For \”Portraits in Faith,\” Robin Garbose\’s husband, Levi, adapted a novel by Marcus Lehman, a 19th-century German writer who is something of a John Grisham of the Orthodox world. His books typically are plot-driven, hard-to-put-down novels that are infused with messages of faith.
That is how rehearsal time goes for the \”Center of the Star, A Jewish Tour of Los Angeles,\” a new play by Yehuda Hyman that is the latest project of the Cornerstone Theater Company (CTC) and Greenway Arts Alliance.
Today, \”Brundibar\” is experiencing a revival of sorts. It is the title and story of a new children\’s book written by Tony Kushner, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak (Hyperion Books for Children), and this weekend, the Jewish Community Foundation and the Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation sponsored Youth Opera Camp of Santa Monica College Conservatory will be performing the opera at the Miles Memorial Playhouse and Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Actress Jessica Lundy was mostly working TV guest starring roles when she landed the part of Roberta in John Patrick Shanley\’s \”Danny and the Deep Blue Sea\” last month.
\”Homebody/Kabul\” is very much about people trying to erase their pasts through encounters with those who are different from them. Whether British or Afghan, Christian or Muslim, all the characters have a history created by colonialism that informs their present struggles.
Laura Bush on Howard Stern; J. Lo waking up with a pimple on her nose; Homer Simpson running for governor of California. No, it\’s not a slow day on \”Live on E!\” It\’s a game of \”Scenes from a Hat\” — one of 40 interactive games that improv comedy troupe, The Los Hombres, has in its repertoire. The game, in which audience members write down funny scenes that they would like to see acted out, is just one way the eight-member cast connects with the audience.
Speaking from his London home, the droll, precise Harwood — who won a screenwriting Oscar for \”The Pianist\” — said he tried not to take sides while writing the play and the film.
\”Her plays have always dealt with strong, diverse Jewish women,\” said Olivia Cohen-Cutler of the MorningStar Commission, founded by Hadassah.
If it seems unlikely that a nice Jewish girl would become a flamenco dancer, consider her early role models. Or Nili Azulay\’s Syrian-born grandmother, Nona, defied her parents to wed the man she loved, then refused to remarry after he died several years later. Azulay\’s mother, Chaya, became one of Israel\’s first female barristers; her father died when she was a small child. \”The sadness of not having a father was tempered by growing up with these strong, independent women,\” she said.
What surprised Warner Shook was the play\’s reference to Jewish bigotry: \”I had known nothing about the conflict between German and Eastern European Jews,\” he said. Shook was so fascinated he decided to direct the piece; to learn more, he read books on Jewish Atlanta and watched documentaries such as \”Delta Jews,\” narrated by Uhry.
