Something Beautiful

Grace here.  I wanted to share something beautiful today, so here is this picture from the newspaper.

It’s a picture of Johanna, the director of Apples from the Desert, from today’s Washington Post article about the upcoming Middle East Festival.

I love the picture because it captures so much of the play’s themes of hope, healing, and reconciliation. With all the terrible things that have happened in the news today, I needed to see something that reminded me of all the promise and beauty that exists in the world. I understand that different people find beauty in different things, but here are some more things that I find beautiful, and I hope you do too.

Filmmaker Yariv Mozer and the Long Road to Tel Aviv

By Juliet Burch, Washington Jewish Film Festival Coordinator

Most of the time in the WJFF film office we work really hard, producing furrowed brows and beads of sweat with every film program we put on. There are phone calls and emails and negotiations and usually one more phone call. But sometimes we don’t do anything at all and something great falls in our lap. Enter The Embassy of Israel and Yariv Mozer.

The phone rang a week ago and The Embassy asked if we’d like to host filmmaker Yariv Mozer and his new film, The Invisible Men for free. The answer to this question was: YES. Within four hours everything was arranged and, with the immense support and cosponsorship of GLOE , we were scheduled to host an amazing FREE program.

The Invisible Men is about three gay Palestinians who make their way to Tel Aviv to escape persecution and danger, but life in Tel Aviv has its own challenges. To wet your appetite and my own, I found two interesting interviews with Yariv. Here is an excerpt from an interview by Scott Krane published last June in The Times of Israel:

“My interest in people like Louie (one of the film’s three protagonists) began long before I met him. I had always been intrigued by the lives of gay Palestinian men who live kilometers from Tel Aviv, isolated by security fences, checkpoints, and their deeply religious society. However, the political reality of the Occupation never allowed me to meet such men… In 2008, I read ‘Nowhere to Run: Gay Palestinian Asylum-Seekers in Israel,’ a report published by two lawyers from the Tel Aviv University Human Rights Clinic. Their research includes the testimonies of gay Palestinians who had escaped to Tel Aviv… I cried as I read the report again and again. For the first time I learned that there were gay men in Tel Aviv.”

If you’d like to read the complete interview, here is the link:
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-invisible-men-a-documentary-by-yariv-mozer/

My old friend Stuart Hands from the Toronto Jewish Film Festival also interviewed Yariv in 2009 about his film, MY FIRST WAR (it won Best Film there that year). http://tjff09.blogspot.com/2009/05/interview-with-yariv-mozer-director-of.html

Simply put, Yariv’s films are fascinating and he speaks about his subjects with great insight. I’m right: sometimes something great just falls in your lap. Many thanks to the Embassy. I hope you can join us in welcoming Yariv Mozer Sunday October 14, 4pm. For information about the program and how to be a part of it click here.

From Inside the Rehearsal Room- Joshua Morgan

Joshua Morgan

I asked Joshua Morgan – who you might remember from THE CHOSEN (at Arena Stage) – how were rehearsals for OUR CLASS were going.   Joshua will be appearing as Wladek in OUR CLASS.

Enjoy!    ~Becky, Director of Community Outreach & New Media

From Joshua: 

Our Class
Oct 10-Nov 4

“Week two comes to an end!

I’m exhausted! We’ve been reading, singing, dancing and staging like mad and are two days away from our design run. Every day I realize more and more how mammoth this play is and how incredibly lucky we are to be at the hands of Derek Goldman. He cares so deeply about this story and is allowing each of us to bring our ideas, passion and talent to each of these complex people. He has this amazing way of speaking fairly ephemerally about a moment or a character and yet being SO clear. I know exactly what he wants each time he gives me a piece of wisdom about any moment in the play. I trust him and I think that’s allowing me to allow myself to take risks.

This play reads differently on the page than what I’m experiencing. It’s so visceral and full of so much danger, heart, humor and the list goes on. Speaking of humor! We spend a good 40% of rehearsal laughing as an ensemble which is so refreshing and so needed working on this play in particular.

I can’t wait to share it with DC.”

Below are images of dance rehearsal for OUR CLASS:

Dance Rehearsals for Our Class

Dance Rehearsals for Our Class

“Insane and Wonderful”

Grace here. I saw a great article in the Washington Post today about the beautiful and talented Annie Baker. It seems she is as charming in person as she is through her work…just don’t call her gentle.

Here’s a bit of the article:  

“She seems low-key and practical, perhaps because her success isn’t exactly as out-of-the-blue or as absolute as it seems.

After college Baker stopped writing plays while working still more day jobs, culminating with an enjoyable gig as a fact-checker for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (Baker considers herself an eternal student; she downloads free lectures from major scholars in religion and philosophy on iTunes University, saying, “I highly recommend it.”) Seeing two plays, Young Jean Lee’s “Pullman Washington” and then Caryl Churchill’s “A Number” prompted her to apply for a playwriting group with Ensemble Studio Theatre.

She got in, and support, from development to full productions, rapidly followed. Even Hollywood picked her up quickly, though Baker says in a diverting singsong voice, “I don’t like to talk about it.” (She wrote a couple screenplays and developed a half hour show for HBO; nothing has been filmed.)

For now, at least, the theater is her metier, with Baker’s fine-grained characterizations and fundamental compassion drawing sober comparisons to Chekhov. Not coincidentally, her adaptation of “Uncle Vanya,” directed by Gold, just closed off-Broadway…

Baker is now part of the inaugural Residency Five group at New York’s Signature Theatre. The program offers five playwrights cash awards and guarantees each dramatist three full productions of premieres over five years.

“I’ve been really lucky in that I have a couple theaters that have said, ‘We stand behind you,’ ” Baker says. “Signature, especially, is like, ‘Write your weird play. We’ll do it.’ It’s actually, like, daunting. But really awesome.”

MaryBeth Wise and Michael Kramer in Annie Baker’s Body Awareness–now at Theater J

Shabbat Surfing: Telegraph Avenue in Review

A new Michael Chabon book means a whole lot of critical ink being spilled. We’ve gathered several of the more noteworthy reviews of Telegraph Avenue below.

“Mr. Chabon has constructed an amazingly rich, emotionally detailed story that addresses his perennial themes — about fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and the consolations of art — while reaching outward to explore the relationship between time past and time present.”—The New York Times

“Witty and compassionate and full of more linguistic derring-do than any other writer in America could carry off.”—The Washington Post

“Telegraph Avenue is so exuberant, it’s as if Michael Chabon has pulled joy from the air and squeezed it into the shape of words.”—The Los Angeles Times

“Much of the wit in Telegraph Avenue inheres in Chabon’s astonishing prose… the offhand brilliance that happens everywhere: a woman’s sun-tanned shins ‘shining like bells in a horn section.’ Titus’s memories, ‘a scatter of images caught like butterflies in the grille of his mind.’ “—The New York times Sunday Book Review

Telegraph Avenue is now available for pre-order. It publishes next Tuesday.  Grab your copy and then pick up your tickets to hear Michael headline this year’s Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival on October 14 at Washington Hebrew Congregation.

Why Women’s Voices?

WHY ARE WOMEN’S VOICES IMPORTANT IN ART?

In connection with our production of Annie Baker’s BODY AWARENESS, Theater J is asking women to submit a portrait along with a brief sentence answering the above question.

We would love to hear from ALL woman – artist or not, affiliated with Theater J or not. Men and women alike please share this to the women whose voices you value

About the portrait: This can be whatever encapsulates YOU. Is it the picture where you feel at your best? An image of your cat? Your headshot? A photo of your family? You decide.

Email your name, photo and answer to theaterj99@gmail.com with the subject MY PORTRAIT.

 

Check out some of the fabulous portraits we’ve received thus far!

Shabbat Surfing: The Ties That Bind

As the Olympic Games are winding down, moments of awe come hand-in-hand with moments of human solidarity. The Jewish community has rallied behind golden girl Aly Raisman not only for her gymnastics prowess, but also for her widespread appeal (not just to Jewish mothers) and maturity that has accompanied her elevation to stardom.

Raisman’s floor routine set to “Hava Nagila” was not the only nod to Jewish heritage to capture the attention of the Jewish community: interest in French swimmer Fabien Gilot’s Hebrew tattoo helped to soften the blow of American defeat in the 4×100 relay. Gilot’s tattoo translates to “I am nothing without them,” and is a tribute to Gilot’s grandfather figure, a Holocaust survivor.

While athleticism serves as a common thread amongst the Olympic athletes in London, the Washington Post reported on a special meeting bound by a very different common thread.  This past weekend Holocaust survivor and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum volunteer Margit Meissner gave a very special tour to Freddy Mutanguha, Rwandan Genocide survivor and director of the Kigali Genocide Memorial. The two first met when 90-year-old Meissner was visiting Rwanda and share an interest in survivor testimony and educating others about preventing genocide.

Tragedy unfortunately brings us together and reaffirms our shared values. Following Sunday’s shooting at a Sikh temple, Milwaukee’s Jewish community has shown great and respectful support to the Sikh community by commemorating the lives lost and reaching out in solidarity.

NASA’s Curiosity rover  successfully made it to Mars and now begins its new phase of discovering the Red Planet. As a “world asset” Curiosity is already sending back incredible photos to satisfy Earthlings’ curiosity.  Despite the fact that the mission is a NASA project, Israeli software played an important part in its success. Software company Siemens develops all of its Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software in Israel and Siemens PLM Israel helped to develop the system “needed to figure out how to ensure that Curiosity could stand up to the harsh conditions on Mars.”

Inside the Actors’ Rehearsal Room

Adi Stein

Adi Stein, currently playing the role of Jared onstage and the role of Theater J apprentice offstage, joins us today with a peek into the rehearsal room for Theater J’s upcoming production of Body Awareness, opening August 25!  Adi says:

Well, rehearsals for Body Awareness are in full swing.  We just finished staging the entire show (which is no small feat considering the fact that a full meal is made on stage in more than one scene) and we are now on to working out and perfecting each moment.

(the Israel flags aren’t actually part of the play. Those plays come later in the season)

Working on this show is a blast. The cast, director, and stage managers are just hysterical and terrific people who clearly love what they do. It’s one of those super rare situations where all the pieces are just clicking. In the coming weeks I’m excited to start working with the actual set and incorporating our costumes. I can’t wait for people to see what we’ve been creating!

A Day at the White House

By DCJCC Preschool Teachers Xani Pollakoff, Kara Korengold and Tammy Schwartz

The helicopter was heard before we saw it. All the kids covered their little ears and their mouths dropped open. And suddenly, in the last weeks of school, our year came full circle.

To understand the power of the day we have to bring you on a journey from the third week of school to today.

If anyone had asked the teachers in the preschool’s youngest class if we would be talking about President Obama on a daily basis we would have laughed out loud. But during our first adventure outside the Center walls we saw a helicopter overhead (such is life in our nation’s capital)! One of the teachers shouted “Obama” at the helicopter and all the friends were hooked. Every time we saw a helicopter, all the friends would look up and shout, in unison “Obama”! During intentional play friends would call Helicopter Obama on their pretend phones. Many friends would draw helicopters, and some would event point to helicopters in transportation books and call it “Obama”.

To our friends, helicopters and President Obama were one and the same.

We spent months discussing the President, and through story telling, photographs and art projects the Etzim began to understand that “Obama” was a person with a dog named Bo who lived in a white house. (The concept of THE White House is still a little hard to grasp.)

On August 1, eight months after seeing that helicopter in the sky on our first venture to the park, the Etzim walked through the gates of the White House, hung out with Bo and got to watch President Obama board Marine One! The wind was strong. The noise was loud. But there he was and the Etzim blew kisses, yelled “Obama” and had an once in a lifetime experience.

But the day didn’t end there. Stay tuned to hear more about our adventure in the vegetable garden with Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses…

So long DC!

With my Avodah year of service just about done, I wanted to send a quick note and thank you to those who have supported and encouraged me throughout the year.  Erica and Randy, keep up the excellent work!  You are both incredibly inspiring and a joy to work with.  I have been fortunate to spend my Avodah placement at the DCJCC, where I am able to combine my interests in service, community development, and religion.  This year I wanted to explore social justice issues in the nation’s capital, while repairing and rebuilding low-income family housing, public schools, and other community spaces.  And in working with shelters, at-risk families, or the chronically hungry, this year has empowered and enabled me to do just that as we improve the health and quality of life of individuals suffering from poverty.  Preparing several thousand servings of food at Everything But The Turkey, celebrating December 25^th Day of Service, making MLK Day 2012 a day on and not a day off, or just debating the merits of quinoa with my nine other roommates, I will always carry this work and this year with me.  

Cheers,
Danny

 

Danny Obeler spent the last year in Avodah: The Jewish Service Corps working in the Morris Cafritz Center for Community Service’s Behrend Builders program.