LIFEBOAT
A True Story of Two Teenagers Who Did Not Give Up
A co-production with Northwest Children’s Theater
WHO: Co-produced by Corrib Theatre & Northwest Children’s Theater
WHAT: Lifeboat
By Nicola McCartney
Directed by Avital Shira
WHEN: January 12 – February 4, 2018
Opening Night/Press Night: Friday, January 12
Regular Run: Thursdays-Saturdays@ 7:30pm; Sundays @ 2pm
WHERE: Northwest Children’s Theater, 1819 NW Everett St., Portland
TICKETS: $25 regular price; $20 student/group; $15/youth under 18
Brown Paper Tickets: 800-838-3006 or https://corriblifeboat.brownpapertickets.com/
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sunday, Jan 14: Post-show Talkback, guest TBD
Sunday, Jan 21: Post-show Talkback, guest TBD
Sunday, Jan 28: Post-show Talkback with Charlotte Headrick (Dramaturg)
PRODUCTION PHOTOS AVAILABLE: Jan 12, 2018
SHOW IMAGE ATTACHED: Sketch by Jan Baross
PORTLAND, OREGON – December 21, 2017. With a bracing true story of determination and hope, Corrib Theatre and Northwest Children’s Theater present Nicola McCartney’s Lifeboat. Directed by Avital Shira and starring Kayla Lian and Britt Harris, this riveting play by an award-winning Irish playwright runs for four weeks, Jan. 12 through Feb. 4, at Northwest Children’s Theater.
Lifeboat is the extraordinary true story of Bess Walder and Beth Cummings. Set during World War II, it is a story of courage, a story of survival and a story of enduring friendship.
On Friday the thirteenth of September 1940, a ship, The City of Benares, set sail from Liverpool bound for Canada. On board were 90 child evacuees escaping the relentless bombing and dangers of war torn Britain. Four days into the crossing, the ship was torpedoed and sank. Only 11 children aboard survived. Of those few, two young girls, Bess Walder (15) and Beth Cummings (14), clung to life as they spent 19 terrifying hours in the water on an upturned lifeboat. With the hopes and dreams upon which they’d set sail, they buoyed one another’s spirits with stories of home, family and adventure. Bess and Beth inspired each other to survive. Lifeboat tells their story.
“At its core, Lifeboat is a play about resilience,” said play Director Avital Shira, daughter of Portland Rabbis Laurie Rutenberg and Gary Schoenberg. “These two young women defy the odds through connection, story and the will to save the other to ultimately survive longer than humans should be able in the middle of the Atlantic. The world is dark at the moment, and it’s especially important now to harness the power of human resilience and remind ourselves that if we find our common humanity, we have the ability to keep each other afloat.”
“Lifeboat packs a wallop because it is fundamentally about life, death and the human spirit. Oh, and it’s a highly entertaining history lesson too: informing the young and reminding the old.”
Theatre Review, New Zealand
RESEARCH
This is a true story centered around two teenage girls during the evacuation of British children during World War II. Know as “Operation Pied Piper,” the British evacuation of children began on Friday, September 1, 1939. The ship the young girls in this story were sailing on was the City of Benares. It was carrying 191 passengers (90 of them children) and 216 shipmates, 407 souls all told — 260 perished (79 children) and 147 survived (11 children). Details about this ship and its demise are here.
Learn to play this ancient game. It will give your mind a workout!
Register: oregonjcc.org/registration
Registration Code: CG200
Take your game to the next level. It will give your mind a workout!
Register: oregonjcc.org/registration
Registration code: CG201
Learn the art of Jewish storytelling with professional storyteller Brian Rohr. In this nine class course, Brian will teach the art and skill of performative storytelling, exploring the ancient stories, personal narrative and techniques on how to discover your own unique storytelling voice. Tuition for the three month course is: $150 CNS members / $200 Non-members.
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.
Watch a live stream of New York Times bestselling author Nicole Krauss in conversation about her newest novel, Forest Dark, at the Jewish Theological Society. In Forest Dark, Krauss entwines disparate narratives chronicling two characters who find themselves at a crossroads in life. Retired New York attorney Jules and Brooklyn writer Nicole each take an unexpected journey, seeking answers in the Israeli desert and coming to terms with the legacy of the ancient land and the modern nation forged from it.
Sponsored by the CNS Sisterhood and the Feldstein Library.
For more info, contact Kaiya Goldhammer, Librarian of the Feldstein Library at Neveh Shalom: kgoldhammer@nevehshalom.org.
This is child’s play-and more-for adults interested in exploring ways to cultivate creativity, broaden their perspective, foster mental flexibility, and reduce stress. Each session offers tools based on a variety of sources from Einstein to Abraham Joshua Heschel, including current research in neuroplasticity. No particular talent needed. Just bring yourself and prepare to stretch your brain.
CNS members $36 for all sessions, non-members, $54 for all sessions
To reserve your spot, please RSVP by 1/12/18 to Marina Vidrio, mvidrio@nevehshalom.org.
Join us for a fun, introductory Israeli dance class. All levels are welcome. Six people needed to run class.
Register: oregonjcc.org/registration
Registeration code: CG202
Please join Congregation Shaarie Torah for a special Shabbat morning service. At this service, we will include new melodies, explore the service with some reflections on the prayers themselves, and chant according to the Triennial cycle of Torah readings. It will be a mix of the beautiful and familiar traditional Shabbat morning service and new ideas and energy. This service meets in the Chapel downstairs on the third Saturday of the month.