|
|
February 13, 2009
Spreading its wings
Chutzpah! takes place in venues across town.
RON FRIEDMAN
Mary-Louise Albert was the poster girl for the first Chutzpah! performing arts festival nine years ago. She was a soloist dancer in a specially choreographed piece by Allen Kaeja. Since 2005, she has been the festival's artistic director and the managing director of the Norman Rothstein Theatre. "This year," she said about the event, "feels like it's a well-oiled machine."
But the fact that things are running smoothly doesn't mean that it's a cakewalk. Planning and organizing the annual event means a lot of work for Albert and her staff. The Independent caught up with Albert a day after her return from a trip to Israel, where she was already scouting for next year's headliner. And, while she wouldn't reveal the name of the act, she hinted that, in honor of the festival's 10th anniversary, it'd be a "big name."
Focusing on the present, Albert spoke excitedly about what's coming up for fans in this year's festival, which starts Feb. 19. For the first time, Chutzpah! The Lisa Nemetz International Showcase of Jewish Performing Arts will be partnering with Vanoc, Touchstone Theatre, Firehall Arts Centre and DanceHouse, including performances away from the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and increasing the exposure to the rest of the art-loving public. While the festival has partnered with the Chan Centre for Performing Arts in previous years, and will continue to do so this year, this is the first time that the festival has seen so much expansion. Albert explained that the size and scope of the productions were getting too large for the Norman Rothstein Theatre. Israel's Batsheva dance company, for example, which features dozens of dancers, needed a larger venue to perform their dazzling display of movement, she said.
When asked whether she thought that the offsite locations would affect tickets sales, Albert responded, "Of course that was something that I was wondering about – if it would pull people away – but, no, that is not actually happening." Albert said that sale numbers were actually up from previous years. "Things haven't been watered down. Tickets are just going gung ho."
Another special feature of this year's festival is the transformation of the JCCGV's Wosk Auditorium into a cabaret-style venue. Instead of rowed seating, people will be seated around small cocktail tables, where they will be able to bring their drinks and watch acts like Babe Gurr, The Devil and Billy Markham and The Sputniks.
Albert said that the best deal on offer is the Chutzi-pack. This option allows viewers to choose four shows of their choice at the price of $63 ($15.75 per ticket).
Albert suggested that the special deal encourages people to broaden their cultural horizons and attend acts they wouldn't necessarily have gone to ordinarily.
"Generally, the purchases of the Chutzi-pack do tend to be a real variety. People aren't just taking four different theatre shows or four different music shows. They are going to see some theatre and some music and some dance or some comedy, and I think that's kind of great," said Albert.
When asked whether it was difficult to find Jewish acts to participate in the festival, Albert said, while that used to be the case in the festival's first years, nowadays, the difficulty was choosing which acts to select.
Chutzpah! runs until March 1. It opens with the world première of the comedy show Pastrami On Rye ... With Mayo and wraps up with Rain Pryor's blues cabaret, Pryor Experience. For more information and tickets, visit www.chutzpahfestival.com.
^TOP
|
|
