Tag: Community Theater

CBDB Productions, Community, Crossroads Theater Shed, Encore, Israel Musicals, Raise Your Spirits, Starcatcher, Theater And Theology, Theatre Zion, Year Review

Year in Review: 2022-2023

JET

And another year is coming to a close while another is just beginning. The Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana, is celebrated to welcome a new year for new opportunities and to reflect on our past accomplishments and mishaps. Our Jerusalem English Theater community has had theatrical productions and projects in this past year which are behind us and many more to look forward to. There were many successes and new projects being introduced. Looking forward to sharing with you the amazing year we had while bringing in the new year.

The theatrical year started in December of 2022 with Rhinoceros Productions first ever production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. What a way to start out the year with a new company showcasing its first production. Raise Your Spirits put on a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which was actually an encore of their first ever production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. And on Hanukkah Beit Hillel Theater Workshop produced Oliver!

In January Encore! Produced Hello Dolly, a classic while Israel Musicals produced The Four, an original work.

Then in February we had two straight play productions of Hard Love by Theatre Zion and My Name is Asher Lev by CBDB Productions.

In March we returned to some musicals with Starcatcher’s Into the Woods and a visit from our neighbor down south with LOGON’s Wizard of Oz.

We also saw another Young Playwrights and Performers Festival by Crossroads Theater Shed which featured 7 original youth plays including some musical numbers and improvisations.

April introduced us to a reprise of The Blessing of A Broken Heart by Theater and Theology and in June we had a reprise of The Four by Israel Musicals, an original musical Wandering Stars by Encore and a special evening of improvisation of Thursday Night Live by Crossroads Theater Shed.

Also in June an amazing project was started called Carousel – An Open Stage, where people were able to showcase their talent and original work. It was created by Rhinoceros Productions with Starcatcher in collaboration with The Incubator Theater

In August we had our usual staple of Theater in the Rough’s Shakespeare: In Motion with Julius Caesar: in Motion and introducing a Chorus into the fray. Along with Shakespeare we had many youth projects including Theater in the Rough’s Shakespeare Camp with a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Young Playwrights and Performers Summer Festival with 6 original plays and improvisations by Crossroads Theater Shed as well as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee which was produced by Encore.

Starcatcher with Incubator Theater had a special evening of concert and comedy called Make Em Laugh that was part of the Comedy Festival in Jerusalem.

And right before we enter into the new year, Rhinoceros Productions started another great project of Dramatic Readings in conjunction with Baka Community Council.

Special shout out to the JELLY theater camp and Danny Freedman’s super amazing architect final project which showcased our community and showed what kind of home space we could share. We also had our Annual JET Picnic in June which was a great chance to see all the people involved in theater and hear about what is coming up. 

On that note usually this is a time when we have auditions and people are preparing for shows. So break a leg to all those in rehearsals or preparing for an audition. Auditions for Addams Family by Starcatcher, a reading of The Chair by Theater and Theology, a production of A Night in Florence by J-Town Playhouse, Fame by Beit Hillel Theater Workshop, and Miracle on South Division Street by Theater and Theology coming soon to Jerusalem. 

Whew, what a year it has been. On to 2023-2024 Theater Season and Shana Tovah!

Families, Family, Father's Day

Fathers in Theater: The Beauty and the Beast

JET

In honor of Father’s Day, four men involved in our wonderful theater community share their experience of being a dad during rehearsals and shows. Read more to see their experience in balancing fatherhood and theater.

C.B. Davies

Being a father while doing a show was very exciting but also difficult. It was really special to have my young daughter come to rehearsals and even see some of the shows. I even used my newborn son’s cry for “The Candlesticks” sound effects. But it brings with it many challenges. Managing my time at home and keeping my relationship with my children and wife together. I usually am not home for bedtime which has been difficult for all of us and then add in all the extra rehearsal times.

When I didn’t have kids I could feel okay about not being home in order to do a show. Heck, Dena and I were both out being part of shows. Now I have to really think about if and when I would need to be home for my family.

I do enjoy performing and being part of shows but now I have to think about my kids and how that will affect the show. When I performed in “Peace Warriors” there were a few times because Dena was pregnant and my son was due during the rehearsal period that I had second thoughts about the rehearsals and the show dates. When auditions for “Into the Woods” came up Dena and I discussed if we would audition and it was decided that only one of us should because of our kids at home. 

I think managing a family with theater can be the most beautiful thing. I talk about Leia Rose being on stage before we started our run of “After Rome” and how that was so special for me. I see how our involvement in theater really has affected her development but at the same time it can get overwhelming with the time management especially since we are doing so many other things as well including our theater journeys.

Daniel Lewin

Being a father of a toddler, plus my wife being pregnant with our second child, equals a really hard time to do theatre. To explain, I had been cast in 2 musicals. First one was Oliver, and then midway I was cast in Into The Woods. This was making things really difficult with my schedule as I would come home from work, only have about an hour or 2 to spend with my wife and son, and then head straight to rehearsals. Unfortunately, as supportive as my wife was with me doing this, it was also a lot of work for her to handle. This started putting guilt on my shoulders with the fact that I wasn’t at home enough to help out. Unfortunately, as fun as it was to perform in the shows, the feeling of guilt still stuck with me.

The experience of doing theatre without having a child yet was of course easier and less pressuring. I knew after rehearsals or a show that I wouldn’t need to run back home in a hurry or feel any guilt (also because my wife and I were in 2 shows together when we got  married). 

With or without kids, I still enjoy doing shows. It is an undying love of mine. One thing that was amazing was the fact that both the shows I did recently let me bring my son to a rehearsal. The whole cast and creative team were super supportive of me bringing my son. It made those rehearsals a whole lot more fun. When I needed to rehearse something at that time, cast members would offer to watch him while I worked. Those moments will always mean so much to me. It makes me love doing shows here and being part of such a community SO much more better.

There were for sure times when I felt it was overwhelming for me. 2 shows, the guilt of not being home more often, my wife doing all of the work, really felt like it was a putting a strain. I have learned from this experience that I may need to stick with just one show from now on. I want to be fair to my wife, my kids, and myself. My wife has been an absolute superstar for putting up with it for half a year and I’ll forever appreciate her hard work, love and support. As much as I love theatre also, I will always be there for my kids, no matter what, even if that had to include departing from a show because my kids need me. But I do hope they will also love to be part of doing theatre one day like my wife and and I.

Jeff Fantl

As a father of five, participating in community theater offers its own unique challenges and rewards. On the one hand, time is definitely much more limited when you have a busy household to maintain, and participating in theater is probably one of the most time consuming hobbies there is! Thankfully, my endlessly supportive wife helps make that possible by picking up some of the slack at home when I’m tied up in rehearsals. But these challenges all become worth it when my kids come to see me doing what I love on stage, and when I hear them singing the tunes of “Into the Woods” over and over again at home for months after closing night.

Pascal Roy

I started to learn and do theater when I lived in Madrid, Spain. I used to learn, rehearse and play a lot back then, specializing in comedy and clowning. On July 4, 2003, my daughter Juliette was born. Then I started to do less and less theater, focusing on other “more terrenal” priorities. But theater was always somewhere on my mind. Now I am divorced and live in Israel while my only child lives in Spain. We will celebrate her 20th birthday together soon. I am happy to be back to theater now, especially through the English Community Theater, and my dream is that she comes to see me perform live on a future show (and not only see me on video). I think of her and always dedicate each one of my performances to her.