July 18 | 1 – 2pm | Zoom
Join us Friday, July 18 from 1-2pm to hear Lacroute Playwright-in-Residence Andrea Stolowitz speak about her latest work, Numbered Be Our Days. Our conversation will dive into the fascinating and unknown history of Jews in Ireland, tracing the tensions and stereotypes surrounding these communities today.
Stolowitz will be joined by Marcus Bale, one of the Irish and Jewish actors involved with Numbered Be Our Days, as well as Gemma Whelan, a Portland-based Irish director and founding artistic director of two Irish theater companies on the West Coast.
Zoom Information
We will send a link to the Zoom webinar hours before the event and periodically monitor any new ticket purchases leading up to the 1:00pm start time. If you have any issues, please get in touch with akurson@ojmche.org.
Panelists
Andrea Stolowitz
Andrea Stolowitz is an internationally produced playwright and librettist and a dual US/German citizen (reclaimed from her Jewish ancestry). Andrea splits her time between New York, Portland, Berlin, and Ireland. Andrea is a three-time winner of the Oregon Book Award in drama. Her plays have been developed and presented nationally and internationally at theaters such as The Long Wharf, The Old Globe, The Cherry Lane, and New York Stage and Film. The LA Times calls her work “heartbreaking” and the Orange County Register characterizes her approach as a “brave refusal to sugarcoat issues and tough decisions.” Andrea’s work aims to use storytelling as the medium for deeper social understanding.
Marcus Bale
Marcus Bale trained in Buenos Aires for 7 years in different Actors’ Studios. He studied all over the world Improvisation, Clown, Mime, Physical, Mask and Anthropological Theatre. He has performed, devised and directed in Ireland and abroad more than 70 plays ranging from Shakespeare to Clown. For 15 years he has taught in Ireland, Germany, Italy, Canada & Argentina Improvisation, Clowning, Commedia and the Techniques of Grotowski, LeCoq & Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, always focusing on physical aspects of Theatre. Since 2006 Bale divides his time between performing Shakespeare with Cyclone Rep, being a core member of Snatch Comedy Improv, doing Freelance Performance and Direction, and being a husband and father of two VERY energetic boys!
Gemma Whelan
Gemma Whelan is a director, novelist, screenwriter and educator. As an Irish immigrant to the U.S. her perspective crosses the boundaries between cultures, and as an artist she gives expression to stories that have been suppressed. She was the founding Artistic Director of Wilde Irish Productions in the San Francisco Bay Area, and of Corrib Theatre in Portland, Oregon. In Portland, she has also directed at Artists Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, Milagro, CoHo Theatre, Boom Arts, and Portland Center Stage’s JAW Festival. She has been directing, and teaching at universities and conservatories in the U.S, Ireland, and Asia for 4 decades and leads an annual Theatre Tour to Ireland. Her novels are Fiona: Stolen Child and Painting Through the Dark. She holds a BA from Trinity College, Dublin, MA from UC Berkeley, and MFA from S.F. State University.