Written by
Corey Fischer
Adapted from the novel by David Grossman
Directed by Naomi Newman
Music by Albert Greenberg;
Scenic and Lighting design by Richard Olmsted;
Costume Design by Todd Roehrman;
Puppet Design and Construction by Dennis Ludlow.
Performed by: Aaron Davidman, Julian López-Morillas, Joan Mankin, Mark Samuels, Robert Sicular, Helen Stoltzfus and Norbert Weisser.
This post was written by AkilahC on March 25, 2000
Kabbalah Tango
World Premiere January 6 - February13, 2000
“exhilarating, life-affirming work”
— San Francisco Bay Guardian
Written by Corey Fischer, Albert Greenberg and Naomi Newman
Directed by Naomi Newman
Performed by Corey Fischer and Albert Greenberg
Music by Albert Greenberg; Scenic Design by Jamie Mulligan
Lighting Design by David Welle; Costume Design by Dana McDermott
Leap into the 21st century with Kabbalah Tango—a wild trip into ecstacy and aggravation. An exuberantly theatrical blend of poetry and chant, doo-wop and outrageous masks, Kabbalah Tango follows a truly eccentric duo on a quest for unity and redemption.
February 5, 2000: Poets’ Night at Kabbalah Tango!
Join us for a once-in-a-blue-moon gathering of three major (Jewish) poets: David Meltzer, an American master whose Kabbalah-inspired poetry has influenced a generation; Alan Kaufman, one of the strongest voices of the new generation and editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry and tatoojew.com; Norman Fischer, current Abbot of San Francisco Zen Center and a poet of remarkable originality will all hold forth after the Saturday, February 5 performance. Don’t miss this one!
Listen to excerpts!
God is Back in Town and The Tango
Download free RealPlayer 
This post was written by AkilahC on February 13, 2000
The Golden Bird
World Premiere December 3 - 19, 1999
Created by A Traveling Jewish Theatre’s 1999 Apprentice Company
under the direction of Aaron Davidman
ATJT’s Apprentice Training Program developed an original play this summer based on a Jewish legend about a lone traveler in pursuit of a magical, elusive bird. The Golden Bird mixes the age-old wisdom of Rebbe Nachman with a bit of Alice in Wonderland surrealism in a voyage of discovery. Filled with the spirit and song of fairy tale magic as well as contemporary concerns of ecology, community, and spirituality, The Golden Bird promises to be a delightful holiday event for the whole family.
The Golden Bird, created and performed by three young local actors, Rainbow Geffner, Eric Rhys Miller, and Dalia Vidor, and directed by Aaron Davidman, will be performed December 3 - 19, Fridays through Sundays at ATJT with one pay-what-you-can preview performance on December 2. Tickets: $12 general adults, $10 seniors, $6 students.
Call (415) 399-1809 for tickets. Group discounts available.
This post was written by AkilahC on December 19, 1999
The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln
Bay Area Premiere October 14-17, 1999- One Week Only!
“This vivid theatrical event transcends cultures and bespeaks the commonality of the human experience” — Los Angeles Times
Directed by Jenny Romaine
Produced by Great Small Works
Adapted by Jenny Romaine, with the participation of Adrienne Cooper and Frank London
From New York’s Obie award-winning Great Small Works company comes this highly unusual play drawn from the actual diaries of a 17th Century mother of twelve who not only started a thriving entrepreneurial business but also authored a ground-breaking Yiddish text – all more than 400 years ago!
Glückel is unlike anything you’ve seen at ATJT. In fact, the production is so huge – with five actors, oversized costumes, giant puppets, stilt-walking, and live music – that it can’t fit on ATJT’s stage. ATJT has made special arrangements to present Glückel for six performances only in Berkeley at the Julia Morgan Theater.
Adapted by Jenny Romaine, with the participation of Adrienne Cooper, the acclaimed interpreter of Yiddish vocal music, and Frank London of The Klezmatics, The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln delighted audiences at the 1997 Toronto Ashkenaz festival and the 1998 Los Angeles Yiddishkayt! festival. Bay area premiere!
Call (415) 399-1809 for tickets. Group discounts available.
This production only is at Berkeley’s Julia Morgan Theater 2460 College Avenue (at Derby).
This post was written by AkilahC on October 17, 1999
National Ensemble Theatre Festival
June 21-22 1999
San Francisco becomes home to the inaugural Festival of Ensemble Theatre, June 21 and June 22, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ Forum Theatre. This two day celebration of collectively-created theatre features performances by some of the U.S.’s top ensemble companies, with more than a hundred years of combined history, including: San Francisco’s own A Traveling Jewish Theatre; Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble (Bloomsburg, PA); Dell’Arte Players Company (Blue Lake, CA); The Independent Eye (Philadelphia, PA); Irondale Ensemble Project (New York, NY); and Touchstone Theatre (Bethlehem, PA). The Festival is being produced under the auspices of the Network of Ensemble Theatres (NET), a newly-formed consortium of nationally-recognized ensemble theatre companies with seed funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In conjunction with the two-day festival, the NET is also hosting a national Conference of Ensemble Theatre, June 21-23, 1999, co-sponsored by Golden Gate University’s Arts Administration Department. More than two dozen ensemble theatres from across the country are anticipated for this three-day conference, exploring the unique world of ensemble-based theatre and the various techniques companies are using today to survive and thrive.
Ensemble theatres have made a unique and significant contribution to the American theatre — from New York’s Mabou Mines and The Wooster Group to San Francisco’s A Traveling Jewish Theatre and the San Francisco Mime Troupe, helping to create some of the most fruitful collaborations and impactful productions over the past three decades. What these diverse companies from coast to coast share is a deep commitment to long-term artistic relationships at the center of their work, embodied in the formation of an artistic ensemble. This inaugural Festival of Ensemble Theatre celebrates the tremendous creativity and power of ensemble-created work and offers it as an alternative model to the more hierarchical model that currently dominates the modern theatrical landscape.
Schedule
6 pm PATCHWORKS: Life And Legends Of The Coal Towns
by The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble
The Festival begins at 6 pm on Monday, June 21 with the West Coast premiere of PATCHWORKS: Life And Legends Of The Coal Towns by the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. This original work designed for the whole family uses stories, songs and first-person narratives to illustrate the anthracite coal heritage of Northeastern Pennsylvania. A cast of three spin compelling stories of the men, women, boys and girls whose work in Pennsylvania’s coal towns helped fuel America’s Industrial Revolution.
The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble (BTE) was founded in 1978 by a group of young artists studying with legendary acting teacher Alvina Krause. Today, the resident ensemble of eight, including actors, directors, teachers, writers, and a production manager, together with an administrative and technical staff, continues a long-term commitment to provide the non-urban region of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania with unique cultural opportunities. BTE embodies the belief that theatre is a necessary tool for learning and communication and is dedicated to developing original works and adaptations of classics through the ensemble method.
8 pm YOU CAN’T WIN: Memoirs Of An Outlaw In The American West
by the Irondale Ensemble Project
At 8 pm on Monday, the Festival continues with YOU CAN’T WIN: Memoirs Of An Outlaw In The American West by the Irondale Ensemble Project. The play is based on the memoirs of Jack Black, a hobo/outlaw turned librarian/writer, in the American West at the turn of the century. This American Dickensian-style epic and “on the road” tale recounts Black’s experience in the San Francisco Bay Area of the 1880s where he encountered opium dens, western prisons and the inhabitants of the murky underworld that populated them. Both Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs credit Black with having tremendous influence on their work. Irondale’s production involves a cast of seven, portraying more than twenty characters, complemented by original and traditional music.
The Irondale Ensemble Project is an experimental/research theatre ensemble established in New York City in 1983. The company has roots in improvisation, traditional Stanislavski techniques, extensive movement work, and collaborative writing techniques. The primary goal of the ensemble is to discover how theatre can be utilized as an important or central aspect of daily life. Irondale has produced 25 major Off-Broadway shows, including the American premiere of Brecht’s CONVERSATIONS IN EXILE and ten original pieces.
10 pm THE VOICE OF SOULS: Touchstone Plays Shakespeare’s Sonnets
by Touchstone Theatre
Monday evening concludes with a 10 pm presentation of THE VOICE OF SOULS: Touchstone Plays Shakespeare’s Sonnets by Touchstone Theatre. Known for their movement based ensemble works, Touchstone takes on their newest challenge, the words of William Shakespeare. With humor and pathos, the ensemble uses the Bard’s tightly knit, 14-line poems to examine the condition of being human, loving and losing. Shakespeare fanatics and Bardophobes alike will be smitten by this buoyant and passionate journey through some of Shakespeare’s most articulate and powerful works.
Touchstone Theatre is a not-for-profit regional theater center based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and is home to a theatre, a cafe and a professional resident ensemble dedicated to creating and presenting original theatre. Touchstone is committed to being an active force in the renewal of theatre as a vital form and in its use as a community-building tool. Founded in 1981, Touchstone is led by Artistic Director and Ensemble Member Mark McKenna.
Tuesday, June 22
6 pm DIAMONDS IN THE DARK: A Celebration Of Yiddish Poetry
by A Traveling Jewish Theatre
June 22, Tuesday evening’s program begins at 6 pm with a one-night revival of A Traveling Jewish Theatre’s celebrated bilingual work, DIAMONDS IN THE DARK: A Celebration Of Yiddish Poetry. ATJT’s ensemble goes beyond the “schlepping” and “schlemiels”, crossing boundaries and exploding stereotypes about the Yiddish language by returning to the poetic impulse itself through use of performance, music, movement and the spoken word. Featuring a kaleidoscope selection of poetry and set within a postmodern musical score by Albert Greenberg and movement by Stephen Pelton, DIAMONDS brings a contemporary theatrical voice to the lyric passions of Yiddish poets. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “Poetic images glitter in DIAMONDS IN THE DARK.”
A Traveling Jewish Theatre (ATJT) was founded in 1978 by Corey Fischer, Albert Greenberg and Naomi Newman. Helen Stoltzfus joined the ensemble in 1986. The company is dedicated to creating original works of theatre, as an ensemble and in collaboration with a variety of outside artists, that contribute to a generous vision of the human condition. ATJT recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with the opening of the company’s newly-renovated 88-seat theatre center in San Francisco’s oldest artist cooperative, Project Artaud.
8 pm MAD LOVE
by Dell’Arte Players Company
At 8 pm on Tuesday, Dell’Arte Players Company presents its international touring production, MAD LOVE (L’AMOUR FOU). Adapted from the 1935 expressionist film starring Peter Lorre, the play tells the dark tale of a brilliant surgeon who replaces the damaged hands of a concert pianist with the hands of a murderer. MAD LOVE, set in “the Theatre of Horrors” and given a unique Dell’Arte spin, explores the thin line between horror and humor. The play explores the power of suggestion and its effectiveness as a controlling device. Directed by Jael Weisman, MAD LOVE features Dell’Arte co-artistic directors Michael Fields, Joan Schirle and performer/writer Donald Forrest, a team responsible for more than fifteen collaborative works since 1977.
The Dell’Arte Players Company is one of the few actor-managed ensembles in the U.S. Based in a small town in a rural area of Northern California, Dell’Arte has an international reputation for its touring performances and professional school, the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, which attracts students from all over the world. The core company of artists have been creating collaboratively since the 1970s, and their many original works have been seen in Brazil, Uruguay, Canada, Italy, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and throughout the U.S.
10 pm MATING CRIES
by The Independent Eye
The Festival concludes on Tuesday at 10 pm with The Independent Eye and their innovative work, MATING CRIES. This medley of six micro-plays celebrating the lust, comedy and wonder of human bonding is written and performed by The Independent Eye’s founders, Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller. MATING CRIES is a web of word jazz and character snapshots, drawn from myth, from daydream and from the creators’ own 37 years as artistic life-mates.
The Independent Eye is a professional theatre ensemble using many story-telling forms to reflect shared human experience. Since 1974, the Eye has played over 3,000 performances in 34 states, including engagements at Chicago’s Body Politic, Baltimore Theatre Project, Seattle’s New City Theatre, Milwaukee’s Theatre X, Pittsburgh’s City Theatre, New York’s CSC Repertory, Theater for the New City, and Jean Cocteau Repertory, and many others. The Independent Eye is led by founding directors Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ Forum Theatre, 701 Mission Street at 3rd Street in San Francisco.
TICKETS: $15 each or $30 for any 3 plays can be purchased in advance by calling the box office at (415) 399-1809. Half-price student tickets and senior and group discounts are available.
This post was written by AkilahC on June 22, 1999
Shtick! A Queer Play on Yiddish Vaudeville.
World Premiere
April 29-May 23 1999
EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 13!
Written and performed by Sara Felder
A young Jew sailing from Warsaw dons a pair of trousers and ponders the wonders of Amerike. A queer performance artist, shamelessly in love with Yiddishkeit, reaches back across the century for a kiss. In this new provocative comedy, San Francisco’s best-loved Jewish lesbian juggler turns an insightful eye and sharp wit to the great questions of our time: identity, sexuality and rubber chickens.
“A local performance treasure”
- Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Examiner
“Felder mixes clowning form and emotional content in a way rarely seen: healthy, life-affirming, funny and real.”
- San Francisco Bay Times
Read an article by Sara Felder about the creation of Shtick
This post was written by AkilahC on June 13, 1999
Berlin, Jerusalem and the Moon
March 4 - April 4, 1999
written by Corey Fischer, Albert Greenberg and Naomi Newman
directed by Naomi Newman
As Jacob struggled with an angel, Izzie the K — a comic inspired by Kafka — and Edie — a woman disaffected from patriarchal Judaism — wrestle with their identities as contemporary American Jews. Izzie introduces us to Elsa Lasker-Schuler and Walter Benjamin, two German-Jewish writers of the 1930’s devoted to the German language who, confronted by Nazism, become refugees wrenched from their German cultural roots. Together they take us on a compelling journey that reveals the ongoing struggle between our identity as Jews and as citizens of the world.
“Brilliant!…The performances are wonderful…Well worth seeing, by Jews or non-Jews as an example of what dedicated, talented, ambitious theatre artists can do to create magic on stage.”
- San Francisco Chronicle
This post was written by AkilahC on April 4, 1999
Diamonds in the Dark: A Celebration of Yiddish Poetry
World Premiere December 3- 27, 1998
Let me come close to the joy of the Yiddish word
Give me whole days and nights of it
Weave me, bind me into it
Feed me crumbs, with the crows
I’ll sleep on a hard bed
Under a leaky roof
Just don’t let me forget the Yiddish word
For a single Moment
-Jacob Glatstein, 1961
Diamonds in the Dark: A Celebration of Yiddish Poetry conceived by ATJT’s Artistic Ensemble performed by Corey Fischer, Albert Greenberg and Naomi Newman directed by Helen Stoltzfus with a musical score by Albert Greenberg choreography by Stephen Pelton additional arrangements by Mark Izu Scenic and Lighting Design by Matthew Antacky; Costume design by Sussanah Douthit; Technical Direction by Alex Kort.
Forget everything you think you know about Yiddish. ATJT’s newest ensemble creation blends 20th century poetry and post-modern music with the company’s dynamic theatricality. Diamonds gives voice to the Yiddish poets’ passionate struggle to bear witness to the secular, mystical, erotic and political realities of our time.
Subscribe Now and Join the Celebration!
Click here for Subscribers’ Benefits
For single tickets online, go to www.ticketnet.com
Or call (415) 399-1809. Group discounts available
What they’re saying:
SF Bay Guardian review go
Jewish Bulletin review go
SF Weekly review go
CitySearch7.com review go
SF Arts Monthly article go
Background Material, Poets’ Biographies click here
Bibliography of Yiddish Poetry click here
Listen to the Yiddish click here
You’ll need RealPlayer. Click for a free download
This post was written by AkilahC on December 27, 1998
Echoes and Postcards
Created and Performed by The Road Company Ensemble
Echoes and Postcards is a Southern home-coming that will make you feel right at home wherever you’re from. It’s a collage of scenes, songs, monologues, memories and stories culled from small-town life in Upper East Tennessee. Marked by unsentimentality, comic brilliance, zany style and musical excellence, this portrait of Southern life offers us all an understanding that a people of any place can move into a future only by a critical knowledge of the past. Based in Johnson City, Tennessee, The Road Company is dedicated to the same vision as ATJT: the production of original ensemble theatre which reflects the concerns and interests of a particular community. Their residency offers an unusual opportunity to compare and contrast our work as culturally specific theatres.
For information about discounted group tickets or anything else, call us at (415) 399-1809 or e-mail info@atjt.com
This post was written by AkilahC on May 16, 1998
A Traveling Jewish Theatre’s Wednesday Night Jewish Music Series
Daniel Hoffman, Director
From klezmer avant-garde jazz to the music of the Jews of Persia to East-West fusion, this series will explore the breadth and depth of today’s Jewish music scene.
Febrary 11, 1998 - 8 pm
Ben Goldberg Sextet: Avant Garde Jewish jazz.
Formerly of the New Klezmer Trio, Ben Goldberg debuts his new ensemble and CD on the Tzaddik record label.
Ben Goldberg: composer, clarinet; Carla Kihlstedt: violin;
Miya Masaoka: koto; Rob Sudduth: saxophone;
Trevor Dunn: bass; Smith Dobson Jr: drums
March 11, 1998 - 8 pm
Purim with Za’atar
Za’atar, named after a popular Middle-Eastern spice, plays music of the Jews of Arab and Muslim lands. The band will be performing a special Erev Purim show. This exciting new sextet features a unigue mix of the traditional, modern, sacred and social music of the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa. Za’atar features Yishai Hope on vocals, John Erlich on ‘oud, Amit Bleiweis on flutes, Scott Armel on saz and guitar, Dan Ratner on bass and vocals, and Ron Elkayam on Dumbek and Riq.
April 8, 1998 - 8 pm
New Jewish Art Music combining klezmer, Middle Eastern and jazz
Interworld recording artists DAVKA represent the newest and most exciting step in the development of Jewish music. Taking its name from the Hebrew slang for “contrary to expectation”, DAVKA creates a forward-looking music of universality out of the depth of Jewish tradition and the music of the world. DAVKA is a violin (Daniel Hoffman), cello (Moses Sedler), and Middle Eastern percussion (Peter Maund) trio that will open your ears up to a whole new world of Jewish music beyond the Klezmer tradition. Their highly original blend of traditional Klezmer melodies with Middle-Eastern rhythms, jazz improvisation and classical technique has been an immediate hit with both critics and DJs across the US.
Admission to all concerts $10
For information call us at (415) 399-1809 or e-mail info@atjt.com
This post was written by AkilahC on April 8, 1998
