ALEFBET: The Alphabet of Memory
OJMCHE’s inaugural exhibit in the main gallery features a visually stunning collection of works by Russian Jewish artist Grisha Bruskin, who is featured in Russia’s pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale. Bruskin’s “The ALEFBET: the Alphabet of Memory” features large-scale tapestries draping the walls of the main gallery accompanied by the artist’s preparatory drawings and related gouache paintings, all referencing Kabbalistic and Talmudic teaching, biblical narratives and Russian folklore.
June 11-Oct. 1, 2017
Tuesday-Friday, 11 am-5 pm
Saturday-Sunday, noon-5 pm
Grand Opening: June 11, noon-4 pm. Free
IMAGE: “Shylock and Jessica” by Maurice Gottlieb (1876). A Maiden of Venice will be performed Aug. 6.
Portland Shakespeare Project and Proscenium Journal, in association with Artists Repertory Theatre, present the third annual Proscenium Live Festival of New Work. All performances are free and begin at 7:30pm on Artists Rep’s Alder Stage.
The 2017 festival will offer new plays each night featuring five outstanding playwrights. Full-length plays will be presented on Friday, Aug. 4 and Saturday, Aug. 5; three short plays commissioned by Portland Shakes and Proscenium Journal will be offered on Sunday, Aug. 6.
The Sunday performance will begin with “A Maiden of Venice,” an adaptation of Shakespeare’s most controversial play, told from the point of view of the Shylock’s daughter, Jessica.
The three-night festival features new plays written by award-winning playwrights Steve Rathje, C.S. Whitcomb, Aleks Merilo, Susan Mach and Patrick Wohlmut and are performed in a staged reading format featuring more than a dozen of Portland’s most talented actors on Artists Rep’s Alder Stage.
SCHEDULE
Aug. 4, 7:30pm: Artists Repertory Theatre’s Table|Room|Stage Oregon Play Prize Winner “Signs” by Steve Rathje; Directed by Michael Mendelson.
“Signs” is a surrealistic comedy about love, purpose and the little things that seem to matter so much to us. April reads horoscopes. Lydia writes horoscopes. April reads them devoutly, using them to guide her life choices. Lydia just makes them up, using the money she makes from them to support herself while she completes her novel. When April comes in contact with Lydia, the all-too-familiar force who has been transcribing April’s fate through her horoscopes all along, the story turns upside down.
Steve’s recent play Signs is winner of the $10,000 Oregon New Play Prize and is being developed and produced at Artists Repertory Theatre. ”Signs” was also a finalist for the National Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference.
Aug. 5, 7:30 pm: “Santos” by C.S. Whitcomb; Directed by Michael Mendelson
“Santos” is a new play set in Pasadena, California, circa 1968. Rafael Santos, in his heart, is Don Quixote, but in the real world is just trying to get cast as a bandito bit player while teaching high school drama and keeping his family together. A comedy with a side of tango.
Aug. 6, 7:30 pm: Three new plays, commissioned by Portland Shakes and Proscenium Journal.
“A Maiden of Venice” by Aleks Merilo, directed by Josh Rippy: In the walled Jewish Ghetto of Venice, a girl comes of age with only her money-lender father to guide her. When her father lashes back at men who have persecuted him, she is forced to choose between love, faith, and the debts we owe to family. An adaptation of Shakespeare’s most controversial play, it is told from the point of view of the Shylock’s daughter, Jessica.
“Coyote Play” by Susan Mach, Directed by Josh Rippy: “Coyote Play” (working title) is a contemporary re-imagining of the French-Romanian playwright Eugene Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros,” an absurdist piece which examines the normalization of Fascism.
“Patchwork Dreams” by Patrick Wohlmut, Directed by Brenda Hubbard: Penny is a Patchwork: an automated, obedient servant created from the bodies of deceased people. But when an accident results in the development of consciousness, Penny becomes something much more complex, problematic and potentially terrifying – not just to others, but to herself.
The festival is supported in part by an Ozy Genius Award, awarded to Steve Rathje by Ozy Media, and by Portland Shakespeare Project.
Portland Shakes is a nonprofit theatre company in residence at Artists Repertory Theatre dedicated to educating, enriching and entertaining audiences by producing classical works and contemporary works associated with classical material. Since its founding in 2010 by Michael Mendelson and Karen Rathje, more than 4,500 people have enjoyed the company’s productions of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, King Lear, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Twelfth Night and The Turn of the Screw, as well as a many audience enrichment and education events. More information at portlandshakes.org.
Proscenium is the first free literary journal dedicated to publishing plays. Proscenium publications are free of charge and readily accessible online, allowing playwrights to share their work with a large, web-based audience. Proscenium Journal‘s mission is to support emerging playwrights, make new plays easier to discover, and make theatre easily accessible to new and wider audiences. Proscenium Journal: Supporting playwrights. Encouraging discovery. Making theatre accessible. More information at prosceniumjournal.com.
Join Rabbi Eve at Rieke Playground for a special story hour during the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market. Fun for all ages! Co-sponsored by PJ Library.
Join the Wondering Jews community for fun time tasting the wines of Oregon. RSVP to: lwoloshin@nevehshalom.org.
Ticket Deadline for 2nd Annual Jewish Community Night @ the Hillsboro Hops has been extended through Aug. 4!
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/114071349111023
Ticket purchase link: https://groupmatics.events/event/Jewishcommunity0
Join us for Jewish Community Night brought to you by the Hillsboro Hops, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland,
and the Mittleman Jewish Community Center! See the Hillsboro Hops take on the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes!
Bring your family, friends and loved ones out to the ballpark for a night of exciting baseball action and family friendly entertainment!
When you arrive at the ballpark, be sure to check in at our welcome table located in the entry plaza.
Below is a schedule for the game on Tuesday, August 8:
- 6:00pm – Ballpark Gates Open
- 6:30pm – Welcome Table Opens
- 7:05pm – First pitch
- 7:30pm – Welcome Table Closes
Cost: $15 (plus applicable fees); Parking is $5 per car at the door (please remember to bring cash before you head to the ballpark)
Israeli Scientist Uri Shanas will speak about the organization he founded — This is My Earth.
When Uri was in Portland for a sabbatical, Oregon Jewish Life featured a story about his work. He is in Portland Aug 4-13.
“It is wonderful to come back to Portland where TiME was conceived, and show how much we accomplished since,” says Uri.
Exhibits Feb. 16- May 27
Vedem: The Underground Magazine of the Terezin Ghetto
Vedem Underground examines the literary magazine written by Jewish teens imprisoned at Terezin, a Nazi camp in Czechoslovakia during the Second World War. Using pop-art graphics, drawings and paintings, and the prose and poetry, these brave adolescents secretly wrote and illustrated the longest-running underground magazine in a Nazi camp. Vedem (Czech for “In the Lead”) documented their voices with defiance, humor and heartbreak. The exhibition breaks down their 800 original pages and reconstructs them in the form of a contemporary magazine. Curated by Rina Taraseiskey and Danny King.
To Tell The Story: The Wolloch Holocaust Haggadah
On view in the East Gallery: Commissioned by Helene and Zygfryd B. Wolloch, The Holocaust Haggadah is richly illustrated with lithographic prints by David Wander and calligraphy by Yonah Weinreb that link the story of liberation from ancient Egypt to the Holocaust.
Join us for a fun, introductory Israeli dance class. All levels are welcome. Six people needed to run class.
Register code: CG401
Register: oregonjcc.org/registration
Please join Rabbi Eve Posen for a special hour of study.
This months topic: Healthcare and Jewish Law.
Free & open to all.
Everyone loves being outside in Portland during the summer and so do we! Join our community for this new program which will take place through the summer. Check out this incredible band where Jewish spirit and soul meet with Bluegrass and Old-Time music.
All concerts will be held on our lawn. Food and drinks will be available for purchase.
Sponsored by JCC Association’s Making Music Happen Centennial Grant Initiative, funded by a grant from Marvin J. Pertzik and the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation. Additional support provided by the Holzman Foundation and the Leonard and Lois Schnitzer Charitable Supporting Foundation.