Chutzpah! gets under way

Almost 30 different acts will perform more than 50 shows at this year's Chutzpah! The Lisa Nemetz Showcase of Jewish Performing Arts, opening Feb. 23 at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC). Included in the two-week line-up are an intriguing performance in the JCC swimming pool, a guitar concert by the American ambassador for culture, an award-winning off-Broadway hit and a host of performers from London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, Toronto and Vancouver.

There will also be two cabaret nights - a jazz cabaret March 2, with local singer/songwriter Adlai Waxman, and a comedy cabaret March 9, featuring local stand-up comedians - as well as workshops, lectures and a panel discussion.

Jewish identity and song

Opening the program is Too Jewish? A Mensch and His Musical, a one-man musical comedy written and performed by Avi Hoffman.

An exploration of Jewish and Yiddish music, humor, culture and language, Too Jewish? has something for people of all ages. As a child of Holocaust survivors, Hoffman was taught at an early age to appreciate the beauty and depth of Jewish literature, music and tradition and he brings all of theses elements to his 90-minute celebration of Jewish identity.

Too Jewish? was nominated for the Outstanding One-Person Show Award by the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle and Hoffman was named the Best Performance Artist of the Year by New York Press Magazine in 1995.

Too Jewish? plays at the opening night of Chutzpah! in the Norman Rothstein Theatre, 8 p.m., with a reception at 7 p.m. Tickets are $36 and are available only at the JCC.

Comic take on Purim tale

Performed by Stuart Nemtin, klezmer meets clown in The Story of Esther. The ancient tale of joy, passion and intrigue explores the nature of prejudice and intolerance and blends song, masks, puppets and physical comedy. Nemtin performs virtually all of the roles in the play.

The Story of Esther is scripted for audiences eight years and older. It plays at the Norman Rothstein Theatre during the JCC's Purim party, 1 p.m., Feb. 24. Tickets are $5.

The memory of a nation

Testing: The Memory of a Nation is a one-woman, multi-media performance by Sharon Feder. In it, Feder explores the world of Holocaust memories through her grandfather's stories and her grandmother's silence.

Testing is a multi-media production that juxtaposes movement with film, spoken text and song. All texts are either originals or adaptations from sources such as the Book of Ezekiel, Shakespeare's Othello and Rainer Maria Rilke's Love Poems to God. The performance moves backward through time: from death to old age, from adulthood to childhood, from childhood to the womb and, finally, to pre-conception.

Feder graduated from the University of British Columbia and now lives in Paris. Her studies have taken her toBolivia, Cuba, Holland and France, and include work on Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.

Testing shows on Feb. 24, 4 p.m., Feb. 26, 8 p.m., and March 2, 6 p.m., at the Norman Theatre. Tickets are $12.

Free dance performance

The Shalom Dancers have been cultural ambassadors of the Jewish community since 1981. The group offers a program reflecting its repertoire of both traditional and contemporary folk dance. The dancers' Chutzpah! performance takes place Feb. 24, 1 p.m., on the festival's second stage at the JCC. Admission for the 20-minute show is free.

Retrieving a lost heart

The One that Got Away tells a story about a woman, Hannah, who has a fish where her heart should be. In this story, Hannah's grandfather, who is on his deathbed, steals her heart and takes it with him to the underworld. To get her heart back, Hannah must follow him. Her journey through his past ultimately reunites both of them with the divine.

A fusion of theatre, video, song and water activities, The One that Got Away is written by Kendra Fanconi, directed by Kim Collier and co-created with Electric Company. The cast includes Peter Anderson, Jonathon Young, Allen Zinyk, Jan Kudelka, Judy Closky and Fanconi.

The One that Got Away plays at the JCC's pool, Feb. 27 to March 17, 8:30 p.m. There are no Monday and Friday shows. Audience members meet in the atrium prior to the performance. Tickets are $14, Tuesdays are two-for-one.

The songs express it all

It's all in the Song samples the range of Vancouver-based composer and lyricist Joan Beckow, whose creative journey has embraced the world of the stage, the concert hall, the cinema and the synagogue. Her work has been performed in Hollywood and New York, and at major theatres across Canada.

The Chutzpah! performance features vocalists Alisa Kort, Stephen Aberle, Nancy Fischer, Rebecca Codling, Merilee McCaffery, Lulu Krause and Talya Rozenberg, instrumentalists Wendy Stuart, Ron Stelting, Alison Jenkins, Jessica Stuart and cameos by Lisa Ehrlich and Josh Epstein. It is produced by WRS Productions, with musical direction by Wendy Stuart, Beckow as artistic consultant, direction by John Wright and choreography by Isabelle Maheux.

It's all in the Song takes place Feb. 28 and March 2, 8 p.m., at the Norman Rothstein Theatre. Tickets are $20.

Chutzpah! ticket information

Tickets for Chutzpah!, which range from $5 to $25, can be purchased in advance by calling the Firehall box office at 604-689-0926 or in person from the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC), Mondays through Fridays, noon-4 p.m. Tickets will also be available at the JCC one hour prior to each performance, unless sold out.

Those with Chutzpah! ticket vouchers must exchange their vouchers for tickets in person at the JCC during box office hours, noon-4 p.m. People on limited income should contact the Jewish Family Service Agency at 604-257-5151.

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