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Heart of the City tribute

Heart of the City tribute

Actor Kieran Sequoia (Breaking Bad, Disney’s Night at the Museum) is one of the performers in The Keep It Raw Cabaret: A Tribute to Jay Hamburger, co-presented by the Heart of the City Festival and Theatre in the Raw on Nov. 9 at Russian Hall (photo by Katie Keaveny)

Guided by the theme “Threads of Connection,” the 21st annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival takes place Oct. 30-Nov. 10, with more than 100 events throughout the Downtown Eastside and online. Several members of the Jewish community are involved.

The festival opens Oct. 30, 2 p.m., at Carnegie Community Centre Theatre with co-founders Terry Hunter and Savannah Walling as they reflect on their 21-year history with the festival, express gratitude to fellow artists, residents and organizations, and “pass the paddle” to new leadership. Special guests include, among others, Bob Baker/S7aplek (Squamish Nation); Chinese-Canadian rap artist Gerry Sung (Scope G), who is also a cast member of Props Master’s Dream, which is part of the festival offerings; Pavel Rhyzlovsky (accordion) and Leonard Chokroun (violin), from Strathcona’s Ukrainian Hall; and grass dancers Larissa Healey and Pavel Desjarlais. 

Jewish community member Itai Erdal is the lighting designer for The Prop Master’s Dream, which takes place Nov. 2, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., at Vancouver Playhouse (tickets: bit.ly/3B8rO0w).

This fusion opera produced by Vancouver Cantonese Opera is inspired by the true-life story of Wah-Kwan Gwan (1929-2000), a little-known Chinese opera performer and prop master born to a local Chinese father and Indigenous mother. The Cantonese Opera cast is joined by Sung and Haudenosaunee/Irish actress and singer Cheri Maracle, and features projections by filmmaker Anthony Lee.

photo - Counselor and stand-up comic David Granirer will be joined by comedians from Stand Up for Mental Health on Nov. 2 for a Heart of the City Festival show at Carnegie Theatre
Counselor and stand-up comic David Granirer will be joined by comedians from Stand Up for Mental Health on Nov. 2 for a Heart of the City Festival show at Carnegie Theatre. (photo from Heart of the City Festival)

Also on Nov. 2 – at Carnegie Theatre, 4 p.m. – is Funny Side Up: Stand Up for Mental Health. Counselor and stand-up comic David Granirer will be joined by comedians from Stand Up for Mental Health, to look at the lighter side of taking meds, seeing counselors, getting diagnosed and surviving the mental health system. Jewish community member Granirer’s Stand Up for Mental Health teaches stand-up comedy to people with mental illness. This event is one of the festival’s many free offerings.

On Nov. 9, 8 p.m., at Russian Hall, the festival honours Jewish community member Jay Hamburger, who died earlier this year. Hamburger was a beloved teacher, political activist, radio host and artistic director of Theatre in the Raw, which is co-presenting the event (tickets: bit.ly/4eqs3Cu).

The Keep It Raw Cabaret: A Tribute to Jay Hamburger features choral singers, stand-up comedy, staged theatrical surprises, a taste of Hamburger’s original poetry and writings, and more. Among the participants are Jewish community members Stephen Aberle and Hamburger’s son, Sylvan Hamburger.

The Heart of the City Festival is presented by Vancouver Moving Theatre in association with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and a host of community partners. The festival works with, for and about the Downtown Eastside community to carry forward the area community’s stories, ancestral memory, cultural traditions, lived experiences and artistic processes to illuminate pathways of resistance and resilience. For the full lineup and other information, visit heartofthecityfestival.com. 

– Courtesy Heart of the City

Format ImagePosted on October 11, 2024October 9, 2024Author Heart of the CityCategories Performing ArtsTags David Granirer, Heart of the City, Itai Erdal, Jay Hamburger, mental health, music, stand-up, Stephen Aberle, Sylvan Hamburger
Stand Up celebrates 20th

Stand Up celebrates 20th

Stand Up for Mental Health founder David Granirer. (photo from smhcomedysociety.org)

Stand Up for Mental Health (SMH), a program started in Vancouver that teaches stand-up comedy to people with mental health issues as a form of therapy and to destigmatize mental illness, celebrated its 20th anniversary this spring. 

“It feels like such an accomplishment. Helping so many people has been the highlight of my life,” said David Granirer, the founder of SMH. “One thing I am really good at is making other people into stars, and I feel like I have done that a lot. Over the past 20 years, I have trained about 700 comics. So, that’s a lot of stars.

“I had no idea what I was doing when I started out, so I had no expectations about the program being successful or not. I could never have imagined this,” he said.

Granirer, a counselor by profession, as well as a stand-up comic, told the Independent that the two-decade journey has been unforgettable. “Everything stands out,” he said. “Every show, every comic I have ever trained, every laugh we have gotten.”

When considering some of the more memorable bits over the years, he recalled writing a mental health version of the Beatles song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” In Granirer’s rendition, the guitar has dizziness, dry mouth and is too depressed to get out of bed.

Granirer, who is open about his own struggles with mental illness, has trained groups in more than 50 cities, in Canada, the United States and Australia, in partnership with various mental health organizations. He plans to continue the program and run it in more cities in the coming years.

The idea for SMH originated from a course Granirer has been teaching at Langara College since 1998 called Stand-Up Comedy Clinic. Occasionally, he would see people have life-changing experiences by getting on stage and using comedy to tell a club full of people who they were.

“One woman had a fear of flying and told me that the day after our event she had to get on a plane and she said, ‘My fear was gone. I felt like once I’d done stand-up I could do anything,’” Granirer said. “And I thought, wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to give this experience to people who wanted to do comedy but who also wanted to change their lives? And since I work in mental health and I also have a mental illness, I thought that would be the perfect place to start.”

For Filomena Black, a graduate of the course, SMH has been a lifeline. An introvert by nature, she said she has been able to be more comfortable around people.

“I’ve lost my self-conscious focus and become more engaged in enjoying other people’s company. I’m now looking forward to successfully meeting challenges in all aspects of my life rather than avoiding them,” Black said.

Asked to tell one of the jokes in her repertoire, Black responded, “I used to run away from home a lot, but my kids always found me.”

Another SMH graduate, April Soon, also speaks highly of the program, lauding Granirer for shining a light on what people with mental health issues can do and not letting finances be a barrier to participation.

Soon, a veteran of public speaking through Toastmasters, did not find standing up before a crowd as intimidating as others might have and, these days, she not only performs at SMH gigs but at other venues around Vancouver.

“When bad things happen to me now, I wonder how I can use it as material,” said Soon. “SMH has helped reframe my thinking and provided good resilience training.”

On a lighter note, she added, “Being involved with SMH has exposed me to many other mental illnesses I want to try out.”

Kevin Scow similarly expresses his gratitude, saying the program has given him his voice and was vital to his recovery.

“This came to me at exactly the right time,” he said. “Instead of seeming strange … now they know I am strange … and they love me all the more for it. Thanks to David and my fellow alumni for nurturing my voice and helping with making it funny. My First Nations side says thanks.”

image - SMH’s 20th anniversary was recognized last month with a proclamation from the Province of British Columbia declaring April 13 as Stand-Up for Mental Health Day
SMH’s 20th anniversary was recognized last month with a proclamation from the Province of British Columbia declaring April 13 as Stand-Up for Mental Health Day.

SMH’s 20th anniversary was recognized last month with a proclamation from the Province of British Columbia declaring April 13 as Stand-Up for Mental Health Day. The proclamation reads, in part, that SMH provides a program for thousands of people “to improve their lives and combat the stigma surrounding mental health and … is an opportunity to raise awareness of and show support for people managing mental health issues or illnesses.”

Since 2004, Granirer and his comics have performed more than 500 shows for mental health organizations, government departments, corporations, universities, correctional facilities and the military. Granirer also gives “laughter in the workplace presentations” to organizations across North America, helping them use humour to lower stress, improve wellness and cope with change. Granirer, too, is the author of The Happy Neurotic: How Fear and Angst Can Lead to Happiness and Success.

SMH’s classes in Vancouver last for six months and students step on stage for two shows, a debut and a graduating performance. As Granirer says, “The comics go from knowing nothing about stand-up to killing it.”

Stand Up for Mental Health is currently recruiting for its next class, which starts July 30. For more information, visit smhcomedysociety.org. 

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

Format ImagePosted on May 24, 2024May 23, 2024Author Sam MargolisCategories Performing ArtsTags April Soon, comedy, David Granirer, Filomena Black, health, Kevin Scow, mental health, milestones, performing arts, Stand Up for Mental Health
Laugh for good causes

Laugh for good causes

Helen Schneiderman headlines and David Granirer emcees the Stand Up for Mental Health show at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver on June 1. (photos from JCC)

“There are many comedy shows out there, but not many like this one,” Kyle Berger told the Independent. “I keep saying that this will be the ‘feel-good comedy of the year,’ but it really will be. These comics will show us that we can laugh at just about anything and feel inspired at the same time – with all proceeds going to incredible causes. I can’t wait!”

Berger is the sports coordinator at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and the delegation head of JCC Maccabi. He is also a stand-up comic and a producer with Rise of the Comics. It is in all these capacities that he is participating in the Stand Up for Mental Health comedy show at the JCC on June 1, 7:30 p.m.

A joint fundraiser for the Stand Up for Mental Health (SMH) Comedy Society and JCC Maccabi Vancouver, Berger is producing the event, with the support of Stand Up for Mental Health, and will be performing a set himself. “It will be a huge honour for me to share the stage with this crew,” he said.

“This crew” includes SMH founder, counselor and comedian David Granirer.

“Stand Up for Mental Health is my program teaching stand-up comedy to people like myself with mental illnesses as a way of building confidence and fighting public stigma,” Granirer explained. “We have been around since 2004 and have trained approximately 300 comics and done hundreds of shows for government, corporations, the military, correctional facilities, medical schools, etc.”

photo - Kyle Berger
Kyle Berger (photo from JCC)

Berger attended one of those performances last year, in which SMH Comedy Society showcased “their students’ incredible talents, and I absolutely loved it,” he said. “I knew some of the SMH Comedy board members from working together in the comedy scene and made the connection right away. They are always looking for venues and new audiences and I knew I wanted to do something with comedy as a JCC Maccabi Games fundraiser, so inviting them to team up seemed like a no-brainer to me.”

Also performing next week will be Helen Schneiderman, who headlines the show.

Schneiderman’s comic career began in 2018, when she took a comedy course at Langara College that was taught by Granirer. She said she did it, “mainly to get off the couch. I didn’t expect to love it so much, nor to continue doing it after the class. But, once I got my first few laughs, I was hooked. Over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten more comfortable sharing my experiences and perspectives, and I try to remember to always have fun up there.”

Being able to do stand-up comedy has influenced how Schneiderman navigates through life.

“I now see the world through ‘funny glasses,’” she said. “Every interaction and experience has the potential to be a joke – not always a good joke, but a joke nonetheless. My day job is delivering leadership training and so I get to have a captive audience, even at work.”

In addition to her day job and other involvements, Schneiderman has been on the board of SMH Comedy Society for four years, and board president for the past two years.

“I’m involved with the organization because it’s doing really important work to tackle the stigma of mental health,” she said. “It’s a fantastic program, and I am in awe of the comics who share their stories with so much vulnerability and smart humour.”

People can find out more about SMH at smhsociety.org. Post-pandemic, the society is once again holding live classes and shows, as well as continuing to put on Zoom shows. The pandemic, said Granirer, “made me realize that, by being creative on Zoom, we could reach people all over the English-speaking world. It also made me realize how much people need to have in-person contact in order to maintain their mental health.”

One of the reasons SMH is teaming up with JCC Maccabi Vancouver for this show, he said, is “because they’re a great organization and exercise is crucial to maintaining good mental health.”

The decision to partner was easy for Berger.

“As the delegation head for Vancouver’s JCC Maccabi squad, I am always looking for ways to raise money for scholarships so that anyone who wants to participate in the JCC Maccabi Games experience can do so,” he said. “At the same time, producing and performing stand-up is another hobby and passion of mine, so it always makes sense to me to raise money through laughter. I always love the opportunity to work with other causes or charities, and this one was a match made in heaven.”

The June 1 Stand Up for Mental Health show is being presented by JCC Maccabi Vancouver and Life is Still Funny, which Berger described as “a group of local comedians who might be considered, well, not particularly young, but still quite young at heart! Made up of locals like Helen, Ray [Morrison], as well as recent Canada’s Got Talent contestant Syd Bosel. They are all involved with SMH Comedy Society.”

In addition to Schneiderman, Berger and Granirer, Morrison will perform, as will a few SMH students. Tickets are $20 (plus fees) and are available at eventbrite.ca. There will be a cash bar and a raffle draw at the show. Berger said half of the proceeds will go to SMH Comedy Society and half to JCC Maccabi Vancouver.

Format ImagePosted on May 26, 2023May 25, 2023Author Cynthia RamsayCategories LocalTags comedy, David Granirer, fundraising, Helen Schneiderman, JCC, JCC Maccabi, Jewish Community Centre of, Kyle Berger, Stand Up for Mental Health, stand-up
Comedy and mental health

Comedy and mental health

David Granirer (photo from David Granirer)

Vancouver counselor and comic David Granirer has been standing up for mental health, literally, for nearly two decades. His brainchild, Stand Up for Mental Health, is a program that has helped hundreds of people on the road towards addressing and recovering from all sorts of psychological disorders by taking to the stage and performing comedy before live audiences.

The concept came to Granirer after observing his students during a stand-up comedy clinic he taught at Langara College in the early 2000s. While the course had nothing to do with mental health, Granirer noticed that some students experienced psychological benefits by the end of the semester.

“So, in 2004, I thought, why not put this in a package for people who wanted to do comedy but also wanted that life-changing experience? And, since I work in mental health and have a mental illness, this was the natural place to start,” said Granirer, who, in addition to advocating for destigmatizing mental illness, speaks openly about his own experience with depression.

“I’ve had students overcome long-standing depressions and phobias, not to mention increasing their confidence and self-esteem. There’s something incredibly empowering about telling a roomful of people exactly who you are and having them laugh and cheer,” he added.

The idea, which was seeded in Vancouver’s Oakridge neighbourhood, has blossomed to a program that Granirer has run in 50 cities throughout Canada, the United States and Australia – in partnership with mental health organizations in each area.

Granirer has trained nearly 700 comics since Stand Up for Mental Health’s inception. In that time, there have been more than 500 shows for a range of audiences, including mental health organizations, government departments, corporations, universities, correctional facilities and the military. He even created a show for the United States Secret Service in Washington, D.C., in May 2021.

In Vancouver, the Stand Up for Mental Health course is six months long. Classes start by teaching participants how to write stand-up routines; then they spend the next part of the classes working on their acts. Each week, participants write some jokes and bring them in to try in front of the class. Most of the acts are about their mental health experiences.

Classmates do a lot brainstorming together to hone the routines. At the halfway point, each student does a five-minute set. Afterwards, the prospective comics develop a completely new set for their graduation show at the end of the program.

In terms of therapeutic benefits, Granirer said doing comedy builds a comic’s confidence and self-esteem, enabling many to tackle other challenges in their lives successfully. It also helps get rid of the shame many feel about having a mental illness.

“People transform their past trauma into great comedy material,” he said. “In therapy we call that a cognitive shift. All the bad things they’ve been through now make a great act. Instead of feeling ashamed, they now feel proud of what they’ve been able to survive.”

Granirer emphasized that, while much can be explored in the process, the humour has to be clean, and there are taboo elements, such as homophobia, racism and antisemitism, which are off limits.

When the pandemic started last year, Granirer shifted to online classes and shows on Zoom. In 2021, Stand Up for Mental Health has done about 25 virtual shows for organizations across North America. Recently, live classes have resumed.

“The pandemic has also got in the way of my traveling to other cities where I’ve trained groups,” Granirer said. “I just finished training a group in Culpeper, Va., and had to emcee the show virtually instead of in person.”

Granirer has been the recipient of numerous accolades over the years. Among the honours decorating his mantel are an Award of Excellence from the National Council for Behavioural Health, a Life Unlimited Award presented by the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance, a Rotary Shine On Award in Australia for special achievement in mental health, and a Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada.

His work for Stand Up for Mental Health has been featured in media throughout the world, including, of course, the Jewish Independent, and also in The Passionate Eye documentary Cracking Up. Granirer is the author of the book The Happy Neurotic: How Fear and Angst Can Lead to Happiness and Success.

The new year promises a busy start for Stand Up for Mental Health. On Jan. 12, Granirer and his team of comics are organizing “an evening of stigma busting comedy” called Speaking of Normal. The Zoom event will be hosted by TSN personality Michael Landsberg. To attend, visit wellnessinstitute.org/speakingofnormal.

The next Stand Up for Mental Health Vancouver class starts on Jan. 25 and is currently recruiting students. Classes are Tuesdays from 10:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. More information can be found at standupformentalhealth.com or by emailing Granirer at [email protected].

As far as being able to participate, Granirer stressed, “there are no prerequisites, no auditions, and no one needs to have any comedy experience. All they need is a desire to do stand-up comedy.”

He strongly encouraged his fellow Jewish community members to take part.

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

Format ImagePosted on December 17, 2021December 16, 2021Author Sam MargolisCategories Performing ArtsTags comedy, David Granirer, education, mental health, Stand Up for Mental Health, standup
Leading Canadians in environment, music, mental health

Leading Canadians in environment, music, mental health

Liliana Segal with Green Chair Recycling’s 2017 Canada’s Volunteer Award.

Green Chair Recycling, founded by Liliana Segal, was recognized in 2017 as a business leader in British Columbia and the north by Canada’s Volunteer Awards. The awards, given by the Government of Canada, were presented in a ceremony held in Ottawa on Dec. 5, International Volunteer Day, to individuals and businesses across the country who contribute to and strengthen their communities.

The awards booklet noted, “Vancouver-based Green Chair Recycling is helping to keep waste of out landfills one event at a time. They work with their clients to create zero waste events, where 95% of event waste is recycled. They work with over 3,000 volunteers who are green ambassadors to track waste at their events, provide education outreach and give free presentations to any interested group. Their volunteers also run free educational field trips to landfill and recycling facilities to show students the reality of landfills and to learn how recycling happens in their communities.”

* * *

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world’s leading research centres in its field. CAMH Difference Makers – 150 Leading Canadians for Mental Health was a national movement that started in 2017. Its purpose is to encourage people to speak freely about mental illness because CAMH sees how these conversations help break down the stigma that prevents people from getting the care they need.

In April of last year, guided by a national committee of leading experts and advocates, CAMH launched a cross-Canada call for nominations of people influencing change in the area of mental health and giving us new reasons for hope. It invited Canadians to nominate a person with lived experience, a caregiver or family member, a health professional, a researcher, an advocate, a philanthropist – anyone making a difference in small or big ways; in local or international circles; in public or private lives. Nominations were open until July 1, and more than 3,700 names put forward.

Among the 150 selected as Leading Canadians for Mental Health were members of the B.C. Jewish community. In alphabetical order, they were David Granirer, Dr. Gabor Maté and Lorne Segal.

David Granirer

It’s hard to laugh when it seems the entire world is crumbling around you. That is what makes Granirer’s approach to dealing with depression so noteworthy. When he experienced depression as a teenager, Granirer saw his condition as something shameful. Today, he realizes shame is as bad as the illness itself.

As a staff member at the Vancouver Crisis Centre, Granirer began to use humour at work to help trainees get through stressful days. This led to a growing passion for stand-up comedy and to eventually founding Stand Up for Mental Health. The program teaches stand-up comedy to people living with mental illness to help them build confidence and break down stigma. Through Stand Up’s 500 shows so far – performed to mental health organizations, government, corporations, the military, schools and correctional facilities – Granirer has helped thousands see mental health in a different light. Through his unique program, Granirer helps people understand not only do we need to shed shame, but that a smile, a laugh and happiness can exist alongside the challenges of mental illness.

Dr. Gabor Maté

When Maté retired from medicine, he turned from using his insights on addiction, early childhood development and trauma to support society’s most marginalized, to inviting growing audiences in Canada and around the world into new dialogues on compassion. He is internationally known for his work on the mind/body unity in health and illness, on attention deficit disorder and other childhood developmental issues, and his breakthrough analysis of addiction as a psychophysiological response to childhood trauma and emotional loss. He is the author of four best-selling books published in 20 languages on five continents, including When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection and the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction. His TED talks, YouTube videos and international speeches have helped focus attention on the mental health and trauma issues that underlie addiction. Maté shows humility and compassion, giving a sense of hope that, in a world where many people are shut down, defensive and fearful, there is a guiding light ahead and a new world of possibility.

Lorne Segal

Segal, a business leader and philanthropist, has been involved with Coast Mental Health’s Courage to Come Back Awards since their inception in 1998. At that time, the stigma surrounding mental illness was even more of a barrier to public engagement than it is today. During his almost two decades with the awards, including serving as chair for the past 12 years, he has helped transform the event into one of British Columbia’s premier mental health campaigns. Under Segal’s tenure, the number of guests has tripled to 1,500, with the awards also reaching more than a million people through television, print and other media. Segal has been instrumental in inspiring more than $15 million in support for mental health programs such as housing, employment and other support services to more than 4,000 people annually living with mental illness. His decision to start supporting the event at a time when mental health wasn’t popular was quite simple. He saw an issue that affected many and wanted to do something about it. Not only has he been successful in this, he has helped spread greater awareness and support for mental health in British Columbia.

* * *

image - Ruckus CD coverToronto-based band Beyond the Pale’s latest CD, Ruckus, reviewed in the Jewish Independent Sept. 15, 2017, was nominated for two Canadian Folk Music Awards last year, for World Music Group of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year. While the band didn’t win a 2017 award, it has been nominated now for eight CFMA honours, and won four.

“Six of the 12 songs on Ruckus are originals, while the others are arrangements of traditional melodies,” noted the JI’s review (jewishindependent.ca/the-complexities-of-ruckus). “All of the musicians either composed an original piece or participated in the arranging. They are a tight ensemble who play around with tempo and style with such ease that the complexity of what they’ve created isn’t what you’ll first notice. And that’s what makes their music so good.”

Format ImagePosted on January 26, 2018January 24, 2018Author Community members/organizationsCategories NationalTags Beyond the Pale, David Granirer, Gabor Maté, Green Chair Recycling, Liliana Segal, Lorne Segal, mental health, music

Looking for nominees … the nominated and the winners

The Centre for Judaism of the Lower Fraser Valley is looking for nominations for its annual Lamplighter Award, which honours a young person who has performed an outstanding act of community service.

Candidates must be between the ages of 6 and 18 and submission of potential recipients must include two references describing the child’s community service. The chosen lamplighter will receive the award during Chanukah at an evening ceremony at Semiahmoo Shopping Centre.

“Chanukah celebrates the victory of light over darkness and goodness over evil,” said Simie Schtroks. “This is a most appropriate opportunity to motivate and inspire young people to make this world a brighter and better place. By filling the world with goodness and kindness, that light can dispel all sorts of darkness.”

To nominate a candidate for the award, contact Schtroks as soon as possible at [email protected].

* * *

This summer, David Granirer received a Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada. The award recognizes a deed or activity that has been performed in a highly professional manner, or according to a very high standard: often innovative, this deed or activity sets an example for others to follow, improves the quality of life of a community and brings benefit or honour to Canada.

Granirer is a counselor, stand-up comic and mental health keynote speaker. Granirer, who himself has depression, has taught stand-up comedy to recovering addicts and cancer patients, and founded Stand Up for Mental Health, a program teaching comedy to people with mental health issues, in 2004. He has trained Stand Up for Mental Health groups in partnership with various mental health organizations in more than 50 cities in Canada, the United States and Australia. His work on mental health is featured by media worldwide and has garnered several awards.

Granirer also teaches Stand-Up Comedy Clinic at Langara College, and many of his students have gone on to become professional comics.

* * *

This year’s Mayor’s Arts Award for Community Engaged Arts went to Earle Peach. A singer, songwriter, composer, conductor, arranger, teacher and performer, Peach leads four choirs in the city and hosts a monthly community coffee house in Mount Pleasant. He teaches privately, and records musicians for demos and albums. He performs with Barbara Jackson as a duo called Songtree and also has a band called Illiteratty.

The emerging artist honour went to Ariel Martz-Oberlander, a theatre artist, writer and teacher. As a Jewish settler on Coast Salish territories with diasporic and refugee ancestry, her practice is rooted in a commitment to place-based accountability through decolonizing and solidarity work. She divides her time between theatre and community organizing, and specializing in creative protest tactics on land and water.

Martz-Oberlander is a facilitator with the True Voice Theatre Project, producing new shows by residents of the Downtown Eastside and vulnerably housed youth, in collaboration with the Gathering Place and Covenant House. Her most recent work, created with support from the LEAP program, won a research and development prize from the Arts Club. Martz-Oberlander is also the associate producer for Vines Festival, presenting accessible, free eco-art in Vancouver parks. Good art is accountable to the community, raises up voices rarely heard and is vital to repairing our world.

* * *

On Oct. 3, the Koffler Centre of the Arts announced the four winners of the 2017 Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature, all of whom were on hand at the award luncheon at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Toronto.

Winners in two of the categories are based in Vancouver. Miriam Libicki won the non-fiction award for Toward a Hot Jew (Fantagraphics Books Inc.), which the jury described as, “An admirably complicated response to being a woman and a Jew in our time, a thrilling combination of memoir, journalism and art.” And Irene N. Watts and Kathryn E. Shoemaker took the prize in the children’s/young adult category for Seeking Refuge (Tradewind Books), which the jury described as, “A superb graphic novel dramatizing the Kindertransport, a powerful story enhanced by firsthand experience and beautiful black-and-white illustrations.”

The other winners were Peter Behrens’ Carry Me (House of Anansi Press) for fiction and Matti Friedman’s Pumpkinflowers (McClelland & Stewart) for history.

The history shortlist included Max Eisen’s By Chance Alone (Harper Collins Publishers) and Ester Reiter’s A Future Without Hate or Need: The Promise of the Jewish Left in Canada (Between the Lines). Runners-up in the fiction category were Eric Beck Rubin’s School of Velocity (Doubleday Canada) and Danila Botha’s For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I’ve Known (Tightrope Books). In non-fiction, Sarah Barmak’s Closer: Notes from the Orgasmic Frontier of Female Sexuality (Coach House Books), Judy Batalion’s White Walls (Berkley/Penguin Random House) and David Leach’s Chasing Utopia (ECW Press) were runners-up, while Deborah Kerbel’s Feathered (Kids Can Press) and Tilar Mazzeo and Mary Farrell’s Irena’s Children (Margaret K. McElderry Books) were on the children’s/young adult short list.

* * *

In September 2017, local community member Dr. Arthur Wolak was elected for a three-year term to the board of governors of Gratz College, a private liberal arts college in suburban Philadelphia. Founded in 1895, Gratz is the oldest independent and pluralistic college for Jewish studies in North America. Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Gratz is also recognized by Israel’s Ministry of Education and Culture. Through its undergraduate and graduate programs, Gratz educates students to become effective educators, administrators and community leaders.

Posted on October 27, 2017October 25, 2017Author Community members/organizationsCategories LocalTags activism, Ariel Martz-Oberlander, Arthur Wolak, books, Centre for Judaism, David Granirer, Earle Peach, Gratz College, Irene Watts, Kathryn Shoemaker, Lamplighter Award, Mayor’s Arts Award, mental health, Meritorious Service, Miriam Libicki, Simie Schtroks, tikkun olam, Vine Awards
Celebrate 150 with laughter

Celebrate 150 with laughter

Canadian-born, U.K.-based Tanyalee Davis will make a special appearance in Comedy on Wheels, which features many contributors. (photo from Comedy on Wheels)

Realwheels celebrates Canada’s 150th birthday with laughter. Their new show, Comedy on Wheels, will play for only three days but, hopefully, the levity will stay with audiences much longer. The show will present members of the Vancouver disability community in performances that capitalize on people’s greatest common asset: the ability to use humour to cope with life’s trials and tribulations.

“What better way to celebrate Canada’s 150th than with laughter?” said Jewish community member Rena Cohen, the director of the show, in a press release. “A shared laugh strengthens our bonds and dissolves barriers. Whether you self-identify as able-bodied or as having a disability, come giggle and be entertained. And be prepared for a challenge to any and all preconceptions.”

Cohen joined Realwheels as managing artistic director in 2009. Before her, the company, which was founded in the late 1990s, had produced one show, Skydive, in 2007. Featuring Realwheels founder James Sanders, a professionally trained actor with quadriplegia, the play was regarded as an important and innovative contribution to changing perceptions of disability.

“I joined Realwheels after meeting its brilliant founder, James Sanders,” Cohen told the Independent. “I transitioned into arts management six years earlier and, when James invited me to discuss the company’s next steps, I was curious to learn about the lived experience of disability. I was also well aware of the company’s enormous success with their Skydive project. I saw an opportunity to bridge Realwheels’ early success into a more stable future. The mandate of the company – to create and produce performances that deepen people’s understanding of disability – quickly internalized and became a passion of mine.”

Since Cohen became part of the company, Realwheels has been producing new shows steadily every year, sometimes more than once a year. “We produced Creeps this past winter at the Cultch and we’re currently creating Comedy on Wheels. That’s two productions this season, plus another show in development, and two side projects that are centred on increasing people with disabilities’ inclusion in the arts…. In total, we’ve mounted five professional productions and six community shows to date,” she said. (For more on Creeps and Realwheels, see jewishindependent.ca/creeps-is-a-canadian-classic.)

Realwheels’ ultimate goal is to fully integrate creative people with disabilities into the performing arts.

“A trained actor with a disability can play many roles,” said Cohen. “Absolutely, an actor with a disability can perform in classical plays. Why not?… Every actor brings their own range of experience; every actor accesses their emotional life a little differently.”

About directing, she said, “Our professional shows are typically integrated, a combination of professional actors with and without disabilities. I’m always trying to bring out the truth, looking to the script for what’s called for in the role. Working with different casts and talents is one of the joys of this work.”

In addition to professional shows, Realwheels also produces community shows. “For our community shows,” said Cohen, “we invite anyone who self-identifies as having a disability to participate. We offer training, coaching, a meaningful and considerable theatre experience.”

Comedy on Wheels falls into the community show category.

“We have great stand-up acts, and these are augmented with scenes, live music and projections, making it far more theatrical than an average nightclub or comedy club,” said Cohen. “We touch on the theme of Canada’s 150th birthday, but, more than anything, that’s an excuse to get together, talk about what we think is hilarious, learn about the structure of comedy and celebrate the amazing talents of the people who live with disabilities.”

According to Cohen, the idea for this show – like the ideas for many Realwheels shows – came out of an ongoing dialogue with the community.

“Last season, we explored sexuality from a disability perspective in a large burlesque show. That was in response to the demand to break down the stigmas surrounding sexuality and disability in playful and dazzlingly unexpected ways,” she said. “There was tremendous humour in that show and there appeared to be a growing desire to further explore comedy. One of our regular community cast members is an emerging comic star. I threw the idea over to him, and we came up with Comedy on Wheels.”

To make the show punchier, Cohen invited Canadian-born comic star Tanyalee Davis, who is now based in the United Kingdom, to appear.

“Tanyalee will be integrating her comedy with our show and emceeing it. Very exciting!” said Cohen.

As is customary for stand-up comedy, the cast members have written their own jokes. “Our only ground rule was nothing sexist, racist or homophobic,” Cohen explained. “The only filter being applied is whether it’s funny or not. Of course, comedy is subjective, but we have a pretty good idea when something works or not.”

Another person has been instrumental in bringing Comedy on Wheels to life – fellow Jewish community member David Granirer.

Granirer is a counselor, stand-up comic, writer and speaker on mental-health issues. He teaches comedy classes at Langara College and founded Stand Up for Mental Health, which, according to his website, is “a program that teaches stand-up comedy to people with mental illness or mental-health issues, as a way of building confidence and fighting public stigma.”

“The cast members have created this work with the support and guidance of David Granirer,” said Cohen. “David has an elegant system for creating comedy, the system he’s honed over the years. He breaks the process into very clear and workable steps.”

“Rena Cohen brought me in – she’d heard about me from one of the participants who had taken my Langara Stand-Up Comedy Clinic course,” said Granirer.

For him, it was a small step from his students to the actors. “All of the performers in Comedy on Wheels are disabled in some way,” he said. “Their ages range from 20 to 60. Some have theatrical training and others don’t, but my job was similar. It’s about helping everyone find their comic voices. Most, but not all, of their jokes concern disability. Some of the jokes are also about Canada, but all of the jokes stand on their own (pardon the pun) as good comedy. Everyone will appreciate them.”

Comedy on Wheels is at Performance Works May 18-20. Audio description is provided by VocalEye and all performances are also accessible through American Sign Language. For more information, visit realwheels.ca. For tickets, go to comedy-on-wheels.bpt.me.

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

Format ImagePosted on May 5, 2017May 3, 2017Author Olga LivshinCategories Performing ArtsTags comedy, David Granirer, disability, Realwheels, Rena Cohen
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