The Arts

Own Your Accomplishments; Give Yourself Credit

I’m answering emails and half watching the 2024 Emmy Awards on TV, mostly to see the fancy dresses and gorgeous humans. I gaze up from my laptop as Niecy Nash-Betts accepts her trophy for Outstanding Supporting Actress, proudly raises it to the sky, and yells “I’m a winner, baby!” Now, I am watching with my full attention. I see Niecy give a powerful, emotional acceptance speech, which includes a loud shout-out to an unusually recognized person. [Shayna Kaufmann]

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Lifestyles, Shayna Kaufmann, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Shelley Berman

He started doing stand-up comedy during the 1950s, leading to a recording contract with Verve Records. His album “Inside Shelley Berman” won the first Grammy Award for “Best Comedy Performance-Spoken” and his voice was the inspiration for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Fibber Fox. He appeared in episodes of numerous television series including Curb Your Enthusiasm in which he played Larry David’s aged father, a role for which he received an Emmy nomination in 2008. He also had many movie credits, and taught humor writing at the University of Southern California. [SDJW Staff]

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Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

‘English’ Probes Motivations and Problems of ESL Students

Set in Iran in 2008, the play follows a teacher and her students in a small school where the students are preparing for the TOEFL exam (test of English as a foreign language).  As the play progresses we learn the hopes, dreams and fears of each character as they share why they are studying English, and they try to find their voice. [Sandi Masori]

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International, Middle East, San Diego County, Sandi Masori, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Polish director Agnieszka Holland on her new film ‘Green Border’: ‘We need courageous films’

Published by Euronews (English) Over the course of five decades, acclaimed Polish director and current president of the European Film Academy Agnieszka Holland has brought to the screen humanity’s darkest sins. From the Holocaust (In Darkness and Europa Europa) to the Holodomor famine in Ukraine (Mr. Jones), her unflinching films have shed light some of

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International, Nordot, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Jascha Heifetz

At age of 7, he made his concert debut, performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in Kovno. In 1910, he entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory and studied under Leopold Auer. At the age of 12, in Berlin, he met Fritz Kreisler, who was so impressed by the boy’s playing, he reportedly commented, “We may as well break our fiddles across our knees.” [SDJW Staff]

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California, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Mandy Patinkin Headlines San Diego’s ‘JFest’ June 4

Broadway’s master songman, Mandy Patinkin, accompanied by Adam Ben-David on piano, will bring his newest theatre concert Mandy Patinkin in Concert: BEING ALIVE, to Balboa Theatre on Tuesday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m. This powerful and passionate evening of song is part of the 31st Annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival, better known as JFest, and co-produced by San Diego Theatres, the nonprofit organization that operates both Balboa Theatre and San Diego Civic Theatre. Tickets go on sale this Friday, February 2 at 10:00 a.m. via Ticketmaster. [Press Release]

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Press Release, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Our Shtetl San Diego County: Rose Schindler’s Hologram Addresses Students

In technology similar to that seen at such presidential museums as the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, the Schindler family has preserved the memory of the late Holocaust survivor Rose Schindler by creating a hologram of her that can answer questions from students or other audience members. [SDJW staff]

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Holocaust, Israel, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Shanda File, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters dropped by music publisher BMG over Israel comments

Published by Euronews (English) Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has reportedly been dropped by music rights company Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) over his inflammatory remarks about Israel, Ukraine and the United States. The news was reported by Variety, which notes that Waters’ antisemitic statements “infuriated his former bandmates, as they have driven off several suitors

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Antisemitism, International, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Super Bowl Will Include ‘Stand Up to Jewish Hate’ Commercial

The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, a nonprofit dedicated to ending hatred against Jews in the U.S., will air its first-ever Super Bowl TV commercial during the Feb. 11 telecast on CBS as the group seeks to raise awareness of the rise in antisemitic incidents following the Oct. 7 assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists. [Rick Griffin]

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Antisemitism, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

SD International Jewish Film Festival Preview: ‘Kidnapped’

The movie viscerally reenacts the wrenching of Edgardo from his home, the anguish it caused his family, and the divisions it created among Italian Jewish leaders who worried that overt protests would jeopardize their already precarious position in the Papal States. [Laurie Baron]

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Lawrence Baron, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Adam Lambert

Lambert’s big break came in 2009  when he finished as runner-up to singer Kris Allen in Season Eight of American Idol, covering such songs as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Black or White,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” “Mad World,” “If I Can’t Have You,” “One,” “Cryin’,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and “No Boundaries. [SDJW staff]

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California, International, Jewish Celebrities, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Arthur Rubinstein

In 1912, he became a regular at the musical salon of Paul and Muriel Draper, who also nourished the musical talents of Igor Stravinski, Pablo Casals and others. After World War I, his concertizing was widely acclaimed in Spain and South America. He toured the world in the interwar years, moving to the Brentwood section of Los Angeles during World War II. He was naturalized as an American citizen in 1946. [SDJW staff]

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International, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

‘It’s Only A Play’ Deals with Theatre Egos

Ever wonder how many theatre egos can fit in one Manhattan hotel room?  Well, PowPac has the answer in Terrence McNally’s very clever It’s Only a Play. The premise for this witty, fast-paced show reveals the anxiety and fragile relationships of writer, actor, producer, director, critic and wannabes as they await the New York Times review of opening night on Broadway. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast