy, respect, or trust of one another, nor hasten a resolution of this crisis.

“One third of the medical students and some faculty have publicly expressed their contempt towards me, as a Jew. I cannot take the risk of being accused of implicit harassment or racism, which is indefensible, by a ‘triggered’ student. Unfortunately, I have no faith in due process in a faculty that does not even acknowledge the existence or presence of antisemitism/Jew-hatred, or my right to work in a depoliticized environment.”

The award-winning physician, who pioneered a home-based care model for the frail elderly and still practices medicine, wrote the dean, “It deeply saddens me to end my academic career on this note.”

There are so many Jewish academics, medical professionals and others who have been similarly mistreated, both by antisemitic actions and people’s fear of dealing with antisemitism. Reading more about Rosenberg’s experiences is akin to attending a group therapy session. We not only feel less alone afterward, but come away with some knowledge that might help us in processing all that’s happened in the last almost two-and-a-half years, and in confronting the antisemitism we continue to face.

Rosenberg talks at the Vancouver JCC Feb. 22, 1:30 p.m. (tickets are $18), and at the White Rock/South Surrey JCC at 4 p.m.

* * *

Since Oct. 7, it seems that learning more about Judaism, its tenets, its folklore, has been a common way for Jews to deal with the trauma inflicted by that day, the subsequent war and the increasingly open Jew-hatred globally. For anyone who likes graphic novels, The Writer might be an invigorating and educational salve.

Written and created by actor Josh Gad and the Berkowitz Bros. production company (founded by Ben and Max Berkowitz) with art by Ariel Olivetti and letters by Frank Cvetkovic, the four-part series stars disheveled English professor and unreliable divorced dad Stan Siegel, the writer of the series’ title, who looks a lot like Gad. Stan’s “sidekicks” are his kickass mom Liz and his daughter Izzy. They encounter all sorts of demons, dybbuks, golems and other characters out of Jewish mythology, as well as various historical figures, while Izzy also must confront current-day antisemitism and racism – harassed by classmates for being Jewish and for being Black.

The Writer is an homage to the creators’ Jewish identities, to the comic books, science fiction shows and adventure movies they loved, as well as to Gad’s Holocaust survivor grandparents and to Boston, where the Berkowitz brothers grew up. While they didn’t grow up surrounded by Jewish mysticism, they were inspired when they discovered it and it “felt like home,” notes the afterword. “This story became a way for them to celebrate that heritage – the rich tapestry of Jewish storytelling in all its forms, from Ashkenazic to Sephardic, Beta Israelite, Hispanic, Asian and beyond.”

The tapestry is so rich and deep that it is hard sometimes to follow all that’s going on in an “episode” of The Writer, but it’s a wild ride, a world that’s wonderfully and colourfully drawn, where good battles all sorts of evil and unlikely heroes prevail.

The Berkowitz brothers are at the festival Feb. 23, 7 p.m. Tickets are $18.

* * *

Himmelman closes the book festival on Feb. 26, 8 p.m. (tickets: $25), talking about his collection of essays, Suspended By No String: A Songwriter’s Reflections on Faith, Aliveness and Wonder, with Rabbi Dan Moskovitz. It might seem odd to have a rabbi lead a conversation with a musician, composer and visual artist, but Himmelman describes his book as being about faith, and shares what went into his decision to use the word “God” in it, as opposed to, say, “spirituality,” despite concerns from several people that its use might alienate readers. Hopefully, it won’t, as there is much insight to be gained from Himmelman’s observations, insights and perspectives on wonder, loss and gratitude. His playful sketches are a delightful complement to the text.

* * *

Also appearing at this year’s book festival are, in order of appearance, writers Carol Matas, Lihi Lapid, Aron Hirt-Manheimer, Douglas Century, Yishay Ishi Ron, Yardenne Greenspan, Sasha Senderovich, Marina Sonkina, Claire Sicherman, Danila Botha and Janet Horvath. For tickets and more information, visit jccgv.com/jewish-book-festival.

A concert of premieres

Violist Rivka Golani joins Turning Point Ensemble on Feb. 21 and 22 for Concerti Premiere, which features two works written especially for her. (photo by Peter Beal)

World-renowned violist Rivka Golani joins Turning Point Ensemble on Feb. 21 and 22 for Concerti Premiere, which features two works written especially for the Israeli musician, who currently calls London, England, home.

The four main works comprising the ensemble’s program are the world premiere of Concerto for Viola – Rivka by TPE artistic director Owen Underhill, featuring Golani as soloist; the North American premiere of Musical Offering No. 2 “Golani” by Canadian composer Michael Pepa, also with Golani as soloist; the world premiere of Morning Twilight by Taiwanese-American composer Chichun Chi-Sun Lee, showcasing TPE bassoonist Ingrid Chiang; and the world premiere of Sauntersludge by Vancouver composer Eldritch Priest.

“TPE had a fantastic opportunity to perform with Rivka Golani on our May 2023 European tour,” explained Underhill as to how he and Golani first connected.

Pepa had proposed composing a new work for Golani and TPE for the ensemble’s concerts in Zagreb and Belgrade. “We were not able to rehearse with Rivka … prior to arriving on tour, so it was very exciting to put Michael’s piece together in the couple days prior to our first concert,” said Underhill. “Rivka was very interactive with and impressed by the ensemble, so you could say we hit it off together. She heard at that time in our concert a work of mine and asked whether I might be interested in composing a new work for her and TPE in the future. So, this is how the idea of working together again came about and my new concerto for her in particular.”

photo - Turning Point Ensemble artistic director Owen Underhill wrote Concerto for Viola - Rivka for violist Rivka Golani, who plays with the ensemble in concerts at the Annex Feb. 21 and 22 — Turning Point Ensemble artistic director Owen Underhill wrote Concerto for Viola – Rivka for violist Rivka Golani, who plays with the ensemble in concerts at the Annex Feb. 21 and 22. *(photo from TPE)*

Golani, who was born in Tel Aviv, studied under violist and composer Oedoen Partos and became a member of the Israel Philharmonic, while also appearing as a soloist with other orchestras. She lived in Canada for more than a decade, from 1974 to 1987, growing her solo career and teaching at the University of Toronto (where she also taught in the 1990s) and the Royal Conservatory of Music. She still teaches, in London.

Over the years, Golani has performed widely as a soloist and as a member of various ensembles, and she has recorded extensively. She is also a recognized visual artist, with her paintings having been exhibited in several countries.

It was during Golani’s time in Canada that Pepa met her, so the two have known each other for decades.

“As a result, his piece and the solo viola part are very much in her character – dramatic, powerful and expressive,” said Underhill. “Also, there are two other important connections which are interwoven in the piece – references to J.S. Bach’s Art of the Fugue, which appears in a variety of ways through quotes and collages in his music, and also a second movement dedicated to his Ukrainian friends, which is based on the Ukrainian folksong ‘Plyve Kacha Po Tysyni’ (‘The Duck Swims Down the Tissina’) and a Serbian folk melody, ‘Kolika je Nočca.’”

As for his work featuring Golani, Underhill said, “It is always a wonderful thing for a composer to work closely with a performer for whom you are composing. It was also fundamental to Rivka’s process to make it a collaborative project. Therefore, beginning in the fall and over the several months I was composing the piece, I would send her instalments and we would meet over WhatsApp and she would play through the music, suggest detailed changes and improvements, and she also made a few gentle requests, including asking for a cadenza before I wrote the third movement. As a result, I feel that the piece bears her signature and that it is also a unique work of mine that I could not have created without her input.”

According to Golani’s website, more than 350 works have been composed for her, including more than 80 concertos – “a record matched by no other violist in history.” Underhill’s Concerto for Viola – Rivka is the largest-scale work that he has written for TPE and the piece will be recorded by the ensemble after the live performances.

Concerti Premiere is Turning Point Ensemble’s third concert in their 2025/26 season. Written with bassoonist Chiang in mind, the piece Morning Twilight traces the emergence of the sun through five sections and two interludes. “Beyond its astronomical imagery, the concerto reflects Chiang’s personal journey of resilience in overcoming cancer, as well as Taiwan’s collective passage from historical darkness toward renewed international visibility,” notes the press release. Sauntersludge, which was written for the ensemble as a whole, is the only piece in the concert without a soloist.

“While we dedicate ourselves to performing works from the early 20th century to the present day, it is unusual for Turning Point Ensemble to have a concert consisting solely of premieres,” said Underhill in the press release. “It is a joy to be unveiling all this new music here in Vancouver.”

The Feb. 21 concert at the Annex starts at 7:30 p.m.; the Feb. 22 one at 4:30 p.m. For tickets ($45/adult, $33/senior, $19/student), go to turningpointensemble.ca.

Artists explore, soar, create

Theresa Kinahan’s “The Fallery Garden That I Love Like My Friends” is part of the Roots and Wings exhibit at the Zack Gallery until March 2. (photo from Zack Gallery)

The eighth annual Inclusion Art Show returns to the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver in celebration of Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). The exhibit’s theme, “Roots and Wings,” reflects the grounding strength of heritage and community alongside the freedom to explore, soar and create. The displayed works highlight inclusion, diversity and the creative talents of artists at every stage of their artistic journey.

This year’s Roots and Wings exhibit features Theresa Kinahan, Kevin Lee (Kevo), Mark Li, Gabriel López Demarco, Mariane Stifelmann and Matthew Tom-Wing.

Art has always been a part of Kinahan’s life. She started to draw when she was just a little girl, and her media have included photography, acrylic, fabric art, enamel, wood-cut printing, charcoal, pastel, watercolour, metalwork, welding and pottery. She taught art in Vancouver high schools for many years, but epilepsy and an ensuing brain injury forced her to retire early. She turned to painting for therapy, drawing inspiration primarily from nature, notably for her acrylic fern series. She signs her paintings with her initials and a heart, which is reflective of the love she feels all around her.

Kevo was born with Trisomy No.18 and was unable to make a sound until he was 6 years old. Art became a way to communicate and express his creativity and emotions; a way to share his delight with the world. Today, Kevo channels his creativity and love of art into painting, music, dance and clay work. He loves colour and the physical act of painting. Every one of his pieces has a thoughtful story or a kind wish.

Li, who creates at the Art Hive, is a visual artist whose narrative-focused work creates a whimsical world filled with colour and imagination. Every one of his paintings is a tale of friendship and depicts acts of kindness: a bear might be best friends with a cat; a T-Rex smiles with shy humour and sweetness at the viewer; a ladybug and a cat might go dancing in the sunlight; a walk in the park with a friend and his dog is a delightful adventure.

photo - Gabriel Fernando López DeMarco’s “I Am Born from Desire” — Gabriel Fernando López DeMarco’s “I Am Born from Desire.” *(photo from Zack Gallery)*

López Demarco, who was born in Buenos Aires, joined his first art workshop at the age of 5. At the age of 13, he entered the Villa Mecenas art school and, at 18, the National University of Art.

During university, López Demarco continued attending painting, sculpture, engraving and printed art workshops, making artistic and conceptual trips through Argentina. In 2013, he traveled through South America and, in 2015, he went to Mexico, where he studied fresco painting. At the same time, he expanded his studies of engraving and printed art.

Since then, he has traveled around Central America, the United States and Europe, carrying out murals and other artistic activities. In 2023 and 2024, he worked as a muralist on the public art team of the municipality of Morón, Argentina. In 2025, he went to China to study calligraphy and Chinese painting. He currently works as a freelance muralist around the word.

Stifelmann was born in Brazil and moved to Vancouver in 2000. She is a former kindergarten and Grade 1 teacher, and studied at the Pan-American School of Arts in São Paulo.

photo - Mariane Stifelmann’s “The Couple” — Mariane Stifelmann’s “The Couple.” *(photo from Zack Gallery)*

On display at the Zack is Stifelmann’s “The Couple,” one of her first paintings. It is created in a caricature style with acrylic paint, and expresses her deep love for her family – the work depicts her grandparents, Eda and Jacob Koin, who emigrated from Poland.

Over the years, Stifelmann has evolved her technique and style and has worked with artist Nati Saidi for more than a decade. Her art embraces vibrant colours and evokes feelings of joy, freedom and nostalgia. Through her work, she invites viewers into a world where light and happiness are always in season.

Tom-Wing is an active member of the Bagel Club and part of the JCC Art Hive. “I am an artist and have sold paintings and ceramic pieces,” he said. “I love music. I play the drums and am also the drummer in the Vancouver BFF band.”

Tom-Wing also enjoys acting and being involved in the theatre world. His roles have included the character Magwitch in the play King Arthur’s Night.

Roots and Wings is on display until March 2. One hundred percent of the proceeds from artwork sales goes directly to each artist.

– Courtesy Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery

Life’s full range of emotions

Bonny Reichert will be in Vancouver on March 4 to talk about her new memoir, How to Share an Egg, as an epilogue to the JCC Jewish Book Festival, which runs Feb. 21-26. (photo by Kayla Rocca)

When Bonny Reichert was a kid, living in Edmonton, her baba, who had come to Canada as a teen on her own in the early 1900s to escape pogroms in Ukraine, would come to stay with her family for the weekend and “the house brightened,” writes Reichert in How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love and Plenty. “She arrived as though she were fleeing all over again, with parcels and packages and a giant soup pot wrapped in a tea towel, knotted to make a handle. Things were hot or cold or frozen. I didn’t know to wonder if she’d stayed up all night rolling and pinching and stuffing for us. Pekeleh, she called her bundles, little packages. Pekeleh also means burdens. Yiddish is like that.”

As with pekeleh, meaning both treats and worries, there have been many contrasts in Reichert’s life, opposite things or states of being existing simultaneously. Her memoir is fascinating for the challenges she has faced and the way in which she has dealt with them. Readers can hear the award-winning writer in conversation with Marsha Lederman on March 4, 7:30 p.m., at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, in a JCC Jewish Book Festival epilogue event.

How to Share an Egg is the telling of Reichert’s dad’s survival story – a story he so wanted her to share. Experiencing years of difficulty putting pen to paper, she approaches it through her own journey with intergenerational trauma, which she has felt deeply from childhood. Her mother grew up with “a dad who was quick to anger” and an “exacting” mother who taught there was only one way to do things. “That this was the same person who rubbed my feet as I fell asleep seemed impossible,” writes Reichert about her efforts to reconcile her beloved baba with her mother’s mother.

Reichert’s maternal grandfather, who had come to Canada in 1913, died before she was born. On her paternal side, she had no grandparents – her dad was a 17-year-old orphan when he came to Canada in 1947. His parents and five sisters were all killed in the Holocaust. He was one of the 1,123 war orphans Canadian Jewish Congress helped enter the country when the doors were only just starting to open again for Jews.

The Jewish Independent spoke with Reichert by email about her memoir.

JI: You were 9 when your dad first mentioned the possibility that you would write his story. Then there was the trip to Poland in 2015 that was a breakthrough. When did you actually write the first words and, from that point, about how long did it take for you to write How to Share an Egg?

BR: The very earliest work on the book started on that first trip to Warsaw with my dad. I took a few notes and some important photos, but I didn’t yet know where I was headed. After the second trip to Poland, in 2016, I had even more research and notes, but I still wasn’t sure I had a book. The more formal outlining and writing began in late 2020, in the depths of the pandemic. Including the time I spent waiting for my editor’s feedback and the editing, the book took about four years to write. I was earning a master’s degree at the same time.

JI: You write about your personal journey with inherited trauma, and you share some of the healing milestones on that journey. In what ways was the process of writing the book cathartic?

BR: When you write a memoir like How to Share an Egg, your job is to look at yourself very closely, but with objectivity, because the self becomes the central character of the book. In that close examination, you come to name feelings you previously couldn’t name, and evaluate experiences and situations that your younger self might not have understood. All of this leads to greater understanding and greater self-compassion. This, coupled with the relief of finding a way to write this book my dad always wanted me to write, has indeed led to healing and catharsis.

JI: What does your dad think of the book?

BR: He loves it and says that it has given new meaning to his life at 95. A wonderful outcome.

JI: One theme of How to Share an Egg is you finding your voice, being able to stick up for yourself when bullied, to be yourself in the face of others’ expectations (notably, your father’s). From where did you get the courage to be this open?

BR: You can’t decide to write a memoir and then hide from the personal. Readers want to see all of that raw emotion on the page. For the memoir to be successful, the true, honest person in the book should resonate with the true person inside the reader. At a certain point, I realized all of this, and I came to see I was writing about the universal human experience and there is no shame in being human. In other words, I practised radical self-acceptance to get the job done.

JI: You comment in the book about pekeleh meaning both bundles and burdens. Judaism is full of those instances, holding joy and sorrow at the same time. Can you speak about that, in the context of How to Share an Egg?

BR: People often hold a pretty stereotypical idea of what Holocaust survivors and their families are like – severely traumatized, loaded down with psychological and emotional problems, etc. I wanted to address that – to challenge it and expand on it. There is sorrow and trauma, of course, but there is also so much joy and gratitude and celebration. So, the book is meant to express this fuller range of emotion. Part of my decision to write it as a food memoir was to offer the reader pleasure and comfort, even against the backdrop of the Holocaust. A Jewish approach, for sure.

JI: Hedy Bohm, who you mention in your memoir, just had her own survivor memoir published by the Azrieli Foundation. What is the importance of having these stories out in the world?

BR: Yes, I’m so happy for Hedy. She is a wonderful person. Preserving these stories has always been of the utmost importance – firsthand testimony is obviously critical. I also believe a plurality of stories and approaches brings the humanity back into the unfathomable numbers and statistics.

JI: How often have you been to Vancouver, and what are you looking forward to most about your March visit?

BR: I was just there in the fall for the Vancouver Writer Fest! I have friends I’m looking forward to seeing and I’m hoping for some nice weather so I can walk and admire your beautiful city.

For the full schedule and tickets to the book festival, go to jccgv.com/jewish-book-festival.

The power of photography

“Elaborate Pride Costume, Gay Pride,” Vancouver, 1996. (© Dina Goldstein)

One of the JCC Jewish Book Festival pre-festival events holds special meaning for the Jewish Independent. Photographer Dina Goldstein, whose artistry has focused on large-scale narrative tableaux the last many years, began her career with the JI’s predecessor, the Jewish Western Bulletin. She has compiled thousands of images from her work over the last three decades – as a photojournalist, editorial photographer, traveler and artist – for the recently published 400-page hard-cover The XXX Archive, which she will share with the community on Feb. 12, 7 p.m.

photo - Dina Goldstein talks about her new book, The Archive XXX, at a JCC Jewish Book Festival pre-festival event on Feb. 12 — Dina Goldstein talks about her new book, The Archive XXX, at a JCC Jewish Book Festival pre-festival event on Feb. 12. *(© Dina Goldstein)*

“I spent the pandemic going through containers of binders filled with negatives. Many of the images I remember snapping, but others that I found surprised me,” Goldstein told the Independent. “Editing the lot after 30 years of shooting was overwhelming at first. The process of archiving is slow and fastidious, often challenging my expeditious nature. I leaned in, not knowing how long or how many images I would be working with. Within two years, I scanned, photographed, numbered, printed and added over 3,000 images to a boxed and digital archive. The result left me relieved that my life’s work was now organized in a way that was documented and accessible.”

The word “herculean” is used in The Archive XXX to describe the task of creating the archive. Goldstein worked by year of creation, grouping the images by decades.

“I started with the early ’90s, when I first started my career and shot with black-and-white film,” she said. “Many of those images I had photographed for the Jewish Western Bulletin, my first job as an editorial shooter. I had special opportunities to meet and photograph many great people, like Elie Wiesel, Seth Rogen, Liz Taylor, Ruth Westheimer, Mordecai Richler, Jackie Mason, Bill Clinton.

“In the 2000s, I was working as a commercial and editorial photographer. I photographed mostly in colour and did some experimentation with processes. This is when I began crafting series of photographs. I spent two years at Hastings Racetrack and created Trackrecord. I expanded on my staged portraits with DAVID.

photo - Comedian Seth Rogen in his early days, 1997. Rogen is just one of many famous people that Dina Goldstein has photographed — Comedian Seth Rogen in his early days, 1997. Rogen is just one of many famous people that Dina Goldstein has photographed. (© Dina Goldstein)

“By 2006, digital photography was introduced as consumer cameras. Art directors were passing along assignments to less-qualified shooters and/or having the writer also take the pictures. I felt that I needed to pivot,” Goldstein said, adding that, by then, she was also a new mother and things in general were shifting.

“In 2007,” she said, “I began to focus on a new series inspired by my toddler daughter, who suddenly became obsessed with Disney princesses. This was a new way of creating narrative within my imagery. The series was a critical success, giving me the confidence to continue with this methodology.”

Although Goldstein mentions the making of her tableaux projects in The Archive XXX, she decided not to include the staged works within the compilation. “This is also because I continued enthusiastically photographing street, documentary and portraiture,” she said.

Over the 2010s, Goldstein was invited to show her work internationally at galleries, photo festivals and museums, and traveled extensively – to Europe, India, China, Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia. “So many of The Archive images come from my travels around the world,” she said.

The Archive XXX ends at the start of the pandemic, in the early 2020s. Of course, she has continued to create. Last fall, she presented a new staged photography series: Mistresspieces. Each of the 10 works features a famous female portrait from history placed in a modern-day challenge. For example, the goddess of Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” floats alongside a beach piled with the life jackets of those who have fled to European shores and Salvador Dalí’s “Galatea at the Moment of Creation” has Galatea surrounded by Amazon packages and melting icebergs in Goldstein’s reimagining.

Mistresspieces is Goldstein’s eighth tableaux series, including Fallen Princesses.

“The idea for Fallen Princesses came to me intuitively, when I realized the way that Disney was influencing my daughter,” she explained. “I decided to select well-known female fairytale characters and parachute them into modernity. I gave them all relatable challenges that play out within a familiar location. The methodology, production-based, was novel, as I no longer just depended on myself and my camera. This format is more collaborative and filmic, with lighting as an intricate skill. Thankfully, the project was successful online, in the media and in education. So, I discovered that I could still create critical work, with specific messaging amplifying my voice in the form of visual social commentary…. Now, in light of AI and the quick accessibility of image-making, I am looking to the future, making some tough decisions.”

Goldstein recognized the power of images at a young age.

“As a child, I would go through my grandmother’s photographs for hours at a time,” she said. “The postcard-like black-and-white photos of her, as a young woman in Romania, were not only beautiful but a window into her life. I would stare at an image and take it all in, her outfit, her shoes, the people she was with, the buildings behind her. Within these images, I discovered people and places throughout the decades of her life. As an adult, I have kept my camera beside me, just in case, it was a compulsion of sorts. I wanted to make pictures that would tell the story of my life as well. Perhaps not as the subject, but as the narrator. Today, mostly everyone suffers from the same need, with the readiness and ease of using a smartphone camera to document or to create an image.”

In The Archive XXX, there are photographs of such a diverse range of people, from presidents to Pride paraders, the famous and the often-overlooked. That Goldstein is comfortable around people, no matter who they are, is partly because of her father.

“My father was a very charismatic figure,” she said. “He was a product of the Second World War, uneducated but street smart. He was able to connect with people, all sorts of people. I understood that there is always something that you may have in common with another person. That’s a good starting point.”

Travel has also contributed to Goldstein’s ease around almost everyone in almost every situation.

“Traveling as a young person allowed me to open up to others, and trust that most folks are good people,” she explained. “My positive experiences as a young photographer were foundational for what the next three decades would bring, working with various diverse personalities. Becoming a mother made me more cautious with my assignments and travel. I certainly didn’t take as many chances or put myself in danger while my girls were little. I remember traveling in India and Colombia, both places I had to be extra aware.

photo - “Horse and Carriage,” Romania, 2006 — “Horse and Carriage,” Romania, 2006. *(© Dina Goldstein)*

“In general, I find that society is complex and divided. This became super-evident during the pandemic, and recently after Oct. 7, 2023. I was able to photograph the anti-vaxxer gang, where bizarre people came out of the woodwork. The Free Palestine bunch includes some of these types, and also an element of proud antisemites. When they first rallied, in big crowds, holding up signs ‘From the River to the Sea’ down Commercial Drive, I photographed it, slightly shocked, slightly sickened. I decided then that I could not personally or professionally continue to be there as a witness to this open hatred.”

A lot changed for Goldstein after Oct. 7, she said. “Losing friends that were once close, making new friends (mostly Jewish), actively fighting against anti-Jewish/Israel sentiment in my East Van neighbourhood and within the Vancouver arts community. This leads to the next chapter of my career, where I will focus more on my Jewish/Israeli identity and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.”

Goldstein has written a TV series called Grimm Lane, which is based on Fallen Princesses. She is creating a new book with her narrative series Storyography and is also working on the TV series The Tribe, which is based on three Jewish families living in Toronto.

For more about The Archive XXX, Goldstein’s tableaux series and other work, visit dinagoldstein.com. To attend her JCC Jewish Book Festival talk, register at jccgv.com/jewish-book-festival-events/feb-12. The event is free to attend.

Guitar virtuosos play

Itamar Erez performs with three other leading musicians on Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m., at Massey Theatre, as part of International Guitar Night. (photo from itamarerez.com)

International Guitar Night takes place on Feb. 1 at Massey Theatre. Once again, Jewish community member Itamar Erez, whose styles range from Middle Eastern, to jazz improv, to world music, is taking part.

“This unique project started with Brian Gore many years ago, when he had the vision to create these unique guitar tours. It’s been going on for over 20 years, with some of the best guitarists in the world,” Erez told the Independent.

“The idea is to put four guitarists on stage with a totally different style and sound,” he explained. “Each plays a solo set and introduces the next player – and, eventually, all four guitarists are playing together in duets and quartets. The audience loves the variety in the music and personalities and, often, there are interesting and funny stories that go with the music.”

Erez will be joined by Jocelyn Gould, a traditional jazz player and singer, Caroline Plante, who comes from the flamenco tradition, and Jamie Dupuis, who brings his harp guitar and Roma jazz influences.

“I’m playing my own mixture of Middle Eastern/Brazilian sounds,” said Erez, whose recent albums include Mi Alegria (2019), May Song (2022; for a review, go to jewishindependent.ca/erezs-new-cd-shows-mastery) and Migrant Voices (2024, with Hamin Honari).

“Migrant Voices was a unique album for me,” Erez said. “I had worked with Hamin for a few years already and we became really good friends. We worked on developing new material for the duet and, towards the recording date, we realized that this album will be mostly based on free improvisation. It just felt like the best approach and most authentic for us. Apart from the album title (Migrant Voices), that was composed by myself, all the tunes were basically improvised right there at the studio.

“In 2024,” he continued, “I also went to the studio with my piano trio (Jeff Gammon on bass and Kevin Romain, drums, and myself on piano) and we recorded in one afternoon a bunch of instrumental covers to tunes – this is something I never had done before, as I always was creating new original material. Among these tracks were Marina Maximilian’s beautiful song ‘Amok Batal,’ three Hanukkah tunes (‘Maoz Tzur,’ ‘Banu Hoshech,’ ‘Kad Katan’) and several other tunes, such as ‘Blue Bossa’ … all done with a very personal approach.

“Over the past year, I have released these tunes slowly as singles – and was overwhelmed with the warm response of audiences for these tracks.”

International Guitar Night is a touring festival, which has three iterations: Canadian, American and European.

“I did one full tour many years ago, in 2009/10, with many concerts in the US, Canada and Scotland,” said Erez. “I did the European version of the tour (Gitarren Nacht) a few years ago, with shows in Germany, Austria and France, and one more time in BC quite recently (2023), where I played for the first time with Jocelyn Gould…. My favourite part of these tours is making friendships with these musicians, some of them are friends for life. And making music with players that come from a totally different background is always fun and exciting.”

This year’s Canadian tour centred on British Columbia, with stops in Oliver, Campbell River, Duncan, Nanaimo and Victoria. The Feb. 1 performance at the 1,260-seat Massey Theatre in New Westminster caps it off. For tickets, go to masseytheatre.com/event/ign-2026.

Different concepts of home

The current show at the Zack Gallery – Finding Home – unites three very different artists: Jeannette Bittman, Andrea Dillingham-Lacoursiere and Eri Ishii. Sarah Dobbs, the gallery curator, told the Independent how the show came together.

“All three artists submitted independent proposals for solo exhibitions,” said Dobbs, adding that, in their own unique way, all three artists “engaged the ideas of place, displacement, immigration and the evolving notion of home.… Their works differ significantly in style and approach, but their practices intersect conceptually. Andrea’s work is rooted in a specific geographic place. Eri’s practice explores internal and emotional landscapes. Jeannette’s work centres on the table as a focal point of Jewish life and tradition, and as a site that reflects the dynamics, rituals and emotional complexities of gathering. Together, their works expand and complicate the idea of home, from the physical to the psychological and to the communal.”

photo - “At Work” by Jeannette Bittman — “At Work” by Jeannette Bittman. *(photo by Olga Livshin)*

Bittman’s images are all domestic scenes. People, young and old, gather around a table, eating and chatting. The colours are muted, the faces indistinct, less important. The table and the food are the points of connection, the common joy and purpose.

“A table is of great significance in everyone’s life,” Bittman told the JI. “It is the place where we eat, but, maybe more importantly, where we meet others and ourselves. The table and gathering around it are critical to Jewish life and culture. Family meals are crucial for family and child growth. Gathering with friends often occurs around a table. Self-reflection, recollection and reminiscence, as well as dreams, occur around a table.” For her, a table is the essence of home.

photo - Jeannette Bittman — Jeannette Bittman (photo courtesy)

“As an artist, I’m intrigued by human emotions and want to represent them through my art,” she said. “Initially, I focus on the realistic expressions of the models. Then, I explore, using colour, shade and form to go deeper. I try to capture the feeling rather than reality … I search for the mood. I rarely have a finished product in mind and become fascinated with the multitude of possibilities. It’s often challenging for me to stop at one.”

Ishii, meanwhile, ponders the outdoors in her paintings. A girl is running along a forest trail in “Runner.” Three girls are gazing across a river in “Three.” A young woman contemplates a peaceful pond in “Bridge,” while dappled sunlight plays all around her, and water ripples beneath the pilings of a little bridge.

All of Ishii’s images are quiet and introspective, uplifting in their tranquil greenery. One could almost hear the breeze whispering in the boughs and the wavelets muttering at the shore. “I am essentially a figurative painter,” said the artist. “My main interest is the inner world of my figures. I want to create works that have emotional resonance.”

For Ishii, home is a complex concept, an inner rapport rather than a particular geographic region. “To me, home means belonging, community and a sense of identity. As an immigrant, I have experienced that these things are fluid and shifting. I have two homes: the place where I spent my formative years – Japan – and the place where I chose to build my life – Canada.”

photo - “Runner” by Eri Ishii — “Runner” by Eri Ishii. *(photo by Olga Livshin)*

About her pieces in the Zack show, she said, “I made them at different points of my life. ‘Bridge’ and ‘Three’ are parts of a series that explores storytelling in paintings. They were inspired by film stills from a British mystery. ‘Runner’ and ‘Picnic’ are made more recently. ‘Runner’ revisits the running series from 20 years ago. The series investigated the transient nature of life and posed questions concerning where we are running to, as well as what we are running from. ‘Picnic’ is the most recent of my works. It explores family relationships. It was inspired by a photo I saw in a recipe book that showed a family enjoying a feast.”

photo - Eri Ishii — Eri Ishii *(photo courtesy)*

Like many artists, Ishii is fond of mentoring others. “Teaching is rewarding in more external ways, as opposed to painting,” she said. “I love being part of people’s journeys, as they tackle challenges of making paintings. It is my way of giving back what I learnt, whereas painting is more internal, as I try to explore what is going on inside of me.”

Ishii’s creative explorations could happen anywhere in the world. “I deliberately made them non-specific,” she said. “I wanted to keep them open to viewers’ imagination.”

Dillingham-Lacoursiere, on the other hand, dedicates her landscapes to one very specific location: Lasqueti Island in the Strait of Georgia, an off-grid, ecologically conscious community, and her home. Her panoramic vistas are bright and intense. The sharp colours of land, ocean and sky echo the lines of nature and emphasize the artist’s fierce emotional link to the place. While Ishii’s paintings are murmurs of lyrical fulfilment and Bittman’s delve into the kernel of her Jewishness, Dillingham-Lacoursiere’s paintings are screams of defiance, a rebellious statement of the artist’s soul.

“I used to equate home with a soft place to land, with treasured collections and memories that serve as reminders of our lives, our ancestors,” she said. “When I moved from Alberta, I left a five-bedroom house, my family, most of my friends, a community that had taken me a lifetime to build, but it wasn’t easy [there]. Reconciling the beauty of the prairies with a mindset and values that never fit meant it was an uphill battle. I was tired of trying to make myself fit into the place I called home but had never felt like it.”

photo - “Home” by Andrea Dillingham-Lacoursiere — “Home” by Andrea Dillingham-Lacoursiere. *(photo by Olga Livshin)*

Here, in British Columbia, she said, “Now, home for me exists in small ways. It’s my favourite tree. It’s reading poetry on a Sunday morning, with coffee in my favourite mug…. I’ve worked with First Nations communities for over a decade, and it was in those circles, around those fires and in those sweat lodges, that I learned women are the keepers of the home. In that sense, I am my home, and I can offer refuge, perhaps especially to myself.”

photo - Andrea Dillingham-Lacoursiere — Andrea Dillingham-Lacoursiere *(photo courtesy)*

Dillingham-Lacoursiere has been painting landscapes for about 10 years. “I had avoided painting landscapes my whole life, until 2016. At the time, I was in the throes of a crisis of conscience, at the confluence of my job and my community,” she shared. “I had spent a year at the helm of a project that was deeply honouring the unfinished lives of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls of this country. The next project I was asked to lead at the museum and art gallery where I worked was the Canada 125 celebrations. The cognitive dissonance I felt pulled me in ways I could not have expected.”

Her response was artistic.

“It led me to an exhibit focused on landscapes of our national parks system. It is a system constructed to outwardly give a sense of national pride, but, at the same time, to commodify some of the most beautiful natural spaces … as escapes for those that could afford it,” she said. “That exhibit was called Reflections on My Reconciliation. People really connected with my art and my message. And it began the unravelling of what I thought it meant to be Canadian for me.”

Finding Home opened Jan. 7 and runs until Feb. 2. Every visitor will be confronted with the question, “What does home mean to you?”

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