Enjoy classical music without having to pay for parking. The St. Paul JCC Symphony season runs September through May with three performances: fall, winter and spring. Tickets are free.
Concert dates for the 2009-2010 season are: Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 7:30 pm Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 7:30 pm Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council
Rimon is an initiative of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation. The events listed in the e-guide are not sponsored by Rimon unless indicated.
Monday, March 1, 7 p.m. Acclaimed storytellers Carla Vogel and Joan Calof, and humorist Faith Oremland (billed as The Mighty Mavens) present an amusing look at rites of passage, family relationships, finding love, and growing old in Jewish culture. The show takes place at the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls). FFI: 952-381-3499.
Monday, March 1 , 8:30 p.m. Local legend Amy Salloway tells the truth about Jewish summer camps in her one-woman show “So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz!” The show, another installment in the Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival, is onstage at the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls). FFI: 952-381-3499.
Tuesday, March 2, 7 p.m. Humorist extraordinaire Ari Hoptman presents “Dial M for Comedy,” a mashed collection of sketches, vignettes, songs, and awful poetry for your entertainment. This is sure to be a highlight of the Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival at the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls). FFI: 952-381-3499.
Tuesday, March 2, 8:30 p.m. Playwright Monica Raymond’s two short plays, “Hijab” and “Toast,” are funny, poignant, and full of unexpected twists. Presented by the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls), the plays are repeated on Mar.7 at 2 p.m. FFI: 952-381-3499.
Wednesday, March 3, 6 p.m. The musical side of Jewish humor has featured the likes of Mel Brooks, Mickey Katz, Tom Lehrer, and Alan Sherman. “Satire in Song with Mark Bloom” promises a delightful romp through the land of loopy lyrics and maniacal melody. The show, presented at the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls), is repeated on Mar. 4 at 1 p.m. FFI: 952-381-3499.
Wednesday, March 3, 7:30 p.m. “Laughing at the Speed of Light” is the work of Flash Rosenberg and immerses the audience in hundreds of projected images that challenge what we see with what we know. The production takes place at the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls). FFI: 952-381-3499.
Wednesday, March 3. The St. Paul JCC Gallery Walk (1375 St. Paul Ave.) features local favorite Paula Leiter Pergament in an exhibit of her paintings and hand-made objects. The exhibit runs through April19. The artist will also lead a tour of her studio at the Rossmor Building on March 24 at 7:30 p.m. Reservations are required. FFI: 651-255-4572.
Thursday, March 4, 4:30 p.m. The 7th & 8th grade drama students at the Minneapolis Jewish Day School tell the story of Purim through universally recognized Star Wars characters. The production at the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls) is repeated on Mar. 5 at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. FFI: 952-381-3499.
Thursday, March 4, 6:15 p.m. Award-winning cartoonist Andrey Feldshteyn, a native of Leningrad, speaks about his exhibit, “WALK TALK CRY LOVE LIVE,” on view in the Lobby Gallery at the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls) during the Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival. FFI: 952-381-3499.
Thursday, March 4, 7 p.m. Irene Silverblatt presents “Poems from a Life Cut Short: Discovering Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger’s Poems from the Holocaust and their Meaning Today,” at the St. Paul JCC (1375 St. Paul Ave.). FFI: 612-624-4914.
Thursday, March 4, 7:30 p.m. Stevie Ray’s Improv Company presents “Humor Across Cultures,” a peek at what makes people laugh, at the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls). FFI: 952-381-3499.
Friday, March 5, 6 p.m. Form + Content Gallery (210 N. 2nd St., Mpls) hosts an opening reception for the group show, “Gardens for Winter,” featuring painter Joyce Lyon. The exhibit, which explores the metaphor and mystery of gardens for the cold season, runs through April 3. FFI: 612-436-1151.
Friday, March 5, 9 p.m. Violinist Judith Eisner leads her band Eisner’s Klezmorim at Café Maude (5411 Penn Ave. S., Mpls). FFI: 612-822-5411.
Saturday, March 6, 6:30 p.m. Evan Maurer, Director Emeritus of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, is honored at the Sabes JCC Annual Benefit to support the Robert and Janet Sabes Center for Jewish Arts and Humanities. Following dinner, comedian and singer Rain Pryor performs at 8:30 p.m. Both events take place at the Metropolitan Ballroom (5418 Wayzata Blvd., Golden Valley). FFI: 952-381-3429.
Saturday, March 6, 8 p.m. The Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company presents “A Report on the Banality of Love” about the brilliant philosopher Hannah Arendt and her torrid love affair with her mentor Martin Heidegger. The play explores ethics and the morality of love against a backdrop of the rise of the Nazis. FFI: 651-647-4315.
Sunday, March 7, 7 p.m. The Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival comes to an end with a Closing Night Comedy Cabaret. The show features a galaxy of local stars, including Jeff Zuckerman, Josh Awend, Dylan Fresco, Molly Dworsky, and more. Rabbi Sim Glaser is the host, and the venue of course is the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Mpls). FFI: 952-381-3499.
Tuesday, March 9, 7:30 p.m. The New Jewish Arts and Culture Showcase inaugurates a monthly series of performances at the Acadia Café (329 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls). Matt Levitt hosts the showcase, featuring Levittrio, Amy Salloway, Aaron Kaufman, and Cherrie and Shon Cobbs. FFI: reb_lobster@yahoo.com.
Wednesday, March 10, 7:30 p.m. The St. Paul JCC Orchestra (1375 St. Paul Ave.) tackles Ives, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, and Grieg in its winter concert, which also features baritone Andrew Wilkowske. FFI: 651-255-4752.
Thursday, March 11, 6 p.m. It’s opening night for noted glass artist Peter Zelle’s exhibit of selected works at the Tychman Shapiro Gallery (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Mpls). Also on display are painter Andrea Strongwater’s works, “The Lost Synagogues of Europe,” in the Sabes JCC’s Hallway and Lobby galleries. Both exhibits run through Apr. 20. FFI: 952-381-3416.
Thursday, March 11, 7 p.m. If you’re a member of the Science Museum of Minnesota (120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul), you won’t want to miss the members-only opening for The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. The evening features performances by Voices of Sepharad, Mark Stillman, among others. FFI: 651-221-9444.
Friday, March 12, 10 a.m. The Sabes JCC’s Theatre Or presents “Jack and Rochelle,” based on the memoir “Jack and Rochelle, A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance” by Larry Sutin. The production, scripted by Buffy Sedlachek, runs through March 28. FFI: 952-381-3499.
Friday, March 12, 7 p.m. SteppingStone Theatre (55 Victoria St. N., St. Paul) presents the opening of “My Grandmother’s Tsotchkes: Tales of a Gambling Grandma,” created by Stuart Pimsler with music by Gary Rue. The production runs through March 28. FFI: 651-225-9265.
Sunday, March 14, 3 p.m. Author Lev Raphael reads from his book, “My Germany,” which tells how he as the son of Holocaust survivors returned to the world his parents escaped. The reading is sponsored by the Twin Cities Jewish Book Fair at the St. Paul JCC (1375 St. Paul Ave.). FFI: 651-255-4752.
Sunday, March 14, 7 p.m. The St. Paul JCC Orchestra partners with the Minnetonka Civic Orchestra to present “Creative Connections.” Mahler and Gershwin are on the agenda at the Minnetonka High School Auditorium (18301 Highway 7, Minnetonka). FFI: 952-401-5954.
Through Mar. 18. Conduit Gallery (1300 Quincy St. NE, Mpls) hosts an installation by Rachel Breen of drawing and sewn paper called Seven Meals. The exhibit explores the idea that there are seven meals between civilization and anarchy. FFI: 612-208-1726.
Saturday, March 20, 1:30 p.m. The Walker Art Center (1750 Hennepin Ave. Mpls) screens filmmaker Barbara Wiener’s documentary “Ida’s Story” about a 90-year old Jewish woman who survived a harrowing childhood in early 20th century Ukraine before her emigration to the United States. FFI: 612-375-7600.
Sunday, March 21, 10 a.m. The Yiddish Vinkl, hosted by the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Mpls), revisits the epic life of Yiddish poet Avrom Sutzkever, who died in January at the age of 96. FFI: 952-544-5423.
Sunday, March 21, 2 p.m. Painter Andrea Strongwater speaks about the sources of her work for “The Lost Synagogues of Europe,” an exhibit at the Sabes JCC (Barry Family Campus, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Mpls). FFI: 952-381-3416.
Sunday, March 21, 7 p.m. It’s “A Serious Night” in name only, as B’nai Emet (3115 Ottawa Ave. S., St. Louis Park) celebrates its involvement in the making of the Coen Brothers’ film “A Serious Man.” Star Tribune film critic Colin Covert is the featured speaker. FFI: 952-927-7309.
Through March 21. Sabina Zimering’s fascinating memoir “Hiding in the Open” has been adapted by playwright Kira Obolensky into a critically acclaimed drama. The production can be seen at the History Theatre (30 E. 10th St., St. Paul). A workshop, “The Holocaust: Hiding, Identity, Memory and Truth,” exploring the experience of hiding, takes place on March 7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., under the auspices of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota. FFI: 651-292-4323.
Monday, March 22, 9:15 a.m. Actress-playwright Sun Mee Chomet speaks about her research on pre-War Jewish Vienna at the St. Paul JCC Women’s Roundtable (1375 St. Paul Ave.). Sun Mee’s studies abroad were funded by Rimon’s Norman Ackerberg Artist Travel-Study grant. Newcomers to the Women’s Roundtable are welcome. FFI: 651-255-4735.
Friday, March 29, 8 p.m. Rabbi and poet Zoe Klein speaks at Shir Tikvah Congregation (5000 Girard Ave. S., Mpls) on “Metaphor, Meaning, and Magic,” exploring the power of words and metaphor to redeem and transform. She continues on Shabbat morning, 10 a.m., with “Prophecy and the Power of Stories.” FFI: 612-822-1440.
MJTC Continues the 2009-2010 Season 15th Professional Season
Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company is dedicated to presenting professional productions rooted in the Jewish experience but illuminating the common humanity among us all. Please visit the website at www.mnjewishtheatre.org for more information about MJTC and the productions, including dates, times, ticket prices, and more. Click here for a printable calendar of the MJTC season.
All performances are presented at MJTC’s theater home: HILLCREST CENTER THEATER, 1978 Ford Parkway, St. Paul, MN 55116
Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson Saturday, October 24, 2009 - Sunday, November 15, 2009
A behind‐the‐scenes look at the making of Gone with the Wind! When legendary producer David O. Selznick decides that the screenplay is not working, he stops filming, yanks director Vic Fleming from the set of The Wizard of Oz, brings in screenwriter Ben Hecht, and locks himself with these two men behind closed doors for five days to rewrite the screenplay on a diet of bananas and peanuts. This nearly unbelievable farce reveals the making of one of the most successful and beloved films of all time.
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins By Shari Aronson Based on the book by Eric A. Kimmel Thursday, December 3, 2009 - Wednesday, December 22, 2009
Hershel of Ostropol has been walking long and hard with growing anticipation for the Hanukkah holiday. Tired and hungry, he imagines the smell of latkes and the bright lights of the menorah. But when Hershel arrives in Helmsbergville, the village is silent. Goblins have been preventing Hanukkah in Helmsbergville for years. Can this visitor help bring Hanukkah back? Enlisted by the townspeople, Hershel agrees to spend eight nights in the old synagogue to try to defeat the goblins in this joyous tale with puppets. A 2008 hit, back by demand!
A Report on the Banality of Love by Mario Diament Saturday, March 6, 2010 - Sunday, March 28, 2010
This production explores the relationship and personal evolutions of Martin Heidegger, one of the most influential German philosophers of the 20th century, and Hannah Arendt, one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. The play is an incisive look at their lives and the Nazi rise to power.
Women’s Minyan by Naomi Ragen Saturday, April 17, 2010 - Sunday, May 9, 2010
Women’s Minyan is an Israeli play that tells a true story of domestic abuse. Chana Sheinhoff, an Orthodox mother of 12, had been granted a divorce but not custody of her children. As the play opens its’s now two years later and she’s given the right to see her children but is prevented from doing so by the women of her community. She convinces this group—a minyan—to hear her story and then decide whether she is worthy of her children. This play about domestic abuse in an Orthodox community in Israel was the longest running play ever to be presented at Israel’s National Theater, Habima.
Theatre Or at the Sabes JCC 2009-2010 Professional Performing Arts Season
Click here for ticket information and to order tickets.
Biloxi Blues by Neil Simon Directed by Claire Avitabile Saturday, October 24 - Sunday, November 8, 2009
In March 2009 we introduced you Eugene Morris Jerome in the first of Neil Simon’s autobiographical trilogy, Brighton Beach Memoirs. Now 20-years-old, the energetic “Brooklynite” has been drafted into the army and is heading to boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi. Throughout his training Eugene learns to cope with fellow soldiers of all walks of life, falls in love for the first time, loses his virginity in less than ideal circumstances, and faces anti-Semitism with brute courage—all experiences that humorously feed what he loves more than life itself: writing. OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION: October 24 PAY WHAT YOU CAN: October 29, November 2 and 5 2-for-1 Not appropriate for youth.
Wise Men of Chelm by Sandra Fenichel Asher Directed by Anya Kremenetsky Thursday, November 12 - Sunday, November 15, 2009
Legend has it that when the earth was created and the time came to fill it with people, two angels were chosen to deposit wise and foolish souls evenly over the land. But one angel tripped on a mountain peak and the entire sack of foolish souls emptied out over one spot, a tiny town in Poland called Chelm. Tales of the eternally good-natured but misguided Wise Men of Chelm are said to date back to the 1500s. This script, set in the late 19th century, weaves together several favorites from Jewish folklore. But you don't have to be Jewish to put your conclusions before your facts, pin all your dreams on a feather, or recognize yourself and everyone you know in the in the antics of the Wise Men of Chelm.
People of the Book (the song, the dance, and the picture) Thursday, January 28 - Saturday, January 30, 2010 OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION: January 28
This performance features new works and familiar favorites by Twin Cities artists Judith Brin Ingber and Alex Lubet, with guest artists including Stuart Pimsler, flutist Jim Miller, and Hmong spoken word group Gobrosis (Tou Saiko Lee and Malia Lee). These artists tell stories from the Jewish experience in surprising ways, with music, dance, prose and visuals. The inspiration and backdrop for Ingber’s Stepping into Heaven come from the Kadish series by artist Georgette Sosin, whose art will simultaneously be hanging in the Tychman Shapiro Gallery.
Jack and Rachelle by Buffy Sedlecek Directed by Todd Bruse Saturday, March 13 - Sunday, March 28, 2010 OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION: March 13 PAY WHAT YOU CAN: March 18, 22, and 25 Appropriate for ages 10+
Based on the memoir Jack and Rochelle, A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance In this gripping memoir play, local Holocaust survivors Jack and Rochelle Sutin share their tale of an almost impossible love affair that has lasted over sixty years, and an eloquent reminder that history is made up of the often deeply moving details of individual lives. A powerful and true story of two young Jews who escape from Nazi ghetto labor camps, join a Jewish resistance group, and eventually escape to America to build a family exemplifies the message of believing in one’s dreams, no matter how unbelievable they may seem.
Desert Dreams: Naomi & Ruth Thursday, April 29 - Sunday, May 2, 2010 - WORLD PREMIERE! OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION: April 30
This world premiere experimental staged music work, conceived and composed by St. Paul composer/ethnomusicologist Miriam Gerberg, uses musicians and singers performing cross-cultural musical forms from around the Near East as the story of this ancient parable unfolds. Moving from musical scenes that are hypnotically mesmerizing to ones reflecting deep sadness to pieces boasting glorious energy, this compelling exploration of the Biblical story of Naomi and Ruth examines ideas core to the experience of Jews in the larger world: cross-cultural friendship and devotion, grief and loyalty, journeys towards home or towards a new land, the effects of extreme nationalism and the question of destiny. Musicians joining Miriam Gerberg in this work include Nirmala Rajesekar, an internationally touring master performer and teacher of the South Indian Carnatic music tradition, and Marc Anderson, a well-known area performer of African, Irish and other percussion traditions.
CONTACT US If you have questions, comments or suggestions about Jewish Singles Collaborative or the website, please click here to contact the JSC Coordinators.