Re: Shameless Promotion: YK2! Festival in LA

[Susan Lerner <meydele...>]

YK2! The New Face of Yiddish Culture A Festival for the next 1000 years
May 5-21, 2000
Throughout Los Angeles

         Yiddishkayt Los Angeles is delighted to present the schedule for 
YK2!, a festival celebrating Yiddish's first 1,000 years and the next 
1,000!  The festival takes place throughout Los Angeles, at various venues 
and includes music, theater, children's events, seminars, and family festivals.
         YK2! explores the interplay of cultures between the 
Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews and their East European neighbors with 
concerts such as Brave Old World's Night Songs from A Neighboring Village 
program in conjunction with Paris to Kyiv,   Hot Wedding Music, a Romani 
and Klezmer collaboration, and seminars and lectures.  Other highlights 
include Brave Old World performing their own inimitable cutting edge 
repertoire, the LA premiere of a new work by John Malashock and Company and 
Karen Hartman, Blessings & Curses, incorporating spoken word and 
dance,  New Jewish Music by Davka, and Sara Felder's provocative comedy, 
Shtick!  and ending, of course, with our signature Yiddishkayt Family Festival.
         With both free and ticketed events, there is something for 
everyone - young and old, hip and traditional  at YK2!    Come join us and 
explore dos naye ponim fun der yidisher kultur (the new face of Yiddish 
culture).
         Check the Yiddishkayt LA hotline for up-to-date 
information:   323/692-8151.

Shira Lerner
Co-chair
Yiddishkayt LA
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

FRIDAY, MAY 5

Yiddish Tales,
Storytelling for Children by Susan Lerner
7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble, Encino
16461 Ventura Blvd., Encino
FREE

SATURDAY, MAY 6

Zing Along with Cindy Paley
7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble, Thousand Oaks
160 South Westlake Blvd., Thousand Oaks
FREE

SUNDAY, MAY 7
Zing Along with Cindy Paley
10:00 AM
Temple Adat Shalom, co-sponsored with Kehillath Maarav
3030 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles
FREE

The Bund, a Dominant Force in Yiddish Culture
Exhibition Opening & Presentation  by Bund Members
2:00 PM
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
6120 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles
FREE
         Members of the Yiddish Culture Club active in The Bund and 
educated in Bund schools and youth camps in Poland will speak about their 
personal experiences and the profound influence that The Bund had on 
Eastern European Jews.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 10
Yiddish Short Stories
Read by Bill Ratner, Sandy Kanan-Shipow
and Susan Lerner
7:30 PM
Barnes & Noble, Encino
16461 Ventura Blvd.

THURSDAY, MAY 11

Synergy presents
yidishe kultur leybt-der boym vakst
7:30 PM
Westside Jewish Community Center
5870 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles
Tickets: $12 Adults, $10 Senior Citizens, $5 Students
Box Office: 323/658-5824
         An eclectic ensemble presentation, conceived by the Center for 
Jewish Culture and Creativity, under the artistic direction of Vanessa 
Paloma, of contemporary classical works in Yiddish and influenced by 
Central and Eastern Europe, including works receiving their American premieres.

FRIDAY, MAY 12

Yiddishkayt Seminars:
Boris Sandler (in Yiddish with translation)
2:00 PM
Beverly Hills Public Library Auditorium
444 N. Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills
FREE
         The Russian-born editor of  the Yiddish Forward will speak about 
how Yiddish survived in the FSU (Former Soviet Union) after the infamous 
Stalinist purges of the Soviet Yiddish writers, as well as the state of 
Yiddish in Russia today.

Oyneg Shabbes "The Joy of the Sabbath"
Various Synagogues
FREE
Information: 323/692-8151

SATURDAY, MAY 13

Zing Along with Cindy Paley
7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble, Calabasas
4735 Commons Way
FREE

Yiddish Tales,
Storytelling by Susan Lerner
2:00 PM
Los Angeles Central Library, Downtown
630 West 5th Street, Los Angeles
FREE

Boris Sandler (in Yiddish)
7:30 PM
Yiddish Culture Club
8339 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles
FREE

SUNDAY, MAY 14

Yiddishland
Special Yiddishkayt Pavilion at
Israel's 52nd Independence Day Festival
10:00 AM to 6 PM
Pan Pacific Park,
East of 3rd St. and Fairfax, Los Angeles
FREE

Yiddishkayt Seminars:
Sabell Bender
Abraham Goldfaden, Master Showman
2:00 & 7:00 PM
Beverly Hills Public Library Auditorium
444 N. Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills
FREE

TUESDAY, MAY 16

Yiddishpiel:
Good Yom-Tov Yiddish
8:00 PM
University of Judaism, Gindi Auditorium
15600 Mulholland Dr., Los Angeles
Tickets: $18, $15
Box Office: 310/476-9777 Ext. 201
         A medley of monologues, dialogs and songs by a host of popular 
writers presented in Yiddish with English supertitles by the stars of 
Yiddishspiel, Israel's only professional Yiddish repertory theater.

West Coast Jewish Theater presents
Der Onshtel-Makher (The Make-Believe Maker)
7:00 PM
Wilshire Boulevard Temple
Skirball-Kenis Theater
11661 W. Olympic Blvd.
Tickets: $20
Box Office: 818/784-3957
         An original play set at an inn on the outskirts of Bilgoray, 
Poland in the year 1858.

John Malashock and Company & Karen Hartman
Blessings & Curses
LA Premiere
8:00 PM
California State University-Northridge (CSUN)
Performing Arts Center
18111 Nordhoff Street
Tickets: $30, $20, Seniors $15, Students $10
Box Office: 818/677-2488
         Combining the exceptional talents of choreographer John Malashock 
and playwright Karen Hartman, Blessings & Curses is a modern myth steeped 
in Jewish folklore.  Expressed by 2 actors and 6 dancers, Blessings & 
Curses is the story of a modern weaver looking backwards through time 
played against a backdrop of Yiddish and Sephardic folksongs, cantorial 
music, Middle Eastern rhythms and contemporary classical compositions.

Hot Wedding Music
Romani and Klezmer
8:00 PM
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Tickets: $15, $12
Box Office: Tickets LA 323/655-8587
         Explore the intersection and fusion of two lively musical 
traditions, Klezmer and Romani ("Gypsy") in this ground-breaking 
cross-cultural concert with LA's own Ellis Island Klezmer ensemble and Los 
Angeles's best Romani musicians.  Uniting the musics of two marginalized 
European peoples, the concert is a metaphor for centuries of cultural 
interaction between Jews and non-Jews.


WEDNESDAY, MAY 17

Pearl Gluck and The Divan
2:00 PM
Beverly Hills Public Library Auditorium
444 N. Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills
FREE
         Join independent filmmaker, educator and writer Pearl Gluck as she 
talks about  and shows clips from  her documentary film-in-progress, Divan 
(The Couch),  exploring her own khasidic history (she left the community at 
15) by documenting the effort to retrieve a family heirloom  a couch upon 
which generations of Hungarian khasidic leaders have slept.

Yiddishpiel
8:00 PM (see 5/16)

John Malashock and Company & Karen Hartman
Blessings & Curses
8:00 PM  (see 5/16)

West Coast Jewish Theater
7:00 PM (see 5/16)

THURSDAY, MAY 18

Yiddishkayt Seminar (in Yiddish and English)
Shmuel Atzmon from Yiddishpiel
2:00 PM
Beverly Hills Public Library Auditorium
444 N. Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills
FREE
         Shmuel Atzmon, actor and artistic director of Yiddishpiel and 
member of the newly formed Israeli government-sponsored committee 
supporting Yiddish, will speak about the fortunes of Yiddish in Israel, 
first against all odds and now with government support.

West Coast Jewish Theater
7:00 PM (see 5/16)

Brave Old World: Blood Oranges
8:00 PM
California State University-Northridge (CSUN)
Performing Arts Center
18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge
Tickets: $30, $20, Seniors $15, Students $10
Box Office: 818/677-2488
         Brave Old World creates a vibrant musical bridge between the past 
and future  bringing to life the folk music tradition of Eastern European 
Jewry and expanding its repertoire to include powerful, original 
compositions.  Truly a klezmer "supergroup", their virtuosity and passion 
highlights the cutting edge of contemporary Yiddish music.

Shtick! , Written and performed by Sara Felder - LA Premiere
8:00 PM
Kinstler-reyd/ Artist Talk following Thursday performance only
The Village @ Ed Gould Plaza
1125 McCadden Place, Los Angeles
Tickets: $18, $15
Box Office: 323/860-7300
         San Francisco's best-loved Jewish lesbian juggler presents 
mischievous gender-bending comic theatre, firmly rooted in a love of 
Yiddish and American Jewish culture.  Shtick! is a provocative comedy about 
a cross-dressing immigrant vaudevillian just off the boat from Warsaw and a 
modern performance artist in love with Yiddish.

Davka, New Jewish Music
8:00 PM
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Tickets: $15, $12, Box Office: Tickets LA 323/655-8587
         Impossible to describe in words of one syllable, think: 
"neo-Jewish-roots-fusion-Middle-Eastern-hybrid-postmodern-art-music."  A 
Passionate and witty improvisational interplay of Jewish roots and 
polycultural American experience.

FRIDAY, MAY 19

Seth Rogovoy
Rockin' the Shtetl: The Essential Klezmer
Lecture/Talk
2:00 PM
Beverly Hills Library Public Auditorium
444 N. Rexford Dr.
FREE

Zingen far Sholem
Lecture/Performance
7:30 PM
California State University-Northridge (CSUN)
Grand Salon, Student Union
18111 Nordhoff Street
Tickets: $10
         Anthropologist Martin Cohen and performers Susan Lerner, Joanna 
Cazden and Scott Wilkinson explore the rich musical tradition of the 
secular Yiddish culture and its role in shaping generations of activists.

Shtick! Written and performed by Sara Felder
8:00 PM (See 5/18)

Eleanor Reissa
Gems of Yiddish Song
8:00 PM
Valley Cities Jewish Community Center
13164 Burbank Blvd.
Tickets: $15
Box Office: 818/786-6310
         Among the most beloved and gifted interpreters of Yiddish song, 
this actress, singer, playwright, director, and choreographer and 
co-Artistic Director of NY's Folksbiene Yiddish Theater will enchant you 
with her performance of the treasures of Yiddish song.

SATURDAY, MAY 20

Picnic for Neighboring Villages
6:00 PM
John Anson Ford Theater Terrace
2580 Cahuenga Blvd.
Pre-Concert Picnic
         Bring a picnic dinner for yourself and a from your own ethnic 
background to share with others at this community picnic. Save a little 
room for some possible surprise treats to buy from the neighboring cultures.

Brave Old World and Paris to Kyiv in
Night Songs From A Neighboring Village
Traditional & New Jewish and Ukrainian Music
7:00 PM  KINSTLER-REYD (Artist Talk)
         Explore the origins of this innovative collaboration and the 
complex relations between these two neighboring cultures with members of 
both groups
8:00 PM   Concert
John Anson Ford Amphitheater
2580 Cahuenga Blvd.
Tickets: $30, $20
Box Office: 323/461-3673 323/GO1-FORD
         A haunting musical exploration of  two musical traditions  Eastern 
European Jewish and Ukrainian  which have existed side by side and 
influenced each other for centuries.  Taken from the title of a poem penned 
early in the 20th century by the Ukrainian poet Hertz Rivkin, Night Songs 
from a Neighboring Village  features two extraordinary groups known for 
their creative cross-cultural explorations:  the renowned klezmer ensemble 
Brave Old World and the Canadian-Ukrainian group from Winnipeg, Paris to Kyiv.

SUNDAY, MAY 21

Yiddishland-A Family Festival
Co-presented by Yiddishkayt Los Angeles and the Skirball
Music  Workshops  Storytelling  Food & Crafts Booths  and a Yiddish 
Birthday Party!
10:00 AM to 6 PM
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles
Tickets: $8 General, $6 Members,
$4 Students, Seniors & Children
Phone: 310/440 4666

Shtick! Written and performed by Sara Felder
3:00 PM & 7:00 PM
(See 5/18)