THEATRE PREVIEW

SEPTEMBER 2024 | Volume 243

 

 

The Chutzpah! Festival returns with a vibrant lineup of performances this November 1-10, 2024, presenting music, theatre, comedy, dance, and multimedia arts showcasing exciting international artists through a multicultural Jewish lens. For over two decades the Chutzpah! Festival has been an eagerly anticipated and annual highlight of Greater Vancouver's arts season. Artists will once again share their work and grace the stages of the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre, our festival hub at the JCC, as well as Vancouver venues the Scotiabank Dance Centre and The Pearl. Single tickets and ChutzPacks are available online on September 18, 2024 at www.chutzpahfestival.com or by phone at 604.257.5145.

The 24th Annual Chutzpah! Festival will include concerts ranging from Klezmer to cabaret to roots music, innovative dance work, theatre, community-engaged storytelling, and hilarious comedy. In addition, there will be workshops, stimulating conversations, and opportunities to interact with creative artists.

With an emphasis on artists from across Canada, the Festival will also present artists from Ukraine, Austria, Israel, Germany, Australia, the UK, and the United States.

"Our Chutzpah! Festival team eagerly awaits welcoming audiences to take part in our shows and events," says Jessica Mann Gutteridge, Artistic Managing Director. "Strengthening our community's bonds through shared arts experience has been the central aim of Chutzpah! for over 20 years, and we are thrilled to present a diverse range of artists sharing their unique perspectives and talents. Taking place over ten days this November, Chutzpah! has carefully curated a lineup that exemplifies the range of Jewish artistic expression from across the world."

The Chutzpah! Festival is pleased to present the following lineup:

MUSIC

Kommuna Lux (Ukraine)
Opening Weekend Event
November 2 at 7pm
The Pearl (19+ venue with limited seating)
Presented in Partnership with Caravan World Rhythms

Kommuna Lux cred Maria Dmytrenko.

Chutzpah partners again with Caravan World Rhythms to present a festive evening of world music, bringing Ukrainian klezmer sensations Kommuna Lux to Chutzpah! to kick off the opening weekend, with a rousing, danceable concert event. This award-winning music collective performs in their own unique style, which they call "Odessa Urban Folk", thrilling klezmer music and common gangster folk songs from their hometown. This multicultural port city of Odessa is world-famous for its significant Jewish culture and for being the birthplace of the Urban Chanson genre with streets that are rich with nostalgia and a bohemian Black Sea coastal vibe. These are set to a timeless new level by the vibrant performances of lead singer BagratTsurkan and his band of virtuoso musicians. Kommuna Lux plays joyful songs and melodies from Odessa and all Eastern Europe in spiced up arrangements.

Yamma Ensemble (Israel)
November 5 at 7pm
Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre

Yamma Ensemble by Zohar Ron.

"Yamma" means "toward the sea" in Hebrew. In Arabic it means "mother." Since 2010, the five members of the Yamma Ensemble have made their mark sharing Hebrew and Jewish music with international audiences. With influences including ancient traditions, tribal singing, sacred and secular Jewish chants, the ensemblebrings virtuosic Middle Eastern and world instrumentation on unique instruments such as the dudek, ney, shofar, bansuri, didgeridoo, fujara, kopuz, and our.

Yamma Ensemble will also present an intergenerational matinee performance on November 4 th at 10am, geared to school and senior's groups. An optional workshop exploring Middle Eastern instruments and rhythms will be available following the performance.

The intergenerational matinee is sponsored by The Weinberg Residence. Chutzpah! Festival programming of Israeli artists is supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Ronald S Roadburg Foundation and this artist is also supported by the JCC association's Mit-Habrim Program.

Jew of Oklahoma (USA)
Mark Rubin
November 6 at 7pm
Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre

Mark Rubin by George Brainard.

Oklahoma-born, Texas-reared, and now living in New Orleans, multi-instrumentalist Mark Rubin is an unabashed Southern Jew, known equally for his muscular musicianship and larger-than-life persona, evoking Woody Guthrie and Will Rodgers. Over an accomplished 40+ year career, he has accompanied or produced a virtual who's-who of American traditional music, while straddling numerous musical genres, including Country, Western Swing, Bluegrass, Cajun, Tex-Mex, Polka, Klezmer, Roma, and more. In his solo show, Jew of Oklahoma, story and song take centre stage, offering Southern Americana from a Jewish, socially conscious point-of-view.

COMEDY

Jacob Samuel: Big Talk (Canada)
November 1 at 7pm
Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre

Jacob Samuel by Chelsea Stuyt.

Vancouver's very own Juno award-winning comedian, Jacob Samuel, returns to Chutzpah! to headline a side-splitting lineup of hometown comedy featuring Sophia Johnson and Myles Anderson, hosted by Kyle Berger. 
Known for his clever and insightful comedy, Jacob Samuel is an award-winning Canadian stand-up comic, cartoonist, and writer. He has made appearances on national television networks, including CBC, The Comedy Network, Crave, and CBC Gem. On radio, Jacob can be heard on Sirius XM and CBC's "The Debaters." He has been featured multiple times at Montreal's Just for Laughs and Winnipeg Comedy Festivals. In 2021, Jacob won the Juno Award for "Comedy Album of the Year" for his debut album Horse Power.

Note: For our friends who observe Shabbat, Jacob will be performing two special shows for filming on November 9 at China Cloud Studio (524 Main St at 7:00pm and 9:30pm). We encourage you to attend that performance and Cabaret Yitish on November 10. [ https://community.admitone.com/events/66906d9ea0c7a893333417ae ]

MULTIMEDIA/STORYTELLING

Truth to Power Café (UK/Australia)
Jeremy Goldstein in collaboration with community members
November 3 at 7pm
Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre (Digital Streaming Option Available)

Kate Holmes (Jeremy Goldstein, Truth to Power Cafe).

From Adelaide to Zagreb and now in Vancouver for its Canadian premiere, Jeremy Goldstein's Truth to Power Café is a profound theatrical reflection on loss, hope, and resistance. This internationally acclaimed award-winning performance event is told through memoir, image, film, poetry, music, and true and authentic stories from the people of Vancouver in response to the question: who has power over you and what do you want to say to them?'

Personal, professional, political - speaking truth to power is a non-violent means of conflict resolution, the origins of which lie in the anti-war movement. Is it to your parents, a sibling, politician, landlord, neighbour, banker, boss, or simply your best friend? It's time to tell them the truth before it's too late.

Truth to Power Café is inspired by the political and philosophical beliefs of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter and his inner Jewish circle " The Hackney Gang ", who included Jeremy Goldstein's late father, Mick Goldstein, and poet and actor Henry Woolf. 

DANCE

Dance Double Bill
Fortress (Canada)
Rebecca Margolick and Livona Ellis
About Time (Israel/Canada)
Ne.Sans Opera & Dance, Idan Cohen
November 8 & 9 at 7pm
Scotiabank Dance Centre

Fortress. Cred Benjamin Peralta.

About Time Chutzpah 2024 Photo Chris Randle.Dancer Will Jessup.

Chutzpah! presents two dance World Premieres, with the support of its community partner, The Dance Centre. 

In Fortress, the debut collaborative piece by Chutzpah! resident artists, and festival favourites, Rebecca Margolick and Livona Ellis, the artists explore their connection to their ever-evolving relationship to femininity, and the balance between their strength and vulnerability. Seeking both discomfort and safety, they draw inspiration from the matriarchs in their lives, building toward a deeper understanding of themselves.

Ellis is well known for her work with Ballet BC and Kidd Pivot, and is a respected choreographer, performer, and dance educator in Vancouver. BC-born and -raised Margolick lived in NYC for 15 years, but has recently returned to Vancouver. In addition to dancing with companies such as Sidra Bell Dance NY and Andrea Peña &Artists , Rebecca's choreographic works and solos have been presented in Canada, the U.S., and internationally.
About Time continues Idan Cohen 's journey through Philip Glass' solo piano etudes, performed live by award-winningpianist Leslie Dala , featuring dancers Will Jessup and Benjamin DeFaria . Glass' music captures an abstraction sense oftime, telling a story without words through his minimalistic, crystalline rhythms timeless yet strikingly relevant.

About Time poses poignant questions: How do we confront time? Can we stop it? Rush ahead? Or is it ever possible to reverse it?

THEATRE

The Last Night at the Cabaret Yitesh (Canada/Germany/Austria/USA)
November 9 & 10 at 7pm
Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre

Cabaret Yitesh Full Cast Shendl Ashkenaz.

Chutzpah! is proud to present The Last Night at the Cabaret Yitesh (di letste nakht baym yitesh), an uproariously edgy show from the New York Times best-selling author and celebrated Canadian Yiddishist Michael Wex. Set in spring of 1938, the censor's office has just advised the performers in Warsaw's Yiddish-language "Cabaret Yitesh" that tonight's show will be their last. With visas to leave the country and nothing left to lose, the performers decide to present material that the censors had already forbidden, along with the cabaret's greatest hits and most famous skits.

Join Chutzpah! and our all-star international cast, including Shane Baker, Daniel Kahn, Regina Hopfgartner, Patrick Farrell, and Sasha Lurje, for an evening of cabaret songs from the '30s, original comedy sketches, and Yiddish adaptations of international hits and vaudeville and drag classics. In Yiddish with English supertitles.

Workshops and talkbacks with festival artists, facilitated by members of the Vancouver arts community will run throughout the Festival. Visit the Festival website for updates and registration info.
Artist Conversation Series Throughout the Festival following select shows, Sidney & Gertrude Zack Gallery.

Chutzpah! takes you beyond the talkbacks of old and into a whole new realm of interaction with festival artists, plus a chance to mix and mingle with friends in a creative environment. Following select shows, join us in the Sidney & Gertrude Zack Gallery for coffee and cookies and hear directly from the artists in a casual conversation, facilitated by Gallery Director Hope Forstenzer, Chutzpah! Artistic Director Jessica Gutteridge, Chutzpah! Artistic Producing Associate Sophie McNeilly, and guest moderators.

FILM

Gimpel the Fool Returns to Poland (Canada/Israel)
Nephesh Theatre/Howard Rypp
November 4 7pm
Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre
Co-Presented with the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival

Gimpel the Fool Returns to Poland.

A treasure from the Yiddish literature, Nobel prize laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer 's frankness and courage to grapple with good and evil make his very specific world of pre-Holocaust Europe to be both accessible and universal. Israel's award-winning theatre company, Nephesh Theatre, has been performing their stage adaptation of Singer's "Gimpel theFool" with a rich soundtrack of voices and klezmer music in a surrealistic theatrical presentation around the world for 18 years.

The film, by Nephesh Artistic Director Howard Rypp, co-presented by Chutzpah! with the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, follows the show's journey throughout different towns of Poland, while tracing Singer's escape from the Holocaust, finally finding refuge in the USA.

Chutzpah! Festival programming of Israeli artists is supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Ronald S Roadburg Foundation.

For more information on the 2024 Chutzpah! Festival, please visit the following platforms:

Website: www.chutzpahfestival.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Chutzpah.NRT
Instagram: www.instagram.com/chutzpahfestival/

About Chutzpah! Festival:
The Chutzpah! Festival - The Lisa Nemetz Festival of International Jewish Performing Arts is the Lower Mainland's music, dance, comedy, theatre, and film festival presenting international, national, and local artists. The Chutzpah! Festival delivers audiences work that is forward-looking, multi-layered, and entertaining. The 2024 Festival, running from November 1-10, welcomes performers from across the globe, including Canada, Ukraine, Latvia, Israel, Germany, Australia, the UK, and the United States. www.chutzpahfestival.com

Single tickets for most of Chutzpah!'s live performances are $34 (students/seniors) & $40 (adults) (+ gst/sc), Kommuna Lux at The Pearl is $34 (General), Film Screening events and Digital Stream Performances are only $18 (+gst/sc). ChutzPacks are also available for only $136 (Adults) /only $118 Students & Seniors: see 4 different shows of your choice. Group rates are available for all regular programming as well as school group rates for family programming and workshop prices vary. All tickets can be purchased online on September 18, 2024 at chutzpahfestival.com or by phone at 604-257-5145.

 

 

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