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— Festival poster 15th ANNUAL CHUTZPAH! FESTIVAL: 2015 FEATURES THREE CANADIAN AND TWO VANCOUVER PREMIERES FROM HILARIOUS COMEDY TO PROFOUND DRAMA TO EXPRESSIONISTIC TO PHYSICAL THEATRE Marathon (Israel) Wendy Hammers – RIPE (USA) Kafka and Son (ON) You’re Funny, But You Don’t Look Jewish!(USA) What You’re Missing (BC)
— MARATHON - A Sisyphesan Theatre production (Israel) MARATHON - A Sisyphesan Theatre production (Israel) On its North American debut tour, Marathon – a metaphor upon Israeli lifestyle – is an exciting physical theatre play for three actors in the round by director/choreographer Aharona Israel. It demands unwavering commitment and stamina from the performers who continuously run a “marathon” pausing only to execute commands. Three figures running in a circle, spiral out on a journey to the depths of “Israeliness.” Which of them will survive? And in what way? Within the circular arena, an authentic theatrical progression of the actors’ increasing attrition happens before your very eyes, in real time, exposing and exerting themselves in personal processes, relationships, and questions of individual and social identity. As time goes by, their journey becomes harder and more painful. Gradually the wounds of Israeli society open up, default options become unavoidably apparent such as a constant sense of emergency and a desperate holding onto ideas and ideals. Premiering at the Acco Fringe Theater Festival 2012, Marathon has since been performed in Israel, Poland and Germany. This Canadian presentation is part of a four-city tour: Progress Festival (Toronto), Public Energy (Peterborough), Undercurrents Festival (Ottawa) and the Chutzpah! Festival (Vancouver).
Performance Details:
— WENDY HAMMERS – RIPE WENDY HAMMERS – RIPE
RIPE, is an entertaining play/stand-up written and starring actress and comedian Wendy Hammers (Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Sopranos, Oprah, Craig Ferguson) and directed by Karen Aschenbach. According to Los Angeles-based writer/performer Wendy Hammers; “It takes a while to become ripe, to become seasoned so you’re ready to bloom.” A fast-paced romp, with a hilarious and moving story that chronicles the precious and fleeting nature of life itself. Part stand-up confessional, part booty shakin’ biography, the show is an examination of life re-invented midstream, and a reminder that the time to celebrate our bodies…and our lives…is right now! Wendy Hammers – actress/writer/storyteller/ stand-up comic/creativity coach/producer/wife/mother/foodie/ hip-hop dancer/jersey girl/hopeless romantic/lover of life – is the recipient of two Drama-Logue Acting Awards, one for her solo play undressing new jersey (and other states of mind), and the other for her work in Chris Durang’s Laughing Wild. She is a published author of You’ve Got Meal, has contributed essays to the anthologies What was I Thinking? and That Time of the Month and is a contributor to The Huffington Post.
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— Kafka (Alon Nashman). Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann KAFKA AND SON (Ontario) Chutzpah! is thrilled to welcome Alon Nashman back in Kafka and Son after his compelling performance in the 2014 Chutzpah/Firehall/Touchstone presentation of Hirsch.
Kafka and Son is essential, expressionistic theatre, which has toured to great acclaim in North America, Africa and Europe. At the age of 36 Franz Kafka was still living at home, a petty bureaucrat, a failed artist, a timid Jewish son. Ruling and ruining his life was his overbearing father, Hermann. What to do? So he wrote a 50-page letter to his father in which he reveals deep connections between his life and his fiction. As he confesses in the letter “All my writing was about you.” Subsequent to its Toronto premiere, Kafka and Son has toured nationally and internationally. It has won awards for outstanding performance (2013 Prague Fringe) and outstanding production (2011 London ON). Produced by Theaturtle/Threshold and Richard Jordan Productions
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— Joe Nguyen YOU’RE FUNNY, BUT YOU DON’T LOOK JEWISH! (USA) Italian, Indian and Vietnamese American Jewish stand-up comedians Mike Capozzola, Samson Koletkaand Joseph Nguyen will share the stage and their own experiences about being ‘undercover’ members of the tribe! We invite you all to join us for a hilarious evening out. You can think of it as matzoth pizza topped with Indian spices, served with Vietnamese iced coffee! A 20-year veteran of the comedy world, Mike Capozzola has performed in such clubs as at The Improv, Boston Comedy Club, The Punchline, Laughs Unlimited, Comedy off Broadway and The 20th Anniversary of Kung Pao Kosher Comedy and has performed in Canada, London, USA, Edinburgh and Israel. As a published cartoonist he’s contributed to TED Talks, The Humor Times, McSweeney’s, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Mad Magazine and has contributed a few dozen premises to the award-winning, nationally syndicated cartoon, BIZARRO. Claiming to be the world’s only Indian Jewish stand-up Samson Koletkar was born in Mumbai and raised Jewish. Growing up in the world’s most crowded city, he spent most of his childhood years burning the midnight candles while earning a Masters in Computer Software, thereby fulfilling his parents’ dreams. He then moved half-way across the world, to the technology headquarters and a hotbed for emerging comics – San Francisco. As a first generation immigrant in America, Samson brings a refreshing, cerebral, witty, thought-provoking comedy. Samson has performed at clubs, colleges and corporations in India, Canada and the USA and has been featured on Asian Jewish Life, Indian Express, NBC Bay Area, CBS and NPR. Subtle but sharp, laid-back yet engaging, Joe Nguyen is the smart slacker beloved by audiences for his easygoing delivery and well-written jokes. Raised in the state of Georgia by immigrants of Vietnamese and Jewish descent, Joe was destined to become a stand-up comedian. His unique perspective and likable stage presence has made him a favourite at clubs, colleges, niche shows and private events throughout the US. He tours nationally with the Mahatma Moses Comedy Tour and was featured in the Kung Pao Kosher Comedy show. Performance Details:
— What You're Missing (Cailtlin McCarthy & Amitai Marmorstein). Photo by Tim Matheson WHAT YOU’RE MISSING (BC / UK) What You’re Missing is a bright new comedy about yearning and stifling, freedom and control, assets and liabilities, culture and class, and of course, strong dominating mothers. Vancouver-born, UK-based playwright Tamara Micner paints with a smile as she colours the streams of implications for two young people in love, living in the shadows of two very different histories – the Eastern European and Chilean Jewish experience. The effervescent, talented Tamara Micner has us laughing deeply as we celebrate the universal in fumbling our way through difference. It’s 1974 in Vancouver. Isabel and Ed really like each other – and really like each other’s parents (a lot) more than their own! They want to travel together, but Ed’s mother refuses. Isabel’s dad won’t speak to Ed, Isabel’s mum won’t shut up about Pinochet, and everyone’s too hungry or too full. As the two families meet, eat, misinterpret and overreact, will the older generation be a catalyst, or a catastrophe? Is it only the young couple who are coming of age? What You’re Missing premiered at the ADC Theatre, Cambridge in 2011 and has previously sold out at London’s King’s Head Theatre in 2014. Gracing the NRT stage will be six of Western Canada’s finest actors: Stephen Aberle, Natascha Girgis, Luisa Jojic, Amitai Marmorstein, Caitlin McCarthy and Jeffrey Renn. Directed by the award-winning director John Cooper, who has directed over 130 productions across Canada.
Performance Details:
TICKETS Single tickets for Chutzpah! are $20 to $36 and can be purchased online at chutzpahfestival.com, by phone at the Chutzpah! Box Office: 604-257-5145 or Tickets Tonight: 604-684-2787. Chutzi Packs are also available: see 4 different shows of your choice for only $85. Tickets will also be available in-person starting February 9 at the on-site Chutzpah! Box Office at the Jewish Community Centre, 950 West 41st Avenue, just 2 blocks west of the Oakridge Skytrain Station. Hours are from Monday to Friday and Sundays from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm. *Please note: during the Festival, the Chutzpah! Box Office is open 12:00 noon to 8:30 pm on all show days.
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