THE SEGAL CENTRE
FOR PERFORMING ARTS
in partnership with the City of Montreal
IS PROUD TO PRESENT
THE MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL YIDDISH THEATRE FESTIVAL
DER LUFTEATER - LE THÉÂTRE EN L'AIR
The vocation of the LufTeater is the promotion of Jewish culture, and more specifically, of Yiddish. To this end, we have diversified our activities not only to produce theatre and musical creations but also to mount festivals and to teach Yiddish in weekly courses as well as to develop Yiddish university summer programmes.
The Lufteater of Strasbourg, France produced its first play in 1992 (The Megilla by Itzik Manger) and by 1997 had received sufficient municipal and regional support to be able to put on more ambitious works by Sholem Aleichem, Singer and Gebirtig.
In the last few years, we have toured to many festivals, including Munich, Toronto, Berlin, Israel, New York, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, The Dead Sea and now to Montreal.
Rafaël Goldwaser,
Artistic Director
ABOUT RAFAËL GOLDWASER
Rafaël was born in Argentina, the son of a Yiddish actor. Language is not an obstacle for him, because, in addition to Yiddish, he speaks all the languages of the countries which he has crossed: Spanish, Hebrew, English and French.
He received a diploma in theatre and history in Tel Aviv, and a master's degree in history and a DEA in theatre in Paris. He was trained by Jacques Lecoq in mime, theatre and movement and did extensive training in story-telling, mime, acrobatics and Japanese theatre.
For close to 20 years he performed in most theatres in Israel and in 1981 received an award for Best Israeli actor at the Festival of St. Jean d'Acre. During that period , he directed a dozen plays. He now performs in both Yiddish and non-Yiddish theatre and teaches students and professional actors.
Rafael continues his dual role at this Festival by giving a workshop on Yiddish Language and Body Language, June 23 at 12:30 PM and by performing, S'Brent.
A film about Goldwaser, entitled, Der Luftmentsch (The Dreamer) will also be shown at the Festival on Friday, the 19th at 4:30 PM.
| S'BRENT, IT'S BURNING | Monday June 22, 2 PM and 8 PM |
based on 3 Sholem Aleichem Stories
It's Burning is a one man show where the audience is introduced to three classic characters to the traditional shtetl (town) of Jewish imagination. It is filled with Sholem Aleichem's humour and warmth. 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of Sholem Aleichem's birth.
The show's three characters are a poor woman whose neighbour's milk boils over onto her chicken soup, a petty insurance swindler dreaming of becoming a prominent citizen and a story-telling philosopher who tells about a miser tricked into making a donation for the underprivileged. In a comical and theatrical way, all are in desperate situations, trying to survive, just like the Jewish people and its culture.