A must see this week for Yiddish Theater enthusiasts

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

Hope you all go.  

Please send this notice around as soon as you can.


Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky

***Note my new permanent e-mail address as of 4/22/01 is: 
   Yiddish (at) waletzky(dot)com

-------------------------------------------------------------------
From:  zmlotek [SMTP:zmlotek (at) compuserve(dot)com]
Sent:  Wednesday, April 18, 2001 7:30 AM
To: Waletzky, Kalifowicz, Reyzl....
Subject:  A must see this week for Yiddish Theater enthusiasts

Last nite, I saw Naava Paatkas powerful, beautiful, intelligently 
written, tribute to her mother, Chayele Rosental, once called the 
'Vunderkind of the Vilno Ghetto Theater".

To me this is one of the new directions of Yiddish theater, although 
all in English, with the occasional Yiddish song, and Yiddish 
expression, her mother spoke to her in Yiddish, of course.

If you can find a way to catch it this week, that's when it's playing, 
I urge you to do so.

The theater on 24th St., between Park and Lexington, is also a 
fascinating example of what a small theater company can 'put together'..


(Gary Bernstein and Ms Stryker originally produced Ghetto Tango at 
their theater several years ago.)

Zalmen

--------------- Forwarded Message ---------------

From:   INTERNET:GBernst685 (at) aol(dot)com
To:     ...
Date:   Wed Apr 18, 2001, 1:09 AM
RE:     Yiddish delight at Blue Heron

 
Please forward to anyone you know or post on bulletin boards.  
For those of you who were at the debut-thanks for your support!

NAAVA'S SUCCESSFUL NY DEBUT IN "BETTER DON'T TALK-"
ONE WEEK ONLY AT BLUE HERON 

Limited engagement in New York at Blue Heron Arts Center from April 17-22.

Half price Gala tickets (Sat April 21) by mentioning this email! 
Limited quantity-order now

For gala tickets and group sales, contact Carol Baack at 212-979-5000

Thank you.  Gary Bernstein, Executive Director


BLUE HERON SPECIAL EVENT - HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION 2001

BETTER DON'T TALK
A daughter discovers her mother's hidden past

An uplifting musical tribute to comedienne Chayela Rosenthal, 
"Wunderkind of the Vilna Ghetto Theatre" 

One week only at Blue Heron Arts Center
during Holocaust Memorial week - April 17-22

 
> "BETTER DON'T TALK!"
>  A Daughter Discovers Her Mother's Past.
> Written and Performed by Naava Piatka
>
> Boston based actress/playwright Naava Piatka had just emigrated
to the USA and was eight months pregnant with her first child when
she received the shocking news from her native South Africa.  Her
mother, the beloved Yiddish comedienne Chayela Rosenthal, had died
unexpectedly just weeks after playing Golde to rave reviews in
"Fiddler on the Roof" at the state theatre in Cape Town.  She had
kept her cancer a secret from her oldest daughter, just as she had
never shared her own past as a Holocaust survivor and "Wunderkind 
of the Vilna Ghetto Theatre."
>
> "The irony is, I'm now compelled to talk about my mother's past
precisely because she didn't," says Naava who is the writer and
performer of her internationally acclaimed one-woman show:
BETTER DON'T TALK!- A Daughter Discovers her Mother's Hidden Past,
which had successful premieres in Australia, South Africa and
Germany and now will have its New York premiere at the
Blue Heron Arts Center, 123 East 24th Street during Holocaust
Memorial week, April 17-22.
>
> Naava has been performing for enthusiastic audiences in Canada and
around the United States for the past two years. The title of the
show comes from the well known Yiddish song 'Yisrolik', written
by her lyricist uncle Leyb Rosenthal in the Vilna Ghetto. The song
is about a spunky Jewish orphan, a street urchin ghetto kid who
says: "Why dwell on all your pain and sorrows?

> Better don't talk!"  

"My mother, as a child star in the ghetto,
used to sing her brother's songs. Now, in my show, I sing the songs
I never heard her sing. Now I tell the stories she never told me.
Now I discover the mother I never knew, through the very medium of
theatre she so loved.  I felt particularly victorious performing and
singing these songs in a recent show in Berlin. I couldn't help but
think:  'See? You didn't kill us all.  We are still here!"
>
> Naava explains how she began this journey of discovering her
remarkable heritage.  "I believe I was driven by family ghosts to
create this work and tell their stories. Maybe they couldn't bear
the silence any longer, especially in the face of modern deniers of
the Holocaust." Naava recalls the story about the time she was
working with her father on a book on his own Holocaust experiences.
"One night, during a dream, I hear my mother's voice saying:
'What's this? You're busy with a book about your father's life?
What about me? I was the star. Better write a musical,-songs reach
the emotions-about me and my brother Layb and put in some jokes.
> People like to laugh. So nu?  What are you waiting for?'  Well, the
book was shelved and Chayela won. She's still a Jewish mother, after
all, and it's a joy after all these years to honor her!" quips Naava.
>
> As if on an archaelogical dig, Naava sifted through old documents,
papers, books and possessions stored and forgotten in the family
basement. Old recordings of her mother and a special book of her
uncle's songs magically surfaced. She contacted various people who
remembered Chayela from her young days in Vilna, adding to her
father's anecdotes. "'Who didn't know Chayela Rosenthal?' people
from Vilna whom I talked to on the phone would say to me.
> Well-I didn't. And she was my own mother", reflects Naava.
>
> After years of researching and rewriting, Naava won a playwriting
grant for her full-length musical, which ultimately led to the
creation and staging of her own one-woman show: BETTER DON'T TALK!
described by critics as a "moving experience" and a "performance
not to be missed."  This theatrical journey in which Naava plays
both herself and her mother, blends captivating personal narrative
with humor and song, marked by Naava's inimitable capturing of her
> mother's larger than life Yiddish soul.
>
> Says Naava, "I see it as my way of transcending the devastation of
the Holocaust, by using the very art form that gave my mother
sustenance, i.e. theater, to pay tribute to the essential Jewish
spirit of survival.  In telling my mother's story and my own, I
want to honor the continuity even as I convey the sense of immense
loss.  From a second generation's point of view, my way of making
sense not only of my life, but my mother's, was to break the silence
and give voice to the past in this recreation of her story.
>  I came to realize that it was one of laughter over tears, songs over
sorrow, and fortitude in the face of loss and destruction.
>
> It's really a universal mother-daughter story about reconnection
and reconciliation. Actually it's more.  It's about the sense that
the dead are still with us. It's about reclaiming one's heritage.
>
> It's about the past as a present for the future."



APRIL 17-22 
Tuesday-Saturday/8 PM; Wednesday & Saturday/2 PM; Sunday/3 PM  
Tickets $20/Students $15
MC/VISA/AMEX

Yom Hashoa Donor's Gala on April 21st/Tickets $50  

(212) 332-0027
 Group discounts and student rates available  
 
 For school and group sales, call (212) 979-5000 x17. 

Blue Heron Arts Center, 123 East 24 Street, New York City


P.S. Teens 13-18 year old can get two $5 tickets for themselves and 
a guest to see this show through the Hive 5 Ticket Program.  Go to 
http://www.high5tix.com/index.html for info and instruction.




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