{"id":26216,"date":"2017-10-06T03:47:51","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T10:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=26216"},"modified":"2017-10-05T00:24:51","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T07:24:51","slug":"spotlight-on-the-sylvia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/10\/06\/spotlight-on-the-sylvia\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on the Sylvia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Advah Soudack and Anna-Mae Wiesenthal rehearse the song \u201cBuilding a Dream\u201d for Two Views from the Sylvia, which runs Nov. 8-12. (photo by Adam Abrams)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

With the upcoming theatrical production of Two Views from the Sylvia<\/em>, author Diana Stevan interviewed Sue Cohene, a founder of the show\u2019s producers, Kol Halev Performance Society. The new play, based on the Sylvia Hotel, runs Nov. 8-12 at Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island.<\/p>\n

DS<\/strong>: What inspired you to do the play?<\/p>\n

SC<\/strong>: The answer is insanity.<\/p>\n

DS<\/strong>: Tell me more about that. How did you get the idea?<\/p>\n

SC<\/strong>: About five years ago, I was attending one of our monthly Jewish psychology network meetings. During our introductions, welcoming new attendees, I did a quick version of my background as a psychotherapist and the latest news about Kol Halev. After the introductions, Marsha Ablowitz, another psychotherapist, who I had known for many years, came up to me and said, \u201cDo you want to do a story about my aunt?\u201d<\/p>\n

My response was, \u201cYour aunt?\u201d<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cYes, my Aunt Sylvia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not particularly keen, I replied, \u201cYour Aunt Sylvia?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Aunt Sylvia of the Sylvia Hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was hooked and said, \u201cTell me more.\u201d<\/p>\n

DS<\/strong>: So she told you the story of her aunt. Was there anything you were surprised about?<\/p>\n

SC<\/strong>: Yes, but you have to come see the play to find out. But, I have to say, the Jewish Vancouver backstory is quite fascinating. I\u2019ll tell you one tidbit. There was a connection between Sylvia Goldstein Ablowitz and another legendary Vancouver figure, Joe Fortes, the lifeguard at English Bay.<\/p>\n

DS<\/strong>: Interesting. I\u2019ve heard about him. I understand from the title of your play, that there are two views from the Sylvia. Can you tell me more about that?<\/p>\n

SC<\/strong>: One view is from the outside, from English Bay, looking in; the other is from the inside, looking out. And those are just the literal views I\u2019m talking about.<\/p>\n

DS<\/strong>: I understand there\u2019s some music. Is this a musical?<\/p>\n

SC<\/strong>: We have two one-act plays. The first one, named Sylvia\u2019s Hotel<\/em>, is a musical about the building of the hotel by the family and the obstacles they found. The second one-act play, named The Hotel Sylvia<\/em>, is a play with music, focusing on the period of time after the hotel was built.<\/p>\n

DS<\/strong>: I heard that the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia showed an interest.<\/p>\n

SC<\/strong>: Yes, the Jewish Museum is one of our partners in this project. They will be presenting a historical photography exhibit at the theatre.<\/p>\n

For tickets ($28) to <\/em>Two Views from the Sylvia, visit kolhalev.ca<\/a> or tickets.theatrewire.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Diana Stevan<\/strong> is a writer, who previously worked as a family therapist, teacher, model, actress and freelance writer broadcaster for CBC TV\u2019s <\/em>Sports Journal. Her novels \u2013 <\/em>A Cry from the Deep, a romantic mystery\/adventure, and <\/em>The Rubber Fence, psychological fiction \u2013 and her coming-of-age novelette, <\/em>The Blue Nightgown, draw on both her experience and imagination. This interview was published by Theatrewire.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advah Soudack and Anna-Mae Wiesenthal rehearse the song \u201cBuilding a Dream\u201d for Two Views from the Sylvia, which runs Nov. 8-12. (photo by Adam Abrams) With the upcoming theatrical production of Two Views from the Sylvia, author Diana Stevan interviewed Sue Cohene, a founder of the show\u2019s producers, Kol Halev Performance Society. The new play, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[3901,6296,7426],"class_list":["post-26216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-kol-halev","tag-musical-theatre","tag-sylvia-hotel"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}