Intimate and emotional as a confessional, a doctor’s office or a romantic table for two, Theatre ... more Intimate and emotional as a confessional, a doctor’s office or a romantic table for two, Theatre Replacement’s installation, BioBoxes, radically reduces the space of theatrical performance to its absolute minimum. Each ten-minute performance piece is housed in a miniature theatre, with a single chair for the lone audience member and a box resting on the shoulders of the performer forming the stage. The visceral experience of sitting knee-to-knee, making direct eye contact, in shared isolation fosters a unique communion between actor and audience. Some boxes also invite active participation; audience members are asked to hold and look at photographs, write in a journal, light incense or eat a chocolate. In this profoundly engaging environment, the actors relate stories gleaned from biographical interviews with six first-generation Canadians. Audience members can decide whether they wish to hear the story of a given box in English or in the language that represents the cultural heritage of its biographical subject: French, Italian, Japanese, Serbo-Croatian, German or Cantonese. Created by the actors themselves, the boxes are richly designed, making enchantingly innovative scenographic use of the limited space.
Laura Levin and Belarie Zatzman converse with Studio 180’s Artistic Director Joel Greenberg about... more Laura Levin and Belarie Zatzman converse with Studio 180’s Artistic Director Joel Greenberg about Jewish theatre as an art of social justice. They discuss Studio 180 Theatre’s political mandate, its aim to provoke public discourse, and previous productions that have served as a form of community engagement. They also explore Studio 180’s staging of plays with intercultural themes, histories of racial conflict, and the oppression of minority groups. Studio 180 productions discussed here include: The Laramie Project, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, Parade, Our Class, The Normal Heart, and Clybourne Park.
of Jewish immigrants from other areas like Ethiopia, India, Latin America, and the United States ... more of Jewish immigrants from other areas like Ethiopia, India, Latin America, and the United States also contributed to the diversity of the Canadian Jewish community. In 2011, Jews represented only a small minority—approximately 1.3%—of the Canadian population, a proportion virtually unchanged since 1921 (Schnoor 182–184). As this issue illustrates, theatre has been an important part of Jewish cultural life in Canada. Professional and communitybased Jewish theatre companies have thrived in a number of Canadian ...
The suitcase is a provocation. First, to a group of young people in Tokyo and their teacher, Fumi... more The suitcase is a provocation. First, to a group of young people in Tokyo and their teacher, Fumiko Ishioka, at the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Centre; then to Karen Levine, producer at the CBC; and later, to Allen MacInnis, artistic director, and Emil Sher, playwright, at the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People (LKTYP) in Toronto. Sher’s new script (2006) is an adaptation of Levine’s book Hana’s Suitcase (2002) and is a superb piece of children’s theatre. Sent from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in 2000 as an artefact for Ishioka’s new Holocaust Centre, the suitcase prompted questions: “Who was Hana?” “Where did she come from?” “What happened to her?” (Levine 5). Urged on by the children from Tokyo, Ishioka embarked on a journey across Europe to solve the mystery of Hana’s suitcase, a search that ended with the discovery that Hana’s only sibling, George, had survived the war and was living right here in Canada. MacInnis notes, “What drew me to Hana’s Suitcase and made me want to stage a play version is the wonder that Hana dreamed of being a teacher and, even though she perished at the hands of the Nazis, her story sixty years later is teaching children” (3). Since its publication, Hana’s Suitcase has been translated into over thirty languages and has won more than twenty awards internationally. In Canada, in addition to its two sold-out runs at the LKTYP, Hana’s Suitcase has played at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton and the Manitoba Theatre for Young People. Sher’s adaptation held its American premiere at St. Louis’s Metro and was mounted at First Stage Children’s Theatre in Milwaukee this fall. During the 2007—8 season, the play will also tour to the Green Thumb Theatre in Vancouver; to Geordie Productions in Montreal, and back to Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre for a return engagement.
Intimate and emotional as a confessional, a doctor’s office or a romantic table for two, Theatre ... more Intimate and emotional as a confessional, a doctor’s office or a romantic table for two, Theatre Replacement’s installation, BioBoxes, radically reduces the space of theatrical performance to its absolute minimum. Each ten-minute performance piece is housed in a miniature theatre, with a single chair for the lone audience member and a box resting on the shoulders of the performer forming the stage. The visceral experience of sitting knee-to-knee, making direct eye contact, in shared isolation fosters a unique communion between actor and audience. Some boxes also invite active participation; audience members are asked to hold and look at photographs, write in a journal, light incense or eat a chocolate. In this profoundly engaging environment, the actors relate stories gleaned from biographical interviews with six first-generation Canadians. Audience members can decide whether they wish to hear the story of a given box in English or in the language that represents the cultural herita...
The suitcase is a provocation. First, to a group of young people in Tokyo and their teacher, Fumi... more The suitcase is a provocation. First, to a group of young people in Tokyo and their teacher, Fumiko Ishioka, at the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Centre; then to Karen Levine, producer at the CBC; and later, to Allen MacInnis, artistic director, and Emil Sher, playwright, at the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People (LKTYP) in Toronto. Sher’s new script (2006) is an adaptation of Levine’s book Hana’s Suitcase (2002) and is a superb piece of children’s theatre. Sent from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in 2000 as an artefact for Ishioka’s new Holocaust Centre, the suitcase prompted questions: “Who was Hana?” “Where did she come from?” “What happened to her?” (Levine 5). Urged on by the children from Tokyo, Ishioka embarked on a journey across Europe to solve the mystery of Hana’s suitcase, a search that ended with the discovery that Hana’s only sibling, George, had survived the war and was living right here in Canada. MacInnis notes, “What drew me to Hana’s Suitcase and ma...
Laura Levin and Belarie Zatzman converse with Studio 180's Artistic Director Joel Greenberg ... more Laura Levin and Belarie Zatzman converse with Studio 180's Artistic Director Joel Greenberg about Jewish theatre as an art of social justice. They discuss Studio 180 Theatre's political mandate, its aim to provoke public discourse, and previous productions that have served as a form of community engagement. They also explore Studio 180's staging of plays with intercultural themes, histories of racial conflict, and the oppression of minority groups. Studio 180 productions discussed here include: The Laramie Project, The ...
Mapping memory onto the landscape of drama and theatre education can help illuminate the diverse ... more Mapping memory onto the landscape of drama and theatre education can help illuminate the diverse ways in which practices of memory are made manifest in a multiplicity of aesthetic forms across the discipline (s). Drama education has the capacity to situate participants between history and memory, offering a process for constructing and rehearsing our own identities among the narratives of others, present and past.“Contemporary research examining memory and memorial underscores the fact that in provoking history as an act ...
Intimate and emotional as a confessional, a doctor’s office or a romantic table for two, Theatre ... more Intimate and emotional as a confessional, a doctor’s office or a romantic table for two, Theatre Replacement’s installation, BioBoxes, radically reduces the space of theatrical performance to its absolute minimum. Each ten-minute performance piece is housed in a miniature theatre, with a single chair for the lone audience member and a box resting on the shoulders of the performer forming the stage. The visceral experience of sitting knee-to-knee, making direct eye contact, in shared isolation fosters a unique communion between actor and audience. Some boxes also invite active participation; audience members are asked to hold and look at photographs, write in a journal, light incense or eat a chocolate. In this profoundly engaging environment, the actors relate stories gleaned from biographical interviews with six first-generation Canadians. Audience members can decide whether they wish to hear the story of a given box in English or in the language that represents the cultural heritage of its biographical subject: French, Italian, Japanese, Serbo-Croatian, German or Cantonese. Created by the actors themselves, the boxes are richly designed, making enchantingly innovative scenographic use of the limited space.
Laura Levin and Belarie Zatzman converse with Studio 180’s Artistic Director Joel Greenberg about... more Laura Levin and Belarie Zatzman converse with Studio 180’s Artistic Director Joel Greenberg about Jewish theatre as an art of social justice. They discuss Studio 180 Theatre’s political mandate, its aim to provoke public discourse, and previous productions that have served as a form of community engagement. They also explore Studio 180’s staging of plays with intercultural themes, histories of racial conflict, and the oppression of minority groups. Studio 180 productions discussed here include: The Laramie Project, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, Parade, Our Class, The Normal Heart, and Clybourne Park.
of Jewish immigrants from other areas like Ethiopia, India, Latin America, and the United States ... more of Jewish immigrants from other areas like Ethiopia, India, Latin America, and the United States also contributed to the diversity of the Canadian Jewish community. In 2011, Jews represented only a small minority—approximately 1.3%—of the Canadian population, a proportion virtually unchanged since 1921 (Schnoor 182–184). As this issue illustrates, theatre has been an important part of Jewish cultural life in Canada. Professional and communitybased Jewish theatre companies have thrived in a number of Canadian ...
The suitcase is a provocation. First, to a group of young people in Tokyo and their teacher, Fumi... more The suitcase is a provocation. First, to a group of young people in Tokyo and their teacher, Fumiko Ishioka, at the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Centre; then to Karen Levine, producer at the CBC; and later, to Allen MacInnis, artistic director, and Emil Sher, playwright, at the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People (LKTYP) in Toronto. Sher’s new script (2006) is an adaptation of Levine’s book Hana’s Suitcase (2002) and is a superb piece of children’s theatre. Sent from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in 2000 as an artefact for Ishioka’s new Holocaust Centre, the suitcase prompted questions: “Who was Hana?” “Where did she come from?” “What happened to her?” (Levine 5). Urged on by the children from Tokyo, Ishioka embarked on a journey across Europe to solve the mystery of Hana’s suitcase, a search that ended with the discovery that Hana’s only sibling, George, had survived the war and was living right here in Canada. MacInnis notes, “What drew me to Hana’s Suitcase and made me want to stage a play version is the wonder that Hana dreamed of being a teacher and, even though she perished at the hands of the Nazis, her story sixty years later is teaching children” (3). Since its publication, Hana’s Suitcase has been translated into over thirty languages and has won more than twenty awards internationally. In Canada, in addition to its two sold-out runs at the LKTYP, Hana’s Suitcase has played at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton and the Manitoba Theatre for Young People. Sher’s adaptation held its American premiere at St. Louis’s Metro and was mounted at First Stage Children’s Theatre in Milwaukee this fall. During the 2007—8 season, the play will also tour to the Green Thumb Theatre in Vancouver; to Geordie Productions in Montreal, and back to Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre for a return engagement.
Intimate and emotional as a confessional, a doctor’s office or a romantic table for two, Theatre ... more Intimate and emotional as a confessional, a doctor’s office or a romantic table for two, Theatre Replacement’s installation, BioBoxes, radically reduces the space of theatrical performance to its absolute minimum. Each ten-minute performance piece is housed in a miniature theatre, with a single chair for the lone audience member and a box resting on the shoulders of the performer forming the stage. The visceral experience of sitting knee-to-knee, making direct eye contact, in shared isolation fosters a unique communion between actor and audience. Some boxes also invite active participation; audience members are asked to hold and look at photographs, write in a journal, light incense or eat a chocolate. In this profoundly engaging environment, the actors relate stories gleaned from biographical interviews with six first-generation Canadians. Audience members can decide whether they wish to hear the story of a given box in English or in the language that represents the cultural herita...
The suitcase is a provocation. First, to a group of young people in Tokyo and their teacher, Fumi... more The suitcase is a provocation. First, to a group of young people in Tokyo and their teacher, Fumiko Ishioka, at the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Centre; then to Karen Levine, producer at the CBC; and later, to Allen MacInnis, artistic director, and Emil Sher, playwright, at the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People (LKTYP) in Toronto. Sher’s new script (2006) is an adaptation of Levine’s book Hana’s Suitcase (2002) and is a superb piece of children’s theatre. Sent from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in 2000 as an artefact for Ishioka’s new Holocaust Centre, the suitcase prompted questions: “Who was Hana?” “Where did she come from?” “What happened to her?” (Levine 5). Urged on by the children from Tokyo, Ishioka embarked on a journey across Europe to solve the mystery of Hana’s suitcase, a search that ended with the discovery that Hana’s only sibling, George, had survived the war and was living right here in Canada. MacInnis notes, “What drew me to Hana’s Suitcase and ma...
Laura Levin and Belarie Zatzman converse with Studio 180's Artistic Director Joel Greenberg ... more Laura Levin and Belarie Zatzman converse with Studio 180's Artistic Director Joel Greenberg about Jewish theatre as an art of social justice. They discuss Studio 180 Theatre's political mandate, its aim to provoke public discourse, and previous productions that have served as a form of community engagement. They also explore Studio 180's staging of plays with intercultural themes, histories of racial conflict, and the oppression of minority groups. Studio 180 productions discussed here include: The Laramie Project, The ...
Mapping memory onto the landscape of drama and theatre education can help illuminate the diverse ... more Mapping memory onto the landscape of drama and theatre education can help illuminate the diverse ways in which practices of memory are made manifest in a multiplicity of aesthetic forms across the discipline (s). Drama education has the capacity to situate participants between history and memory, offering a process for constructing and rehearsing our own identities among the narratives of others, present and past.“Contemporary research examining memory and memorial underscores the fact that in provoking history as an act ...
Uploads
Papers by Belarie Zatzman