Berlin’s Nana Schewitz brings her show Florida! Ya Kill Me! to Vancouver May 31-June 2. (photo from Nana Schewitz)
Florida! Ya Kill Me! is a “love letter to aging,” says Berlin-based drag artist Nana Schewitz, who created the show with Josh Walker. But it’s also a “wakeup call,” she warned, about the systems we have in place for aging.
Florida! Ya Kill Me! comes to Vancouver for three nights, opening May 31 at the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret.
“JQT is so excited to bring Nana Schewitz to both Toronto and Vancouver, as part of our JQT [Jewish Queer Trans] Mental Health Support Series in partnership with JFS Vancouver, a series supported by the
Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Vancouver,” said Carmel Tanaka, executive director of JQT Vancouver, noting that the shows are being sponsored in both cities by Goethe-Institut Toronto, which is part of a global network that works to foster understanding of Germany’s cultural diversity.
“The content of her show addresses the challenges of Jewish queer trans seniors, which is a very near and dear topic to JQT,” Tanaka said of Nana’s Florida! Ya Kill Me! “We hope that, through drag and comedy, we will be able to raise awareness of the work our JQT Seniors Initiative is doing to create safer long-term care homes and spaces, so our aging JQT community members can proudly celebrate all their identities into their twilight years.”
Florida! Ya Kill Me! is a theatrical retelling of Nana’s 2021 trip to Florida in search of a final resting place, Nana told the Independent. The character is a feisty 96 years old.
“Josh and I traveled up and down the state in search of retirement paradise, visiting every bingo hall, craft fair and 55-and-up pool we could find along the way,” she explained. “We met some incredible seniors who really opened up to me about their experiences with aging, finding love, losing love, accepting change and finding joy. I have the privilege to share these words through both my own retelling, and some filmed interviews we took. You’ll meet Josie, the 109-year-old bingo master. You’ll meet Doris, born and raised in Berlin (my current home) who lives in Florida’s largest retirement city (with over 100,000 residents). You’ll even meet my dead Cuban grandmother!
“The ability to tell these often-overlooked stories and cement the legacies of some of my favourite friends is my favourite thing about what this show is,” said Nana. “It’s a love letter to aging, but also a wakeup call to its effects. The systems in place around aging are crumbling quickly while our average life expectancy is getting higher and higher. I don’t want us to have to sacrifice our quality of life as we age, and this show is a call to action to make that happen!”
The name Nana Schewitz was inspired by Manischewitz, perhaps after a few glasses of its sweet kosher wine. The 96-year-old – who doesn’t “look a day over 69” – was brought to life by almost-30-something Bryan Schall, who studied at Philadelphia University of the Arts and graduated in performance design and production.
She emerged as an entity “out of a little hole-in-the-wall disco in Philadelphia. She stayed dormant for awhile, as her ‘style’ didn’t really fit in my idea of what drag in the US was. When I got to Berlin, however, I said, ‘Ooooohhh!!! Nana totally could work here!’
“The drag scene of Berlin was very different,” explained Nana. “It was quirky, brash, silly – all the things I wanted out of a drag performer. And I found myself really missing this very specific branch of Ashkenazi-Americana Judaism that I took for granted at home. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until moving to Berlin.
“Being Nana really allowed for space to connect with my Judaism, while also allowing me to rewrite Judaic tradition in a way that serves queer people,” she added. “I’ve hosted Passover seders, Hanukkah shows, Rosh Hashanah events and more in Berlin, and it’s been a beautiful connective tissue to bring the Jews of Germany (yes, we’re here!) together in a meaningful and unexpected way.”
Nana moved to Berlin in 2016 and says she hasn’t looked back.
“I grew up in South Florida, and just could not do one more winter of beautiful, it was just getting to be unbearable,” she said. “I couldn’t take the beaches and the sunshine of Florida anymore. Call me a masochist, I guess.”
Berlin has her heart, Nana said, “But all cities change, and the Berlin I moved to looks very different than the city I currently live in. I’ve learned here how precious community is, but it is something that requires maintenance and care, and cannot be taken for granted. I’m able to live my most authentic life here, but that is not a forever guarantee…. I worry about the future of this city, especially as a Jew. Your life can be taken very quickly if you stop paying attention and take things for granted.”
Describing herself as “50% lighting designer and 50% drag queen,” Nana said, “I studied lighting design and do it professionally, but doing drag gives me the outlet and access to say and do the things that are really meaningful to me. The lighting design definitely pays for the drag, but I love to light up a room nonetheless. I actually just came off tour doing lights for Canadian-Jewish icon Peaches around the US and Canada! It was a blast, but I really feel the most myself when I’m dressed up as a 96-year-old Jewish grandmother, singing sexually perverse parodies of Barbra Streisand songs in a dark smelly bar.”
Joining Nana in the Vancouver performances will be co-creator Josh Walker.
“I’m always so grateful to have my life partner/grandson by my side,” she said. “I’ve been working on Nana with Josh Walker for almost 10 years now. He is my most treasured collaborator, and we actually just came back from another two-month trip to Florida where we (along with my new grandson, filmmaker Lucky Marvel) just filmed the Florida! You Kill Me! documentary. We’re in production now after having visited and filmed in different Jewish and queer retirement homes, RV parks, assisted living facilities, etc., around the Sunshine State. The show me and Josh are about to put on in Canada is just a small taste of the incredible shenanigans we got up to around the state. You can catch Josh playing some classic Jimmy Buffett tunes on the banjo during this show.”
Nana exudes confidence, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have concerns about people’s reactions.
“I’ve had to stop being afraid, it wasn’t doing anything for me! When we went to Florida, I was extremely nervous,” she admitted. “A lot of what Nana is about is being out on the streets, very public and very vocal. I’m not sure if you know this, but there was recently a drag ban in Florida, as well. I’m not exaggerating, ‘adult live performances featuring sexual content’ were banned in Florida. I’m not sure if you’d consider my matzoh ball titties to be sexual content, but that’s beside the point. So, I went there with my guard up, worried for my safety and for the safety of my team. We had an ‘in case Nana gets arrested’ plan and everything. I’m proud to say, the ban eventually got overturned due, in part, to the relentless work of some of the drag queens of Fort Lauderdale (my hometown). But the damage had been done.
“I came in expecting bigotry,” she said, “but I really believe in my heart of hearts that is not our human nature. I think a lot of people are confused these days. There’s a lot of anger and hurt in the world and lot of information, and people are looking for where to place it and what to do with it all. This ‘drag queens bad’ narrative is political propaganda, but people will think what they want to think. Lucky for me, this Nana can move fast. When some of these Floridians see me, they’re not sure if they should pull out a gun and shoot me dead on the street, or give me a five dollar bill! By the time they’ve made up their mind, I’m gone. Whoosh!”
All jokes aside, Nana and Florida! Ya Kill Me! have a serious message.
“A new friend told me this as I was filming my documentary, and I think about it all the time so wanted to share it here as well,” said Nana. “She worked at the McArtor senior centre [in Florida], taking care of LGBT+ patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. She told me, ‘If I can get you to do one thing after speaking to me, it’s call an older loved one in your life. A parent, a grandparent, an aunt, whoever. There will come a day when you call them and they won’t remember who you are anymore. Don’t wait for that moment to reach out. Enjoy every interaction you can, while you still can.’”
For tickets ($18) to Florida! Ya Kill Me!, visit jqtvancouver.ca.