Tag: Malka Martz-Oberlander

Directing a favourite musical

Malka Martz-Oberlander, left, and Dalia Currie are co-directing Little Shop of Horrors, which is at the Red Gate Revue Stage from Feb. 6-9. (photos from TES Theatre)

At 17, many Jewish Independent readers were probably spending most of their time hanging out with friends, maybe doing a music or art class or two, some sports activities. In addition to being a student, 17-year-old Jewish community member Malka Martz-Oberlander is a filmmaker, writer, film and theatre director, cartoonist, musical theatre actress and photographer. Her latest initiative is a production of Little Shop of Horrors, which is at the Red Gate Revue Stage on Granville Island Feb. 6-9.

Presenting the production is TES Theatre, or Transforming Education, which, explained Martz-Oberlander, was “originally the theatre program at the one-of-a-kind Windsor House School: a democratic, multi-campus, K-12 school in East Vancouver.

“When Windsor House School closed down last year,” she said, “former principal Meghan Carrico decided to start a theatre company for the students, like myself, who wanted to continue to do theatre and musical theatre together. The program that arose after the school’s devastating closure is grounded in the same democratic philosophy. Our mission is to make sure any student who wants to do any aspect of musical theatre can and will be supported by a willing cast and a professional musical theatre teacher.”

Martz-Oberlander is co-directing Little Shop of Horrors with Dalia Currie. Last June, the pair co-directed a production of Much Ado About Nothing that Currie adapted. According to Martz-Oberlander, Currie “loves Shakespeare” and has “co-directed and acted in many of the Bard’s shows,” including playing the role of Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2018, as part of the Carousel Theatre Teen Shakespeare Program.

Currie found musical theatre through joining Windsor House in 2018, said Martz-Oberlander. “She played Olive Ostrovsky in The 20th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Gaston in Beauty vs. Beast, an original parody of the tale as old as time.”

For her part, Martz-Oberlander performed with Encore Musical Theatre (formerly Broadway Edge) for four years, then performed in two shows with Windsor House School and, this year, is a member of Arts Umbrella’s Pre-professional Musical Theatre Troupe.

illustration - Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon are the three narrators of Little Shop of Horrors. Malka Martz-Oberlander sketched this image of the trio, which was colourized by Emi Lavoie
Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon are the three narrators of Little Shop of Horrors. Malka Martz-Oberlander sketched this image of the trio, which was colourized by Emi Lavoie. (image from TES Theatre)

Martz-Oberlander said she and Currie initially pitched Little Shop of Horrors to the theatre company because they had both grown up watching it, “and we were very excited at the thought of directing our first musical together this year with the mentorship of our new musical theatre teacher, Isabella Halladay, who is a local musical theatre artist.”

The production involves around 30 people, said Martz-Oberlander, “and all but three of them are students. We held auditions for people within our theatre community,” she said. “We made sure that anyone who was interested has been involved in some way, whether it be onstage or in the tech booth. The actors range from age 14 to 19. There is no live band, we have backing tracks.”

Little Shop of Horrors, both a film and a Broadway musical from the 1980s, is now back on Broadway, said Martz-Oberlander. “It’s about an orphan boy taken in and given a job by Mr. Mushnik, a European Jewish immigrant and the owner of a run-down flower shop in the ‘bad part of town.’”

Despite the fact that both writers of the musical were Jewish – Howard Ashman (who passed away in 1991) and Alan Menken – Martz-Oberlander said that she and Currie were concerned about the portrayal of certain characters, in particular that of Mr. Mushnik.

“As a cast and individually, we have discussed when it’s good to bring out stereotypes and when it’s actually really harmful,” Martz-Oberlander told the Independent. “For example, the character Mr. Mushnik seems like a two-dimensional, money-hungry shop owner. The character embodies this Jewish stereotype throughout the whole story. My non-Jewish co-director and I have tried our best to approach this thought-provoking comedic piece with the intention of not perpetuating hurtful stereotypes. When producing a show written in a different decade, when values were different, it’s so important to come at it from an authentic, respectful and knowledgeable way.”

Martz-Oberlander had only praise for the production’s venue, the Red Gate Revue Stage. Saying that the cast and creative team were “incredibly lucky to get to rehearse and perform” there, she added, “I think a place like the Revue is vital at a time in Vancouver where things are less and less affordable – to have arts spaces and small theatres like the Revue is very important.”

As for Little Shop of Horrors, Martz-Oberlander said, “I think it’s a great opportunity to come out and support local youth-directed theatre and watch a fantastic show! This show is really a one-of-a-kind, hilarious science fiction musical that will have you humming tunes for weeks after.”

Tickets to Little Shop of Horrors ($5-$15) can be purchased at the door or online from brownpapertickets.com/event/4481952.

Climate crisis a top priority

Teen activists talk with Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart at a climate-strike action on Dec. 7. (photo from Rebecca Hamilton)

“It’s going to be our future, so it’s up to us to take it into our own hands and show that, even if we can’t vote, we can still make a difference in our communities and the world,” Malka Martz-Oberlander told the Jewish Independent when she and fellow activist and friend Rebecca Hamilton met with the paper to discuss recent – and future – efforts to draw awareness to the climate crisis.

The two high school students are part of the group Sustainabiliteens, which was inspired by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Last year, Thunberg started monthly school strikes, stating that preparing for a future that won’t have a livable climate was pointless. The strikes, called “Fridays for Future,” have spread to at least 270 countries, including Canada.

Inspired by Thunberg, strike action took place at Vancouver City Hall on Jan. 16, the day that Vancouver city council unanimously passed a motion put forward by Councilor Christine Boyle (OneCity) to declare a climate emergency. Similar motions have been adopted in other cities, including London, Los Angeles and Oakland, but Vancouver is the first in Canada to do so.

“Climate change is already impacting the people of Vancouver and will continue to. We need to respond to this crisis urgently and compassionately with a path towards a more equitable society,” said Boyle in a release. “Adequately addressing the climate emergency won’t be easy, but we are a smart city, capable of doing difficult things.”

Hamilton was an organizer of the strike at City Hall, and the groups Force of Nature and Extinction Rebellion Vancouver also supported the action. There was a previous school walkout and strike for the climate on Dec. 7, said Martz-Oberlander. She and Hamilton are among a growing number of Metro Vancouver teens coming together in what Martz-Oberlander describes as a “shared passion for climate justice.”

“With some of my friends, it’s just doom and gloom,” said Martz-Oberlander. “There’s this sense of this is all going to happen and no one can do anything, so why do anything? It’s out of our hands, we’re just kids…. But there’s also a lot of people that I know who are hopeful and see the bigger picture.”

“When I ask kids about the climate crisis,” said Hamilton, “they say that they think it’s a real problem and they’re scared. But the world around us doesn’t recognize what’s happening with the same sense of urgency that we feel. We are living in a confusing and weird time. On the one hand, we understand the science, we’re being told the scientific facts that we’re in a crisis. We’re being told these very conflicting messages, and there’s this dissonance. So what am I supposed to believe? The world is just going as normal, but why are you telling me then that we’re in this crisis and everything needs to change? I think that’s really frustrating. Me, personally, every day I’m frustrated by that.”

Both Martz-Oberlander and Hamilton grew up in the Vancouver Jewish community and say their Jewish values inform their activism. Martz-Oberlander’s family has been involved with Congregation Or Shalom since before she was born, and Hamilton grew up going to Temple Sholom.

“In the Torah, it talks about needing to pass down this world better than we got it,” said Martz-Oberlander. “That’s the concept of l’dor v’dor, ‘from generation to generation.’ The Jewish teaching that really influenced me is the sense of responsibility towards future generations.”

“Camp Miriam was most important to me in cultivating my Jewish identity,” said Hamilton. “I think it played a huge role in what I’m doing and why I care about it. The focus on youth agency, being told we could create change. It’s tikkun olam – environmentalism and climate justice is the most important way to try and help other people and create a more just world.”

photo - On Jan. 16, students walked out of school to be at Vancouver City Hall to raise awareness of the climate crisis and support Councillor Christine Boyle’s motion to declare a climate emergency
On Jan. 16, students walked out of school to be at Vancouver City Hall to raise awareness of the climate crisis and support Councillor Christine Boyle’s motion to declare a climate emergency. (photo from Rebecca Hamilton)

Both teens avoid the word “climate change,” preferring instead to talk of the “climate crisis” or “climate emergency” and the need for “climate justice.”

“Climate change doesn’t sound urgent enough,” said Martz-Oberlander. “It’s an emergency.”

“I prefer climate emergency or climate crisis,” said Hamilton, who cites Jewish writer and activist Naomi Klein as an important influence on her thinking. “It’s not about preventing this catastrophe but about healing the foundation of our world. The climate crisis is a manifestation of these unjust worldly systems which exploit nature, animals and people, so fixing that manifestation will also mean fixing those systems.”

Hamilton and Martz-Oberlander were inspired to join the climate-strike movement after it came to Canada with a strike in Sudbury, Ont., led by 11-year-old Sofia Mather.

“I feel like I have been concerned about climate change my whole life,” said Hamilton, “but I began to want to do something when I realized that nothing else really matters if we live on a dead planet.”

Hamilton and Martz-Oberlander are currently preparing for a Canada-wide school strike on May 3, and have a local action planned for Feb. 15.

Matthew Gindin is a freelance journalist, writer and lecturer. He is Pacific correspondent for the CJN, writes regularly for the Forward, Tricycle and the Wisdom Daily, and has been published in Sojourners, Religion Dispatches and elsewhere. He can be found on Medium and Twitter.