Performing Arts – Page 40

Join the wedding party

Left to right, Laura Luongo (Mindy), Melanie Preston (Georgeanne), Michelle Weisbom (Meredith), Devon Oakander (Tripp), Christine Reinfort (Trisha) and Yvette Benson (Frances) in Metro Theatre’s production of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. (photo by Tracy-Lynn Chernaske)

The wedding reception thrown by Metro Theatre Vancouver will be one of the most engaging and fun that you’ve attended – without the hangover or other morning-after regrets. Well, not necessarily, anyway.

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress is at Metro to March 12 and it is well worth seeing. Not only will you be supporting a wonderful theatre space but some very entertaining theatre, as well.

Two Jewish community members are among the five women at this over-the-top Knoxville, Tenn., wedding – Michelle Weisbom as Meredith and Melanie Preston as Georgeanne. Meredith is the younger sister of the bride, Tracy, who none of the bridesmaids, including Meredith, like. Georgeanne was a friend of Tracy’s in high school but Tracy’s then fiancé, Tommy, caused a lasting rift. And Tommy is a recurrent topic among the bridesmaids – he is what you would call a real shmuck.

We meet the bridesmaids after the wedding, just as the reception at Tracy’s parents’ home is starting. The women are decked out in teal sleeveless taffeta dresses that wouldn’t look half bad but for the huge sash with a bow that wraps about the butt, and the hat with a bow to match.

Frances (Yvette Benson) is the first to take refuge in Meredith’s bedroom. Tracy and Meredith’s cousin, Frances is a believer, and every time she is offered a drink, a smoke, a joint, she declines, giving as her reason, “I’m a Christian.” One of the best exchanges in the play is between Frances and Trisha (Christine Reinfort), another former high school friend of the bride, who describes herself as “the reigning queen of the bad rep.” They argue about the difference between having the right to an opinion versus imposing your opinion on others, and Frances’ accusation at one point, “That is secular humanism talking!” is hilarious – and thought-provoking – in context.

Rounding out the bridal party is the groom’s sister, Mindy (Laura Luongo). A lesbian whose coming out was almost universally poorly received, except by her cousin Tripp, Mindy is high-strung and somewhat defensive. She is also clumsy and a compulsive eater, at least in stressful situations, which this wedding is for her and her fellow bridesmaids.

The one man in the cast is Tripp (Devon Oakander), who we meet late in the play, though we hear about him earlier, as Trisha finds him attractive and talks about him with the other women. She tries to resist his charms, as she has slept with many, many men to date and been hurt many times. The scene between Trisha and Tripp is delightful, though it is one spot at which the play loses a bit of its momentum. It is unclear why playwright Alan Ball (whose credits include American Dream, True Blood, Six Feet Under) needed have a male character in the play at all. Perhaps to defend his sex? Show clearly that there are some good men out there?

The only criticisms of Metro’s Five Women lie with the writer. He touches on a number of themes – religion, homophobia, AIDS, sexual abuse, drug use, race, wealth, etc. – and the points are sometimes lost. As well, there are a few moments where the story drags a bit. But director Don Briard has done a fantastic job with this production overall. All of the actors have just enough of a Southern twang that the play is well-situated geographically, and the set of the play, which premièred in 1993, puts it firmly in its temporal space. The actors have a great chemistry and interact with each other convincingly. You really will feel as if you’re the sixth bridesmaid in the room – though much more comfortably dressed.

Five Women is recommended for audiences age 16+. For tickets ($24/$21, two for $35 every Thursday), call 604-266-7191 or visit metrotheatre.com.

Don’t let the fear overwhelm

Itai Erdal brings A Very Narrow Bridge to Chutzpah! March 5-13. (photo by Emily Cooper)

There’s the family into which you were born, and the families you create yourself. Itai Erdal has built a life in which he is surrounded by family, both on and off stage. He often shares vulnerable aspects of himself and his family in his work, and he is one of the more collaborative playwrights out there.

While A Very Narrow Bridge, which runs March 5-13 at this year’s Chutzpah! Festival, is about Erdal’s “relationship with his sisters, Judaism and the state of Israel,” it is written by Erdal, Anita Rochon (artistic director of the Chop theatre company) and Maiko Yamamoto (artistic director of Theatre Replacement), is directed by Rochon and Yamamoto, and co-stars Erdal, Anton Lipovetsky, Patti Allan and Tom Pickett. The original score is written and performed by Talia Erdal.

“It is a dream come true for me to work with my sister,” Erdal told the Independent. “She is a brilliant musician and I’ve always admired her talent and her spirit. Talia is much younger than me … and we’ve been very close from the day she was born. In the past few years, she has become religious and, since I am not religious at all, I was worried that it would pull us apart. This fear of mine is indeed addressed in this show, which makes her being here and participating in the show even more special.”

The play’s description is minimal: Erdal “relives a trial in order to obtain a get – a divorce document in Jewish religious law – where everything he knows is at stake.” Its title comes from a teaching of the founder of the Breslov Chassidic movement, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810): “All the world is a very narrow bridge, and the most important thing is not to be overwhelmed by fear.”

That certainly seems to be Erdal’s approach to creativity. A Very Narrow Bridge is not the first work in which he puts a part of his life on a public stage.

“I’ve always been a very candid and open person,” he said. “I am an extrovert and I enjoy telling stories and being the life of the party. Having said that, in all my shows I talk about very personal things and sometimes about things that are hard to reveal or even to admit to myself. But I’ve learned that when something is hard to talk about, it often makes for good dramatic material, and I really trust my collaborators, who are all brilliant and steer me in the right direction.”

And they have. How to Disappear Completely, which was also a collaborative writing effort, is a one-man show that deals with the last months of Erdal’s mother’s life before she passed away from lung cancer. First produced by Chop Theatre for Chutzpah! 2011, it has since been mounted in many other cities, and continues to tour. It was nominated for Jessie and Dora awards, which both honor excellence in theatre.

Rochon was one of the writers of How to Disappear Completely, and its producer. Erdal, who is also an award-winning lighting and set designer, has worked with Yamamoto before, as well.

“One of the things I like the most about theatre is the collaborative nature of the process, and knowing each other well and understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses makes it that much more rewarding,” he said. “The three of us have done many shows together, in different capacities. I have lit five shows for Maiko’s company, Theatre Replacement, some of which she acted in, some of them she directed and all of them she produced…. All this familiarity makes for a very symbiotic process and a totally democratic room, where no one is precious about anything and the best idea always wins.”

Erdal is the artistic director of Elbow Theatre, which is presenting A Very Narrow Bridge. He explained how the collaboration with his fellow artistic directors on this work came about.

“I always wanted to do a show about my sisters and my complicated relationship with Judaism and the state of Israel, and I always wanted to work with my dear friend Maiko, so I approached her and pitched her this project about three years ago and we’ve been working on this project ever since.

“Initially, we thought that Maiko would be on stage with me, so we approached Anita, who is in my mind the most exciting director in Vancouver. When we started writing this play, the focus shifted from my sisters to a show about immigration and Judaism, we added the three rabbis and Maiko’s role has changed from performer to writer and director.

“Creating a show from scratch is very hard and you never know which direction it will take,” he added, “so it’s important to stay open and do whatever serves the play. The various directions this process took have led us to create an exciting piece of theatre that we are all proud of.”

Would A Very Narrow Bridge exist if Erdal had never left Israel?

“Since this play is about emigrating from Israel, I am sure I couldn’t have written it if I still lived there,” he said. “Even though I am very happy in Canada, immigration is a very hard thing to do and this show is about the lingering doubt in the back of every immigrant’s mind: Did I do the right thing? Would I have been happier had I stayed home?

“When I grew up in Israel, everybody around me was Jewish, so I never felt particularly Jewish. I knew that there were people in the world who weren’t Jews, but I had never met them. Since moving to Canada, I feel a lot more Jewish because I am defined as a Jew by my surroundings. It’s a bit like family: you take it for granted when it’s there and you start appreciating it when it’s gone. Moving to Canada made me appreciate my heritage and my family, and this show is about both.”

A Very Narrow Bridge runs March 5-10, 12-13, 7 p.m., in the Dayson Board Room of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. For tickets ($29/$25/$21), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com.

Join Hotz at Just for Laughs

Jeremy Hotz is coming to British Columbia, starting with a show in Kelowna on Feb. 25. (photo from Just for Laughs)

For a man whose current show is the International Man of Misery Tour, whose CTV special was What a Miserable Show This Is and whose DVD is called What a Miserable DVD This Is, Jeremy Hotz is a very funny and upbeat guy. He’s also really pleasant and cheerful on the phone.

Hotz spoke to the Jewish Independent on Jan. 27 from Toronto, where he was doing a press run for his show, which is being presented by Just for Laughs. The month-long Canadian tour started in Jasper, Alta., but then Hotz returned east to perform in Newfoundland. He is now making his way west and his first of four shows in British Columbia is in Kelowna on Feb. 25. The trip has him performing almost every day, sometimes twice in a day.

“I don’t work in the same order or anything,” he said. “A lot of stuff I make up is specific to the city that I’m in, so it’s quite fresh for me every single time I go on stage. I’m a very free-form comedian. I include the audience in the performance so they’re part of the show. It’s like a comic working without a net. That’s what seems to work the best for me, even though a lot of comics will tell you, ‘you should never do that.’ But, of course, everything that I’m told I shouldn’t do, I do. I put my hand in front of my face, I turn my back to the audience, I do everything wrong, but if you do all those wrong things together, I guess it works.”

Whereas many comedians have their prepared routine and will perform the same jokes from show to show, Hotz has several concepts that he carries from one performance to another – complaints about getting older, for example – but the content will be different. “That’s because I can’t remember the damn jokes,” he said.

He explained that he doesn’t plan anything out. “Planning gives me anxiety,” he said. “I suffer from this generalized anxiety disorder … and what happens to me right before shows when there’s stuff looming and coming up, it can get very bad, almost debilitating…. But, once I get out there, it just melts away, it’s gone. I feel much more comfortable in front of a theatre full of people than in a one-on-one conversation with a stranger.”

He said that he ended up being a comedian in part because he never really got any other jobs when he was younger. “I had to choose stand-up because it really was the only thing that was working for me.”

Humor has always been a part of his life.

“We were Jews, so when we got together for dinners, it was funny,” he said. First starting out as a comedian, “I didn’t even know there were comedy clubs. I didn’t understand why people would have to go to a club to see funny, and then I realized, oh, not all families are funny, I get it.”

While he had a bar mitzvah and attended Jewish school for six years as a kid, Hotz said, “My dad was the one that held the Jewish thing together in the family. My mother, of course, was Jewish as well, but she came from South Africa, like he did, and her family wasn’t observant. We observed the High Holidays, the Yom Kippurs, we had Passovers, things like that, but as far as going to the synagogue every Saturday, we didn’t do that.”

Born in South Africa, Hotz was a year old when the family moved to Canada; he has an older brother and a younger sister. He remained here until he moved to the United States in 1997.

“What happened was I went to the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal and then these people from Disney gave me this big deal,” he explained. “They just threw a whole bunch of money at me to stand there and do nothing for a year. I guess they were keeping me off the market and they were saying they were going to do all these things with me. They did nothing, but they gave me that chunk of money and, on that money, I moved to Los Angeles.”

Joining his household soon will be a purebred long-haired chihuahua named Shackleton, after the polar explorer. Hotz is getting him from a longtime friend and had just seen the puppy while in Toronto for the press run. “We went on Canada AM and he was a fantastic little star,” said Hotz. “He’s only three months old.”

At best, Shackleton might be five pounds at his adult weight, Hotz added. “His nickname, of course, will be Shaq, which will be very funny because Shaq [O’Neal] is the big giant basketball player and this dog will be about five pounds.”

After the Just for Laughs tour, there will be a few projects to which Hotz will return his attention.

“We’re right now working on this documentary that’s going to bring to light this anxiety thing that I suffer from because it’s no joke,” he said. He described it as being “like an evil man that waits around the corner and can just pop out at any second.” While fine on stage, it’s generally “in full force” before the show, so he brings his brother, who’s a psychologist, on the road with him, at least for the beginning of the tours, “to get my head thinking about the right things.”

Even when acting in TV or film – Hotz is in Call Me Fitz, and has done other television shows and the movies My Favorite Martian and Speed 2 – the anxiety affects him. He was diagnosed about two and a half years ago.

In addition to the documentary, Hotz said he and his writing partner, Brian Hartt, have a couple of projects that they would like to have produced. On his wish list for himself is an HBO special.

“I’ve pretty much done the Lettermans and the Lenos and other specials, Comedy Central … but I’d like to do one HBO special. That would be something for me to do,” he said.

Hotz is looking forward to performing at Vogue Theatre. “I think it’s one of the best venues,” he said, “and I really hope that a lot of people are there. I know that there’s a comedy festival [jflnorthwest.com] going on at the right time, which they’ve made me part of, so hopefully that’ll be neat. And it’s a Just for Laughs thing, so that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy because they kind of launched my career. It’s very difficult to get out of Canada – because of Just for Laughs and the festival, that’s how I did it.”

While Montreal isn’t on this tour – and Hotz hasn’t done the main Just for Laughs festival for awhile – he said he’ll be there this July. While locals will be able to watch that performance on television, no doubt, his B.C. dates are a rare opportunity to see the award-winning comedian in person. Hotz is in Kelowna Feb. 25 (Kelowna Community Theatre), Vancouver Feb. 26 (Vogue Theatre), Nanaimo Feb. 27 (Port Theatre) and Victoria Feb. 28 (McPherson Playhouse). For tickets ($45.50), visit hahaha.com/en/jeremyhotz.

Gonna be a fun night

Jessica Kirson and Jon Steinberg (below) launch this year’s Chutzpah! Festival on Feb. 18. (photo from Chutzpah!)

Everyone who likes to laugh should attend the opening night of this year’s Chutzpah! Festival on Thursday, Feb. 18, at Rothstein Theatre. Watch a few of Jessica Kirson’s or Jon Steinberg’s routines and you’ll see the wisdom in Steinberg’s comment to the Independent: “Jessica and I, we have very different styles of comedy but we’re both very funny, so there’s something for everyone. If you come to the show and you don’t enjoy yourself, you may be the problem.”

Both seasoned and acclaimed performers, Kirson and Steinberg have long been funny.

“I was always the class clown,” Kirson told the Independent. “I had no idea that I wanted to do stand-up comedy. I had no idea I was capable. I never thought I could get on stage in front of people. I ended up taking a class and that’s what gave me the strength to actually perform. I was petrified. Once I did it, I fell in love with it.”

Whereas Kirson initially considered becoming a therapist, following her mother’s example, and went as far as graduate studies in social work, Steinberg’s path to stand-up was more direct.

photo - Jon Steinberg — Jon Steinberg *(photo from Chutzpah!)*

“As a kid, I always enjoyed making people laugh,” he said. “In high school, all my friends were into skateboarding but I was really bad at it. So, when my friend Toby made a skateboard video, I did some comedy sketches to go in between the clips of kids skateboarding. It was my way of being included.

“One night, I was out with a friend, walking in the rain with a paper bag full of doughnuts when the bag tore open and all the doughnuts rolled out into the street. I started telling people about it and they found it funny, and then I figured out how to tell it in a way that was funnier and eventually this would come to be known as ‘The Doughnut Story.’ The humor came from the disproportionate level of build-up to pay-off, and also how sad I was about losing all my doughnuts.”

The success of that story led to other stories that Steinberg and a buddy would write for Steinberg’s repertoire. Later, this buddy convinced him to run for high school president, “as a joke.”

“I had to deliver a speech in front of roughly 800 students,” said Steinberg. “That made my first open mic night in front of 35 people seem way less intimidating.”

His first time seeing live comedy was in Toronto at Yuk-Yuk’s.

“It was one of those nights with 10 comics on the bill, Russell Peters, Shaun Majumder, and many other great comics. Awhile after that, I did my first open mic at the Yuk-Yuk’s in Ottawa.”

Steinberg’s comic style is nerdy and calm, his hair being the most out-of-control aspect of his act. Kirson, on the other hand, exudes energy and her facial expressions are a sight to behold.

“I am very intense like my comic persona,” Kirson said. “I am definitely not as loud. I am not ‘on’ all of the time. A lot of people assume that of comedians and it is so not true. I am very silly and love to laugh at myself and ridiculous situations around me.”

She is edgy and pushes boundaries in her performances but is, ultimately, kind-hearted. “I never want to be mean-spirited to anyone,” she said. “If I feel like I am hurting someone’s feelings, I back off. I do, like most comics, love to get people thinking.”

Steinberg, too, steers clear of nastiness. “If I write something and I believe that it’s funny, and not mean-spirited, I’ll try it,” he said. “But if it consistently gets a poor reaction from audiences, I’ll drop it from my act. Some audiences are more sensitive than others, but my goal is to make people laugh, not to make them sad, so I won’t try to cram something down people’s throats and blame them for not liking it. So, if you’re at my show and I do a joke that you don’t like, just know that I may be in the process of figuring out I shouldn’t do that joke. You might only need to hear it once to realize that I shouldn’t have said it, but I may need to say it three or four times before I come to the same conclusion, so don’t spoil it for me by coming up to me after the show and telling me which jokes I shouldn’t do.”

Despite his extensive touring, the comedy festivals and television specials, Steinberg admits to still being a little nervous when doing stand-up. However, he said, “I find that helps keep me alert and in the moment. It’s like crossing the street – you need to be a little afraid of being hit by a car, just enough that you remember to look both ways, but not so afraid that you can’t cross the street.”

Kirson, too. “I get nervous at times,” she said. “I have done so many kinds of shows for so many years that I know what to expect from certain audiences. If I get fearful, I try to remember that I am seasoned, and most likely it will be fine. I get the most nervous doing television.”

And she has done a lot of television – on Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, Oxygen, Bravo, the Women’s Television Network, NBC, Fox, ABC, Showtime … the list goes on. The Jessy K Show YouTube channel has more than 100 videos with more than 2.5 million views in total.

“I started making silly videos with a friend of mine and posting them online. People loved them and it just grew from there,” said Kirson of the show’s genesis.

Many Canadians will recognize Steinberg from CBC Radio’s The Debaters.

“My first debate was in 2010,” he said. “That was when they were doing the TV version, which was taping in Vancouver. I came back to do another one of those shortly after. They stopped doing the TV version shortly after that, but the director of that was a guy named Brian Roberts, and after that he cast me in a kids’ TV show he was doing, which allowed me to quit my day job at an electronics recycling facility. So, The Debaters has been good for me in a lot of ways. I do around three to five of the tapings a year, it helps fill out my schedule, and it exposes me to a whole different audience. I have one coming up in March in Victoria.”

While their comedy isn’t Jewish per se, Judaism or Jewish culture are a part of who they are.

“I’m very proud to be Jewish,” said Kirson. “I love the traditions, the culture. It means, family, home, it is my rooting in life.”

For Steinberg, “the things that are most Jewish are those that secular and Orthodox Jews have in common, like bagels or potato kugel. I know a lot of people think that stuff is trivial, but it’s what we have in common.”

As to what else he’d like to do career-wise, Steinberg – who has appeared on the sitcom Spun Out and the drama Remedy – said, “I’d love to do more acting. I’ve done a bit, and it’s a lot of fun, but I’m happy just doing stand-up too. My goal isn’t to be famous, it’s just to make a living doing things I enjoy, so that can include stand-up, acting, writing, or things like The Debaters, which combines all three of those things.” In 2014, he released the album Between Me and the Wall.

Kirson also enjoys a breadth of activities. In addition to performing around the world, her TV appearances and her YouTube channel, the award-winning comedian has appeared in film and she recently launched her own podcast. While she would love to have her own television show so she can draw an even bigger audience, she said, “I make a good living at doing something I love. I’m very grateful.”

For more on Steinberg, visit jon-steinberg.com; for more on Kirson, jessicakirson.com. The comedians’ Feb. 18 Chutzpah! opener starts at 8 p.m. For tickets ($36, $21 for students), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com.

Psychological thriller to play

Hannah Moscovitch (photo from Hannah Moscovitch)

Not one normally drawn to psychological thrillers, Little One intrigues me, in large part because its playwright, Hannah Moscovitch, has such an impressive track record. She has not only won multiple awards for her writing, but has done so while tackling an almost unbelievable breadth of heady topics, including, but not limited to gender politics, Stalinist Russia, the Holocaust, the Canadian military in Afghanistan, and the nature of time. In Moscovitch’s words, Little One “is an exploration of guilt, family, trauma and the limits of love.”

The synopsis for the play – which runs in New Westminster at Anvil Centre Theatre from Feb. 4-6 and in Vancouver at Firehall Arts Centre Feb. 9-13 – reads: “When 4-year-old Claire is adopted into the family, 6-year-old Aaron has to learn to ‘love’ his new monster of a sister. Told through the now-adult voices of its two main characters, Little One weaves stories of childhood horror and teenage humiliation into a twisted, wryly funny, and ultimately haunting narrative. One that asks how far you’d let a psychopath control your life, and what you’d do to regain it.”

photo - Daniel Arnold and Marisa Smith in Little One — Daniel Arnold and Marisa Smith in *Little One*. *(photo by Kaarina Venalainen)*

In a 2011 blog, Moscovitch pondered why she wrote Little One. In contemplating humor and darkness, she noted that the humor allows “the audience to relax and go with me into the darkness.”

In an email interview earlier this month with the Independent, Moscovitch expanded on this topic. “There is humor in life,” she said, “even in the bleakest circumstances (we know, for instance, from diaries written in the Warsaw Ghetto, that starving Jews, imprisoned there, being terrorized by Nazis, told jokes) and so I tend to want to include humor in my work in order to accurately represent life.

“I don’t know why I write about dark topics. They attract me. I also tend to write historical plays for some reason. I write a lot of works set in the 20th century. I can’t altogether explain my voice and my story instincts as a writer. My guess is, in dark circumstances, human nature is exposed, so I head to dark circumstances (war, disaster) to understand the human psyche.”

Now based in Toronto, Moscovitch was raised in Ottawa, which is where Little One is set. Given the complexity and emotional depth of her work, the Independent wondered what the dinner table conversation was like at home when she was growing up.

“My father is an economics and history professor (he teaches in the social work department at Carleton and his specialty is social policy) and my mother was a social worker and a researcher on women in unions and women in the workplace, so conversations growing up were on the serious side,” she explained. “Conversations were generally abstract, about ideas. Not much small talk.”

She seems very comfortable with having a play that ends with some questions unanswered.

“Clarity opens up one possibility in the minds of the audience. Ambiguity opens up two or more possibilities in the minds of the audience,” she explained. “It’s a sophisticated form of storytelling. Makes the story more complex.”

Moscovitch’s own story is relatively complex, and her path to writing a little winding. As high school came to a close, she auditioned for National Theatre School in Montreal, and then spent time in Israel on a kibbutz and in England when she wasn’t accepted. When she returned to Canada, she got into NTS, graduating from its acting program in 2001, though also being introduced there to playwriting. One of the plays she wrote as a student was workshopped by the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa.

Moving to Toronto, it only took her a few years to find her niche as a playwright. Her short play Essay premièred at the 2005 SummerWorks Festival; The Russian Play, in 2006, won the festival’s prize for best new production. Her first full-length play, East of Berlin, premièring at Tarragon Theatre in 2007, was nominated for a Governor General’s Award. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history. She has won multiple awards for her writing over the years, and her plays have been mounted in several different countries. She also writes for other media, including radio, TV and film.

In a 2014 article on kickasscanadians.ca, she said, “For me, there’s a big question about whether I want to be a Canadian playwright or an American TV writer.” Her answer so far is that she’s “a Canadian TV writer as well as playwright,” though she told the Independent, “My husband and I talk about moving to London or New York for a year, to meet new collaborators and immerse ourselves in a different theatre culture.”

In her work, she added, “I try to show Canada to Canadians. We see tons of work by Brits and Americans. Canadian audiences like to see themselves represented (is my sense).”

Other aspects that enter her plays derive from her cultural background, which is both Jewish (her father) and Catholic (her mother). She told the Jewish Daily Forward in 2013 that Judaism was the core of her identity and that she “write[s] a hell of a lot less Irish plays.” Since then, she told the JI, “I’ve written a play called What a Young Wife Ought to Know that draws on my Irish heritage! It’s set in a working-class Irish immigrant district of Ottawa in the 1920s.

Probably because I was immersed in my Jewish heritage growing up – including Hebrew school, temple, Jewish holidays, bat mitzvah, trips to the concentration camps in Poland and to Israel to work on a kibbutz – my Jewish side has always loomed larger in my imagination.”

She most identifies with Judaism’s traditions and holidays, “especially Passover and Shabbat. I’ve named my son Elijah. The oldness of our culture compels me, our 5,000-year history. I spent a lot of time reading about the Holocaust when I was younger and that’s influenced me profoundly.”

With such a talent in writing, it’s hard to believe that Moscovitch initially tried her hand at acting. “When I was younger,” she shared, “I wanted to be a lawyer or a librarian or a war journalist. I wrote poems and stories my whole childhood though. My mother tells me she knew I’d be a writer because I was always reading and writing growing up.”

As to her current projects, Moscovitch is as busy as ever.

“I have a première in Edmonton at U of A in March (The Kaufman Kabaret) and at the Stratford Festival in August (Bunny), I’m working on an opera with a Philadelphia-based composer named Lembit Beecher. Along with a number of collaborators, I’m co-adapting Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald for the stage. I’m talking to a Japanese theatre company about writing a play about Hiroshima. I’m writing a project with Maev Beaty, Tova Smith and Ann-Marie Kerr about modern maternity (in development at the Theatre Centre). I’m talking to 2b theatre in Halifax about co-creating a project that would feature the lives of my Romanian great-grandparents, Chaim and Chaya (both of them arrived in Halifax when they immigrated to Canada).”

And dream projects? “There are a number of brilliant artists in Canada I’ve yet to work with,” she said. “I’m a big fan of Vancouver’s Electric Company!”

For tickets to Little One at Anvil Centre Theatre ($25/$15), visit ticketsnw.ca. For the Firehall Arts Centre performances ($23-$33), visit firehallartscentre.ca.

Conflict, romance on stage

In a Blue Moon tours the Lower Mainland, and beyond. (photo by Barbara Zimonick)

From the première of Strange Bedfellows on Broadway in 1948 to today’s Skylight, audiences have enjoyed the plots of mismatched individuals thrown together who somehow weave a life for themselves.

Similarly, In a Blue Moon, the latest work of playwright Lucia Frangione and dramaturg Rachel Ditor, brings together the unlikely duo of Ava, a widow, and Will, the brother of Ava’s late husband, Peter. The play takes place in British Columbia, where Ava and 6-year-old daughter Frankie move to a cottage near Kamloops that Ava inherited. On arrival, they find Will living there between jaunts around the world to practise his photography.

Though Frankie takes a shine to her uncle, Ava’s and Will’s differences keep the two adults apart. Will is the charming, adventurous, carefree spirit enjoying life’s carnal pleasures, while Ava is a yoga-practising vegetarian with a “tsk-tsk” attitude, whose goal is to live healthily and set up an Ayurveda clinic. Her move to Kamloops is based loosely on the life of Frangione’s own uncle, who was a farmer who decided to become a massage therapist late in life.

Life in the rural cottage focuses on discussions between Ava and Will – their different views of life, their memories of Ava’s husband – and the presence of Frankie, whose emotions alternate between happy-go-lucky precociousness, enjoying time with her uncle, and confused anger around the death of her father.

Over time, the three become close, like their own small family, and it seems that Ava and Will might have a future together, but when Will’s former girlfriend enters the picture, that future looks like it will change irreversibly.

This play delves into some interesting dynamics between the lead characters, who seem to have an unbridgeable gulf between them, made worse by the different ways in which they reacted to the death of Peter, who had suffered from diabetes. Will didn’t know the extent to which Peter had ignored doctors’ warnings, even going so far as to stop taking medications and drinking and eating what he wasn’t supposed to. Ava admits she had lost respect for her husband because he had given up on staying healthy. As the severity of the disease worsened, Ava had to watch painfully as her husband slipped away.

Despite the gravity of the subject matter, there are many light-hearted moments in the writing, such as when Frangione pokes fun at some stereotypical holistic healing references (Ava tells her daughter that she has “undigested emotion”) or when Will tries a few yoga poses – and fails miserably.

Unfortunately, what could have been a solid, thought-provoking play is weakened by some less-than-stellar directing. Will delivers a performance of gruff indifference, where practically every line sounds like it should be punctuated with a grunt. Even when he’s reflecting on an old rolling pin that he’s kept over the years, his voice is more angry than nostalgic and he almost barks how the red handles please his sense of esthetic.

Ava’s delivery is quite flat, as well, with practically no raw emotion showing up until the second act, when her jealousy of Will’s ex causes her to drown her sorrows in alcohol.

The biggest redeeming aspect of the play is the set design, in which photographs are projected on a large circular backdrop that starts as a giant moon, but later looks like a massive window overlooking the cottage surroundings. Images of the actors enjoying the countryside together are also projected on this backdrop in short sequential bursts, making it seem as though these actors are real people outside of the play. It’s quite a unique and clever way to add another dimension to the activities on stage and was enjoyable to watch throughout the performance.

In a Blue Moon is an Arts Club on-tour show. It runs at Surrey Arts Centre until Jan. 23 (604-501-5566), Clarke Theatre in Mission Jan. 25 (1-877-299-1644) and at Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam Jan. 26-30 (604-927-6555). Contact artsclub.com or 604-687-5315 for more information.

Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer and media trainer in Vancouver. Her consulting work can be seen at phase2coaching.com.

Duo’s message is “laughter heals”

The comedy team of Rabbi Bob Alpert and Ahmed Ahmed on their August 2015 Laugh in Peace Tour. (photo from Laugh in Peace)

“Both Jews and Muslims have a lot in common. What are we fighting over? Jews and Muslims don’t eat pork, we don’t celebrate Christmas, we both use ‘ch’ in our pronunciation, and we are both hairy creatures of God,” says comedian Ahmed Ahmed. “The only real difference between Jews and Muslims is that Jews never like to spend any money and Muslims never have any money to spend.”

So goes one of the dozens of jokes featured in the Laugh in Peace comedy routine of Ahmed and Rabbi Bob Alper. It’s one Arab, one Jew, one stage. The unlikely duo’s show was in Israel (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa) and the Palestinian territories (Ramallah) for the first time from Aug. 12-17. Together, Ahmed and Alper have performed more than 150 times during the last 14 years – throughout the United States, Canada and England – at synagogues, churches, mosques, theatres and college campuses.

Their story began as a gimmick by a savvy publicist, said Alper, a Reform rabbi who spent more than a decade at pulpits in New York and Philadelphia – or, as he calls it, “14 years of performing in front of a hostile audience.”

Alper admits he was at first resistant to the idea of the combined show. “My publicist calls me one day and says, ‘Bob, why don’t you do a show with an Arab comedian?’ I said, ‘Do you have any other ideas?’”

Ahmed was skeptical, too. “I got this call, ‘My name is Bob Alper and I am a Reform rabbi.’… He says, ‘I have an idea. I thought it would be great to do a show together.’… Well, I said, ‘That sounds good, where do you perform?’ He says, ‘Well, I perform in synagogues.’ … I thought someone was playing a joke on me.”

But the timing was right. In 2001, at the height of the terrorism of the second Palestinian intifada (uprising) in Israel, people were primed for comic relief. Alper says, when people are tense or sad, “comedy is even more important.”

Over time, the two have been more than just a successful and sought-after show. They’ve become good friends. The women in Alper’s small Vermont town fell in love with Ahmed through his visits and regularly inquire about his well-being. Alper has eaten in Ahmed’s parents’ California home.

“Ahmed’s dad asked about my family,” Alper recalled. “When I told him my wife would be having shoulder surgery the following month, he looked gravely at me and ordered, ‘You must stop twisting her arm.’”

They also believe they have played a role in breaking down barriers between Muslims and Jews. On college campuses, where Jewish-Muslim tension and antisemitism run rampant over the issue of Israel, Ahmed and Alper perform for mixed audiences. Jewish males wearing yarmulkes and females in hijabs sit side-by-side, smiling and laughing.

“When people laugh together, it is hard to hate each other,” said Alper, recounting how at the University of Arkansas it occurred to him that they were guests of the Razorbacks – a Muslim and a Jew performing at a school whose mascot is a pig.

They keep their shows apolitical, though they do touch on their personal religious experiences in the 90-minute performances, which generally are divided between solo acts of 30-35 minutes and a joint opening and closing. The closing includes stories from their travels.

Make time for Chutzpah!

Gallim Dance (photo from Gallim Dance)

Tickets are now on sale for the 16th annual Chutzpah! Lisa Nemetz International Jewish Performing Arts Festival. The 2016 festival will run from Feb. 18 to March 13, and it will once again showcase theatre, comedy, music and dance performances and workshops by international, Canadian and local artists.

The Chutzpah! Festival’s Dance Series includes Canadian and North American premières from Italy’s Spellbound Contemporary Ballet; Israeli dance company Maria Kong performing their much-lauded Open Source; and New York-based Gallim Dance in their repertory work Wonderland by choreographer Andrea Miller, which Dance Magazine praised as “Gutsy. Wild. Smart. Original.” New to the international scene, New York City’s all-male company MADBOOTS appears in a double bill with a world première from Chutzpah’s resident dance company, Shay Kuebler Radical System Art; and Ballet Kelowna presents works by artistic director Simone Orlando, James Kudelka, Heather Myers and John Alleyne, with Toronto’s Continuum Contemporary Music accompanying (Chutzpah!PLUS, May 4-6).

photo - Baladino — Baladino *(photo by Omri Barel)*

The global landscape of music presented this year showcases performers from Israel, Mexico City, New York City, Canada and Cuba. Highlights include Israel’s sister group A-Wa; Juno Award-winners Odessa/Havana; trumpeter and composer David Buchbinder and Grammy-nominated Cuban piano master Hilario Durán joined by a team of jazz and world musicians; Mexico City band Klezmerson; Baladino’s interpretations of Sephardi and Ladino melodies, with Mediterranean-Gypsy grooves, electronics, improvisation and vocals; and Israel’s Victoria Hanna’s ongoing experimentation with the vocal and conceptual boundaries of language, presenting sacred Hebrew texts and spirituals in a modern context, integrating music, spoken word and video. Also on the music roster are Israel/New York jazz artists Rotem Sivan Trio; mandolinist and clarinetist Andy Statman from New York with Jim Whitney (bassist) and Larry Eagle (drummer and percussionist); and Israel’s Avishai Cohen Quartet, featuring award-winning trumpeter Avishai Cohen, described by the New York Times as “an extravagantly skilled trumpeter, relaxed and soulful … deftly combining sensitivity and flair.” (Chutzpah!PLUS, May 7)

Chutzpah!’s theatre and comedy lineup includes a world première from Israeli-Canadian B.C.-based playwright, performer and lighting designer Itai Erdal in collaboration with Maiko Yamamoto (Theatre Replacement) and Anita Rochon (Chop Theatre). The audience will enter the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s Dayson Boardroom for a humorous and moving play, A Very Narrow Bridge, that reveals the complexity of living between cultures and family relationships. Erdal re-lives a trial in order obtain a get (religious divorce). Joining him are local actors Patti Allen, Tom Pickett and Ryan Biel.

The festival also features two separate stand-up comedy performances from New York City comedians Jessica Kirson and Jon Steinberg, a perennial favorite on CBC Radio’s Debaters.

New this year, as part of Chutzpah!PLUS (April 2), is a memoir book reading and interview with Jennifer Teege, the bi-racial granddaughter of Nazi commandant Aon Goeth, portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List. In her memoir, My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me (co-written with journalist Nikola Sellmair and newly translated from German), Teege reveals the moment she discovered her ancestry after being given up for adoption, and recounts how this discovery shook her life to the core.

Celebrating its 16th year, Chutzpah!’s artistic and managing director Mary-Louise Albert said, “Another great year with world premières by B.C. dance and theatre artists and a focus on the continuation of our established and well-warranted excellent reputation of bringing numerous outstanding international music, dance and comedy to our audiences!”

Chutzpah! performances will take place at Rothstein Theatre, Biltmore Cabaret, the J, Fox Cabaret and Frankie’s Italian Kitchen. Single tickets are $21 to $36 and can be purchased online at chutzpahfestival.com, by phone at the Chutzpah! box office (604-257-5145) or Tickets Tonight (604-684-2787). Chutzi Packs are also available: see four different shows of your choice for $89.

It’s all about people

William Samples and Christine McBeath in People, now at Jericho Arts Centre until Nov. 29. (photo by Adam Henderson)

Character actors are like wine – they only get better with age. Nowhere is this more evident than in the United Players production of English playwright Alan Bennett’s satirical farce People, currently playing at Jericho Arts Centre. Directed by Jewish community member Adam Henderson, it’s cheeky fun served up English style.

Two sisters, Dorothy (Christine McBeath), an aging former model, and June (Kate Robbins), an archdeacon of the local church, have to deal with the decay of their 500-year-old Yorkshire ancestral home, Stacpoole Manor. Dorothy, who lives in the home with her companion Iris (Nancy Amelia Bell), wants to sell off the contents to a London auction house, while June wants to endow the house and its grounds to the National Trust.

The trust is an English charitable institution that preserves and maintains historic homes for the benefit of the “people.” But that means lots of tourists invading the home with their questions and cameras, and Dorothy is a recluse who basically doesn’t like people. By chance, one of her old flames, Mr. Theodore (William Samples), happens upon the manor, and he offers a third option to the sisterly impasse – renting out the home for a porn film shoot. This could get interesting.

The play opens with a glimpse of a porn actor caught in flagrante delicto. Cut to the suave London auctioneer Bevan (Brian Hinson) and then the smarmy National Trust evaluator Mr. Lumsden (Matt Loop) as they traipse through the house eyeing the contents for their respective purposes, each man trying to convince his patron sister of the strength of his option. The audience is introduced to valuable papers, artifacts and a collection of chamberpots famous for their users: George Bernard Shaw, Rudyard Kipling and T.S. Eliot, to name a few (with the original contents still intact).

In the meantime, Dorothy, unbeknown to June, opts to let Mr. Theodore and his company into the home to make their film.

The action really picks up in the second act, with the stage transformed into a periodesque bedroom shoot of the porn film Reach for the Thigh (tastefully done, no nudity please, we’re British). Colin (Kevin Hatch) as the male actor and Brit (Charlotte Wright) as his female counterpart (who knits between takes) are hilarious in their four-poster bed passionate romp.

Of course, during the shoot, the bishop (Hamish Cameron) makes an appearance with June to check out the home – luckily, he was having trouble with his new specs and could not really see what was going on. If you haven’t had your fix of double entendres for the night, these scenes ought to satisfy you.

The crew – cameraman Les (Peter Robbins), wardrobe mistress Louise (Demi Pedersen), fashionista grip Bruce (Eric Keogh) and assistant director Nigel (Sidartha Murjani) – rounds out the cast with small, albeit memorable, roles.

McBeath and Samples are superb, and Bell really brings out Iris’ dotty character. Collectively, the actors – many of whom are ex-pat Brits so the accents are authentic – make it all work. The fact that at least half of the cast is over 65 adds to the reality of the production.

The set morphs from decrepitude and decay into sophistication and grace. Kudos to Marcus Stusek for this work and to Marci Jade Herron for her costume designs, from shabby chic for the Stacpoole women (mink coats and sneakers) to edgy togs for the film actors. Charming song and dance routines and nostalgic music from the 1960s (think “Downtown” and Petula Clark) complete the mix.

In the media release, Henderson notes, “We really don’t treat age with much respect, and it’s a youth-obsessed culture. This play goes a long way in dealing with those issues.”

So, you can take the opportunity for deep consideration of contemporary issues or you can just sit back and enjoy a good laugh. Your choice.

For tickets and more information, visit unitedplayers.com or call the box office at 604-224-8007, ext. 2. People runs through to Nov. 29.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Welcome barbarians

From Hofesh Shechter’s barbarians trilogy. (photo by Gabriele Zucca)

Before barbarians was even created, DanceHouse had included the Hofesh Shechter trilogy in its 2015/16 season.

“Programming work before you have had the chance to view and experience it yourself is always risky,” DanceHouse producer Jim Smith told the Independent in an email interview. “Programming work that has not even been completed or performed, some would say is even way beyond this risk, primarily because no one can speak to the work other than the artist who is in the process of making it. However, if we believe in an artist, if we have a relationship with their work and we can see they have developed a track record, then agreeing to present their new work before you get to see it is one of the highest compliments you can offer them. It also allows our audiences the opportunity to see work that is very fresh in its life, before it has been performed elsewhere around the world.

“In the current DanceHouse season,” he continued, “there are two artists whose works were confirmed before they were completed. Hofesh Shechter is one, and the other is Crystal Pite, with her collaboration with Jonathon Young of the Electric Theatre Company and their production titled Betroffenheit (which we will see in February).” Completing the season is Companhia Urbana de Dança in April.

Smith described Hofesh Shechter as “part of an international generation that is currently defining how dance is being made and carving out the state of the (dance) art.” He included Israel’s Sharon Eyal, the United Kingdom’s Wayne McGregor and Vancouver’s Pite in this generation of artists.

The Hofesh Shechter Company was at DanceHouse in 2009. Hosting the company again is very satisfying, said Smith, as it allows local “audiences the chance to see how his work has developed and evolved, allowing them to have a deeper relationship with his work.”

In promotional material, barbarians is described as being about “intimacy, passion and love.” In an interview with artslandia.com, Smith described it as “loud, visceral rage.” Acknowledging the potential incongruence, he said, “I would offer that in exploring the extremes that lead to my characterization of loud, visceral rage, it creates a contrasting space for notions of intimacy, passion and love to emerge, rather than simply being portrayed. I have heard Hofesh himself describe experiencing his work as a series of images that move faster than the mind can necessarily process or think through. He also says his work often reveals frustration and buried hope, and a lot of different emotions that relate to humans under pressure. I think barbarians could be viewed/experienced in this fashion.

“The barbarians program is three distinct works, which makes for a different flow to the evening, rather than one longer single work. There is highly precise movement, and there is baroque music, which gives the effect of things being controlled. However, there is also a sense of things breaking free and getting out of control. The last work on the program is a duet made for two long-standing dancers in the company, which I think reveals the collaborative approach between dancer and choreographer, and also the admiration that exists within those particular relationships.”

DanceHouse has hosted more than one Israeli choreographer or company over the years. Is there an Israeli style?

“There has been much discussion and observation about the work that is of Israeli dance artists and the Diaspora. (For example, Hofesh now resides in the U.K.) Many dance observers would say that it is Ohad Naharin of Batsheva Dance Company that is the central figure who led the Israeli dance domination that has been going on for the past number of years. Artists such as Shechter, but also Sharon Eyal and Andrea Miller – all of whom have been on the DanceHouse stage – are part of a generation that studied and worked with Naharin and Batsheva, and have gone on in the wake to carve out unique and distinctive choreographic voices. I don’t think there is an element or style that we can point to that characterizes or typifies the Israeli work, rather it is a larger sensibility, which you appreciate from experiencing a number of works of these artists and, of course, being able to contrast them with different work.”

barbarians is at Vancouver Playhouse Nov. 13-14, 8 p.m. For tickets, visit dancehouse.ca.