The children’s play Clever Rachel and a free Christmas day event are the December offerings in the new JCCNV Performing Arts Series from Fairfax, Virginia’s Jewish Community Center.
Wanting a Jewish-themed children’s play, Dan Kirsch, JCCNV’s newly appointed Cultural Arts Director, found what he was looking for with Clever Rachel, adapted by Moses Goldberg from the book by Debby Waldman. Kirsch describes the story: “Rachel is smart, maybe the smartest child in the entire village, and she loves to solve riddles. Set in Poland in the late 1800s, Rachel struggles to understand her role in society as a young woman. Jacob, the smartest boy in the boys school, shows up to challenge her. Will they fight each other and become enemies or find a way to work together to make their village a better place?” Megan Graves (Taking Steps (Constellation Theatre Company), Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers (No Rules Theatre), and Sherry Berg (Flora, the Red Menace at 1st Stage and Working at Keegan) are among the cast.
“It’s been a wonderful challenge to take all the ideas that have been expressed about Jewish and Israeli arts and culture and to shape them into a new program for the community,” Kirsch wrote. “When I started in January, I was asked to incorporate professional theatre, music and dance into our existing cultural arts programs – performances that would enhance our current offerings, like our dance academy and our Jewish book and film festivals – and make the JCCNV a destination for both our members and the general public to celebrate and appreciate Judaism’s culture, people, spirituality, wisdom, humor and creativity.”
On December 25th, all of you not otherwise occupied can raise your voices with a hearty “If I Were a Rich Man” “Sunrise, Sunset” and the rest of the beloved Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick Broadway score with the Fiddler on the Roof Sing-Along as the 1971 film starring Topol as Tevye plays on screen . Admission is free.
The series moves into new play territory in January with its own production of Can I Really Date a Guy Who Wears a Yarmulke? by Amy Holson-Schwartz.
The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia is located at 8900 Little River Turnpike, Fairfax, VA 22031. For information, call (703) 323-0880
– Tickets for Clever Rachel
– You will find the entire JCCNV season listed here.
