WHERE AND WHEN:
June 19-23, 2019 at 9:00 PM
Lea Kalisch in "In Love with a Dream"
The Playroom Theater, 151 W 46th St 8th Floor, New York, NY 10036
Presented by New Yiddish Rep, www.newyiddishrep.org
$25, buy tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4254946, 800-838-3006.
Running time :65. Critics are invited to all performances.
Photos are available at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2aSPkMiyJiUBchXs7

NEW YORK, May 19 -- New Yiddish Rep will present Lea Kalisch (www.leakalisch.com) in the premiere of her new solo show, "In Love with a Dream," June 19 to 23 at 9:00 PM at The Playroom Theater, 151 W 46th Street (8th Floor). Kalisch is a dynamic, sexy, multidisciplinary performer originally from Zurich, Switzerland. Her piece is an autobiography in song, rap and comedy: a high-energy reflection on her clash of expectations and real-life experiences. George Xenos directs.

Ms. Kalisch, a high-energy brunette twenty-something, recounts, from the perspective of "a new artist with an old soul," her ripening in the five years since she left Switzerland in 2014, assuring her mother she would soon be a Broadway star. There is a memorable comedic sung reflection on love and orthodoxy, in which she appears clad in a velvety doublet and shtreimal (a fur hat worn by many married Haredi Jewish men) and explores the creative repercussions of romance with the religious.

The piece is performed in English, but it is sprinkled with Spanish, Yiddish and German (Kalisch speaks seven languages). She sings, dances and raps and even takes a turn at the piano, where she croons a comedic song over a Bach piece. Her musical compositions are dramatic, theatrical and story-driven. She characterizes their musical genre as "blues-pop with a touch of Jewish." She views herself as a collage artist who is "Jewish with all my heart and Latin with my hips." In New Yiddish Rep's "Motzei Shabbes Kabaret" April 13, she workshopped a comedic piece with hand puppets about the marriage of a young orthodox couple.

"In Love with a Dream," was initially created for a private event in Boston. New Yiddish Rep presented a well-received workshop of the piece May 11 at its Cyrus and Rose Feldman Studio Theater, 315 W. 39 Street, 9th floor. Ms. Kalisch has hitherto appeared in New Yiddish Rep's productions of "Awake and Sing" and "God of Vengeance," which were both acted in Yiddish. At HERE, she co-created and performed "Between the Threads (Jewish Women Project)." For Folksbiene, she appeared in a staged reading of "Fernvald." She is lead singer of a folk rock band, Revival, which performs music set to Jewish and biblical texts. In Switzerland, she was a professional ice skater for ten years, always enjoying gala-shows much more than competitions.

On May 25, she will appear in Theater for the New City's Lower East Side Festival of the Arts. On June 8, she will "Rumpelstiltskin" in German and English at Galli Theater in TriBeCa. She will give concerts with Jewish/Yiddish folksongs, some Jewish Broadway and some original songs on October 27 in Zurich at ICZ (Israeli Culture Community Zürich) and November 17-25 at Gasteig, Munich as part of Jewish Culture Days.

"In Love with a Dream" is conceived, written and performed by Lea Kalisch. Music producer is Enat Ventura. Developmental consultation is by David Mandelbaum, Amy Coleman and George Xenos.

New Yiddish Rep (www.newyiddishrep.org) is a developer of a wide array of Yiddish theater-related artistic activities. It offers modern treatments of the Yiddish classics and Yiddish interpretations of modern and post modern masterpieces in intimate venues and with easily readable supertitles. Its productions since its founding in 2008 include Yiddish renditions of "Rhinoceros," "God of Vengeance," "Awake and Sing," "Death of a Salesman" and "Waiting for Godot" as well as an abundance of plays originating in Yiddish. Led by David Mandelbaum and Amy Coleman, its aim is to carry the classical into the present, to develop new Yiddish-inspired works, and to investigate modern approaches to the vast Yiddish theater lexicon.

COINCIDING EVENT AT PLAYROOM THEATER
At 7:00 PM June 19-23, preceding this 9:00 PM cabaret show, New Yiddish Rep will also present the world premiere of "The Crazy Meshuge Hurricane Earthquake" by Amy Coleman, directed by David Mandelbaum. This six-character play is the story of an unlikely connection that develops between a middle aged non-religious Jewish woman and a young Hasidic man struggling with schizophrenia. A recently retired music teacher, seeking meaning in her life, answers an ad on Craigslist for a job as a live-in caretaker for a schizophrenic young man from the strictly Orthodox community. Because of the stigma of mental illness, he has been abandoned by his family and is drifting in and out of hospitals. As his caretaker, the woman attempts to give him the support he needs, but discovers that her agenda may have more to do with her own needs than his. The play offers important lessons on love and trust. Info: www.jsnyc.com/season/crazymeshuge.htm.

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Reviewers are invited to all performances.
Photos are available at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2aSPkMiyJiUBchXs7