{"id":51723,"date":"2019-11-13T11:53:31","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T17:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=51723"},"modified":"2020-01-11T21:38:54","modified_gmt":"2020-01-12T03:38:54","slug":"jewish-womens-theatre-to-perform-at-shir-chadash-tickets-on-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/jewish-womens-theatre-to-perform-at-shir-chadash-tickets-on-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish Women&#8217;s Theatre to Perform at Shir Chadash; Tickets on Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By NICHOLAS HAMBURGER,<em> Special to the CCJN<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Jewish Women\u2019s Theatre will perform <i>The Matzo Ball Diaries <\/i>tonight\u00a0at\u00a0Shir Chadash Conservative Synagogue in Metairie.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_51724\" style=\"width: 305px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Emma.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51724\" class=\"wp-image-51724 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Emma-295x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"295\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Emma-295x300.jpg 295w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Emma.jpg 400w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 295px) 100vw, 295px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 295px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 295\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51724\" class=\"wp-image-51724 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Emma-295x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"295\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Emma-295x300.jpg 295w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Emma.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 295px) 100vw, 295px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-51724\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emma Berdie Donson, an actress with the Jewish Women&#8217;s Theatre, performing part of <em>The Matzo Ball Diaries<\/em>, which arrives at Shir Chadash on Thursday, November 14 (photo courtesy Jewish Women&#8217;s Theatre)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The show begins at 7:30 PM, marking the fifth leg of the Santa Monica-based theater group\u2019s week-long \u201cSouthern Tour,\u201d which the Goldring\/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life coordinated.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2008, the Jewish Women\u2019s Theatre aims to give \u201cvoice to contemporary Jewish stories in America.\u201d The non-profit organization commissions and receives stories from Jewish writers before adapting the narratives to the stage: each performance is a compilation of short pieces centered around a common theme but authored by different writers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are the intersection between story-telling and theater,\u201d Ronda Spinak, the artistic director of the Jewish Women\u2019s Theatre, said in a phone interview with the Crescent City Jewish News last week.<\/p>\n<p>The Jewish Women\u2019s Theatre is also notable for its salon-style productions \u2014 the theater does not use sets, props, or costumes. \u201cWe don\u2019t need a theater,\u201d Spinak continued. \u201cWe can perform in a synagogue, or a home, or an art gallery. Part of what that does is laser-focus people on each story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After convening in Atlanta last weekend, the touring group inaugurated their six-state \u201cSouthern Tour\u201d with a performance last Sunday at a synagogue in Columbus, Georgia. Before appearing at Shir Chadash in Metairie, the Jewish Women\u2019s Theatre will also have made stops in Tallahassee, Pensacola, and Mobile, and they will conclude the trip with performances in Jackson and Memphis.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to the tour, the theater offered its host organizations a choice between two of its more successful shows: <i>The Art of Forgiveness\u00a0<\/i>and <i>The Matzo Ball Diaries<\/i>.\u00a0<i>The Art of Forgiveness<\/i>, Spinak said, is &#8220;slightly more serious\u201d than <i>The Matzo Ball Diaries<\/i>, which is characterized by its lightness and humor.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_51234\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Rabbi_Silver19.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51234\" class=\"wp-image-51234 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Rabbi_Silver19-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Rabbi_Silver19-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Rabbi_Silver19-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Rabbi_Silver19-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51234\" class=\"wp-image-51234 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Rabbi_Silver19-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Rabbi_Silver19-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Rabbi_Silver19-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Rabbi_Silver19-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-51234\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rabbi Deborah Silver, one of the authors of <em>The Matzo Ball Diaries<\/em> (photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to Spinak, <i>The Matzo Ball Diaries\u00a0<\/i>consists of various stories focusing on food or domestic life, including a piece on Persian-Jewish culinary culture; on kreplach, kanoogle, and kannishes; and on chinaware &#8212; the last being written by none other than Rabbi Deborah Silver, the spiritual leader of Shir Chadash.<\/p>\n<p>While the \u201cSouthern Tour\u201d is the first of its kind for the organization, the Jewish Women\u2019s Theatre has nevertheless traveled extensively in the past, taking individual shows to locations like the 92nd Street Y in New York and the Jewish Community Center in Rochester. The theater also puts on productions across Los Angeles, from South Bay to the Pacific Palisades.<\/p>\n<p>Spinak said her inspiration for founding a theater came while completing her master\u2019s thesis, which focused on Constance Lloyd, the wife of Oscar Wilde. Wilde\u2019s mother was famous for hosting literary salons in her London home \u2014 referred to as \u201cat homes\u201d \u2014 and it was at one of these gatherings that Lloyd and Wilde had met. Spinak liked the concept of an \u201cat home,\u201d and soon applied it to her nascent theater company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c I said that I would create a season of shows in homes, and I would call it \u2018At Home Salon Theater,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWe began to create a subscriber base.\u201d Though the initial company quickly disbanded, the Jewish Women\u2019s Theatre continues to operate with the same model, adapting its performances to a variety of spaces. \u201cWe performed in a thrift store in Los Angeles last June,\u201d Spinak notes.<\/p>\n<p>One feature of the theater that hasn\u2019t endured is the exclusive use of stories written by women. \u201cNow it\u2019s mixed,\u201d Spinak said. \u201cIn fact, sometimes we have more male voices than female in a show.\u201d In order to reflect this shift, the theater company intends to change its name to a \u201cmore inclusive\u201d moniker in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets to tonight\u2019s event are available through Shir Chadash, which can be reached via telephone at 504-889-1144. For more information, the synagogue can also be contacted by email at <a href=\"mailto:shirchadash@shirchadash.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shirchadash@shirchadash.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Jewish%20Women%27s%20Theatre%20to%20Perform%20at%20Shir%20Chadash%3B%20Tickets%20on%20Sale\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":51724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7122],"tags":[8790,8795,10304,10302,8788,8952,10305,10303],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51723"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52874,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51723\/revisions\/52874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}