Jewish Culture & History Series Resumes Feb. 7
- January 20, 2007
- MEDIA CONTACT: Diane Daniel; Publicist; College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences; (510) 885-3183
Award-winning performance artist Corey Fischer will be featured on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. in the second event of the 2006-07 Jewish Culture and History Series on the Hayward campus of California State University, East Bay, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd.
Fischer's presentation will be hosted by the university's College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences and be held in the Studio Theatre. Admission is free and a reception will follow the performance.
Fischer's show, "Sometimes We Need a Story More than Food," weaves traditional Jewish tales with autobiographical stories. In this theatre piece, the performance artist celebrates the power of the story to "evoke the invisible, transmit wisdom, and feed the soul." Fischer is co-founder of "A Traveling Jewish Theatre" in San Francisco.
"Corey Fischer is a superb actor, a performer who will hold you in the palm of his very able hands," said Rhoda Kaufman, director of the Jewish Culture and History Series and professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance. "He will touch you with his infectious warmth and riveting physical presence."
After Fischer's performance, the series will resume on Wednesday, May 2 with "The Shoah: A Survivor's Testimony," which features the memories of a Holocaust survivor. It will be presented by the Holocaust Center of Northern California's Survivors Speakers Bureau (HCNC). That program will include a brief historic overview of Hitler's rise and fall from power, 1933-1945, through slides. That presentation also is set for the Studio Theatre and admission will be free.
The Jewish series continues a tradition of presentations and performances on Jewish culture and history at Cal State East Bay. Events have been sponsored by endowments and donations, including support from Amy and Morton Friedkin, and the Frieda Ahelleas Fund.
"We are trying to show how rich and diverse Jewish cultural life is," said Kaufman. "I think a central part of the university's mission is to help us all experience and share events like these-dance and theatre performances, lectures, historical discussions, readings-that show the vitality and expressive creativity of each cultural group. This series is a chance for us to explore deep issues in an open, hospitable setting, without having to take a position for or against anything."
More information on the Jewish Culture and History Series is at http://class.csueastbay.edu/jewishculture.
Parking in lots F, G, H, and K on the east side of the Cal State East Bay campus will be available for $1.50 per vehicle. Permits can be purchased at any labeled dispenser in those lots.
"The college celebrates, in its curricular and co-curricular activities, the richness in culture and history of all the diversity that has come to define California State University, East Bay," said Alden Reimonenq, dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences. "Through the generous support and sponsorship of our donors, we are very proud to offer these events as an integral part of our students' education and as an outreach to the East Bay community."
The current format of the series began in November 2005 with a performance by internationally known solo performance artist Nina Wise, and continued in January with Robert Alter, an acclaimed scholar and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, speaking on, "The Challenge of Translating the Bible," and in May with an "Evening of Jewish/Dance Theatre."
