August 16, 2019
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When Barbara Brooks started the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, the national landscape was dotted with Jewish theatre organizations. Now, as the MJTC embarks on its 25th season, it has become the longest standing independent professional Jewish theatre organization in the country. “It was founded to provide an opportunity for Jewish and non-Jewish people to come […]
Continue readingAugust 9, 2019
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If you’ve ever had big dreams of success or still do, the storyline of 42nd Street, a musical-within-a-musical, is an inspiration. Wrapping up as an Ordway Original production on August 11, the Emmy award-winning Broadway hit is the story of a young, aspiring showgirl, Peggy Sawyer, who leaves Allentown, Pa., for a chance to make […]
Continue readingAugust 7, 2019
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Am I white? Am I POC?” This question frames Avi Aharoni’s solo performance, Operation: Immigration, at this year’s Minnesota Fringe Festival. Don’t think, however, that the hour-long show is some self-indulgent, high-brow, social-justice warrior fever dream. Aharoni dedicates his allotted hour to honor his late father, Menachem Aharoni, and Menachem’s emigration from Iran to Israel […]
Continue readingAugust 5, 2019
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How does a theater background relate to engaging people in a non-theater environment? Sara Bogomolny, Jewfolk, Inc.’s new director of engagement tells us. Sara joined us just over a week ago, and talks about what brought her to the Twin Cities, how her theater background will help her in the job, and what creating a […]
Continue readingAugust 1, 2019
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Ah, August: the dog days of summer, marking the annual rite of passage of all Minnesotans from the long-awaited, warm embrace of the sun, to the dark, chilly, why-the-#$%!-do-I-need-a-sweater confines of the air-conditioned theater. Fear not, friends: this month is jam-packed with options for indoor artsy fun… and not just because of the Fringe festival. […]
Continue readingAugust 1, 2019
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To the kids who think a musical about Jewish tradition would be boring, think again. The most recent U.S. national tour of Fiddler on the Roof at the Orpheum Theatre is humorous and modern. While set around a family’s struggle to keep Jewish tradition while finding happiness and love in 1905 pogrom-filled Russia, the humor […]
Continue readingJuly 30, 2019
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Every musician likes to say how the city or venue they are performing in is one of their favorites. But whether the dead of winter or mid-summer, Julia Kantor and Paris Chansons, her French-music-with-a-Russian-twist band, may actually love coming to Minneapolis and the Dakota. “The Dakota is one of our favorites,” said Kantor. “It has […]
Continue readingJuly 24, 2019
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Local actor Avi Aharoni and New Yorker Amanda Erin Miller are performing original, biographical shows in the Minnesota Fringe Festival in August. Aharoni, 28, has been working since January on “Operation: Immigration,” the story of his Iranian/Israeli father. “Operation: Immigration” is Aharoni’s debut as a playwright, though he is a seasoned actor in Minneapolis. He […]
Continue readingJuly 19, 2019
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I am writing this asking for help. Any artist, from the most seasoned pro to the amateur hobbyist, will tell you the same thing: Finding space for art is hard enough work as it is. Whether that’s finding space to physically do your art, emotionally create your art, or financially support your art, it can’t […]
Continue readingJuly 9, 2019
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Rabbi Hayim Herring’s first three books were all connected to Judaism. While his latest book, Connecting Generations: Bridging the Boomer, Gen X, and Millenial Divide, isn’t that per se, he doesn’t see it as a huge departure. “I don’t really see it as a switch so much as growth, as an expansion; I just decided […]
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