Winter Performance Series 2010

Tickets $15 available at Van Galen Photo in St. Marys, or reserve via email events@stmarysstorytelling.org

All performances for the 2010 season take place on a Sunday afternoon, at St. Marys United Church Hall, 85 Church St. South

Sunday, January 10th 2010 2-4pm

Robyn Israel “Jewish Girls Don’t Kayak”

What’s in a name? For Robyn Israel — it’s everything.

Jewish Girls Don’t Kayak is an intriguing look into Robyn’s personal life and how she came to have her eponymous surname. Of course with a name like Israel, there are bound to be bumps along the way! What’s it like to date outside the faith? What’s it like to be Jewish in London, Ontario? What’s it like to experience anti-Semitism? Why are Jewish girls told they cannot kayak?

Join Robyn on a personal journey, from her traditional upbringing in Montreal to her bohemian sojourn in California. Jewish Girls Don’t Kayak is a hysterical and honest look at the life of an unconventional person who embraces other cultures while still trying to maintain her Jewish identity. Playing a dozen characters, from her immigrant grandfather to her mother to her Buddhist boyfriend, Robyn weaves a touching and inspiring tale  about the power of a name  and its impact on three generations.

Though the play is about one woman’s life, it is truly a universal story that looks at the joy and pain of relationships, and how they shape us. Jewish Girls Don’t Kayak is about loving your family, leaving your family and growing into your own person, instead of the one whom others expect you to be.

Robyn Israel is an award-winning international playwright and performer from London, Ontario, Canada. Her hysterical comedy, Jewish Girls Don’t Kayak, won the 2007 Brickenden Award for Outstanding Comedy. The show debuted at the London Fringe Festival, where it wowed audiences with its mix of humour and honesty.

She remounted it in 2009 at The Arts Project in London, where she expanded it into a full-length production under the direction of Peter Busby. Robyn will be hitting the road in 2009-2010, touring Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, St. Marys, and New York City. More dates are pending!

Robyn’s background is in improvisational theatre, having studied at BATS (Bay Area Theatre Sports) and the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. She wrote and performed My Mother God Love Her, a comedic monologue, at the Marsh Theatre in San Francisco. She also participated in a Best of the Bay comedy competition at the San Jose Improv.

Robyn is an arts and entertainment journalist and teaches both journalism and improvisational theatre at The University of Western Ontario. She is a member of the Or Shalom Theatre Troupe in London. She is also on the touring panel of the Brickenden Awards. Robyn’s latest venture: joining the editorial board of The Beat, London’s arts magazine.

Robyn is currently writing a new play. Her work continues to explore the intersection of the Jewish faith with other cultures.

 

Sunday, February 14th, 2010 2-4pm

Ariel Balevi “Love in a Persian Miniature”

Celebrate Valentine’s Day in 12th century Persian style by listening to Love in a Persian Miniature, an oral storytelling performance by Ariel Balevi of Toronto, and produced by St. Marys Storytelling Inc. Love as a theme has been explored countless times by Nizami and Rumi - the great poets of classical Persian literature. Ariel will be performing selections of Rumi’s works, followed by a telling of “The Seven Beauties” (The Haft Paykar) The result will be a storied celebration of love in all its manifestations, mixed with the nuances, textures, and exotic imagery of Persian literature. 

  

Ariel Balevi is a storyteller originally from Montréal. He has been performing in Toronto since 1999 as well as at festivals in Ottawa and Washington D.C. A regular performer at events organized by the Iranian diaspora community in Toronto including the popular Persian cultural festival of Tirgan, and at events organized by the Iranian Students Union at the University of Toronto. His repertoire includes stories from the folklore and classical literatures of Iran and Turkey, from such sources as the Shahnameh, the Haft Paykar, the Masnavi of Rumi and Thousand and One Nights. Ariel has an interest in cross-cultural influences in storytelling, which has led him to explore different kinds of narratives, from his current repertoire to the European fairy tale and monastic legends of Georgia.

This performance begins at 2:00 pm on Sunday, February 14th at the St. Marys United Church Hall, 85 Church Street South, St Marys.  Special Valentine’s Lunch & Show tickets are available for $20, and includes lunch (soup/salad plus refreshment) at the new Black Angus restaurant in St. Marys. Regular tickets are $15 (recommended for ages 15+, includes themed refreshments) and both tickets can be purchased at Van Galen Photo or the Black Angus in St Marys, by calling Nancy Vermond at 519-284-2698, or can be reserved via email at events@stmarysstorytelling.org.

 

 

Sunday, March 14th 2010, 2-4pm

Sarah Granskou “Embers Remember the Spark”

“His lashes got hot, and soon his gaze went wild and caught and burned all the tunes he’d learned as a child. Embers remember the spark. Even in the dark…” (from “Playing with Fire”)

 

In old Norse, “kve” indicates both singing and telling. Through intricate poetic narrative and song, fiddle, flute and jawharp, Sarah Granskou applies her Canadian sense of innovation to  the Norwegian oral tradition. While Sarah draws on ancient art forms, her moving and humourous works belong in a contemporary niche all her own. Sarah has sampled various cultures and dialects, accompanying the Sámi reindeer migration, working on Norwegian farms, playing for weddings at a Swedish church of ice, building 8-string fiddles and living amongst Canada’s Inuit. Through combining languages, Sarah creates a comprehensible multicultural dialect.

 

Granskou’s first profound musical experience in Norway was, in fact, amongst the Sami reindeer herders of the North, where she played their wordless singing upon her fiddle. Then, with her great-grandfather’s fiddle in her backpack, Sarah traveled extensively on ski, hut-to-hut in southern Norway. Upon exposure to the music of her ancestry, she responded through what she calls a “genetic memory”. Working on farms in Norway, she learned traditional singing and to play the 8-string Hardanger fiddle, becoming involved with the people on a personal level. Sarah has since studied Norwegian and Swedish folk music independently and with the support of the Canadian Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

 

Sarah has presented a solo storytelling musical extensively throughout North America. Her evolving performances have reached hundreds of community and school audiences in 11 states and provinces. Sarah has performed original and traditional works at dozens of festivals including the Yukon International Storytelling Festival, the Edmonton Storytelling Festival, the Toronto Storytelling Festival, the Latitudes Storytelling Festival, Mill Race Folk Festival, Hillside Festival, the Jamestown Scandinavian Festival, Høstfest, the Spotlight on the Arts, Harbourfront Swedish Festival and the Trondheim Literature Festival. She was featured for the opening of the Viking exhibit at the Museum of Civilization and as an opening act for such musicians as Oliver Schroer. Sarah’s works have been released by Ensemble Polaris on the album Midnight Sun, and aired repeatedly on the CBC and on national radio and television channels in Norway.  Sarah was chosen to represent the Storytellers of Canada on a tour of schools with the 2007 Children’s Book Week and to represent the K-W Symphony in their Kinderconcert series.  In 2009, Sarah conducted dozens of school presentations sponsored by the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund.  Sarah often joins forces with versatile fiddler and vocalist, Sarah Nagell, forming the duo Sarah Longwing (a butterfly).  This exciting duo is taking flight and will be featured in Norway at the upcoming Oslo Poetry Festival.

 

 

Sunday, April 11 2010, 2-4pm