Postponed: Games I Don’t Want to Play: A Performance Piece

***This event has been postponed, we will update the event date once it has been rescheduled.***

The Museum of Jewish Montreal is thrilled to present the first event of our 2020 Microgrants Program – “Games I Don’t Want to Play” by Joseph Glaser and Michelle Soicher!

“Games I Don’t Want to Play” is an immersive performance piece about Our Lives, Anxieties, and Experiences as Contemporary Jews, the Game!™. This show makes real how we are required to fragment our own identity to fit into the myriad experiences of our lives. We constantly have That Voice that asks: Which Jew should I be in this situation? How much of my everyday life can I show to my friends, family, synagogue group, or strangers on the street. How does one inhabit these spaces that require, so often, to deny aspects of ourselves in order to be accepted? Now, That Voice is the referee in a cage match between us and our anxiety.

We’ll be playing two games:

Round 1: “Am I Getting Clocked?” The Hand Game!

~ a song and dance intermission! ~

Round 2: The Coping Olympics

Games have set rules and goals and they have set consequences. Our games are unfair, there’s no way to win them, you just kind of do them. Like the glass at our weddings, these games are broken, mournful, and joyous, and hey, TRADITION!

NO AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION REQUIRED

Come see us play as hard as we can for as long as we can.

WHEN: Thursday, March 19 from 7pm to 9pm, PWYC
WHERE: Museum of Jewish Montreal, 4040 blvd. St-Laurent

Artist Biographies:
Described as “a voice to watch out for” by CBC’s Bill Richardson, Joseph Glaser’s music creates space for performers and audiences alike to have out-of-the-ordinary experiences. Having had many years of training as a dancer, Joseph looks at composition with a choreographic eye leading to pieces that are as much about physical movement as they are about sound. Joseph holds degrees from McGill University and the University of British Columbia. Notable performances include premieres by the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble, Caution Tape Sound Collective, the Gryphon Trio, the Amici Chamber Ensemble and a one-act opera with FAWN Chamber Creative.

Michelle Soicher, originally from Toronto, moved to Montreal to explore all aspects of theatre making at Concordia University and since graduating she has been fortunate to collaborate with both established and emerging artists. Michelle is an alumni of the Black Theatre Workshop Artist Mentorship program and The Segal Centre’s Jewish Artist Mentorship program. Being queer and Jewish, Michelle has a unique perspective of being an invisible minority and aims to create space for stories that have been pushed to the margins. Her creative practice is rooted in Jewish traditions of debate. Currently focusing on directing and dramaturgy, Michelle believes that theatre should be theatrical and saturated with play, imagination and a little discomfort. She is excited by pulling audiences from a passive to an active state. She recently directed Teesri Duniya’s production of Birthmark alongside Liz Valdez and a staged reading of Quiet for Black Theatre Workshop’s Discovery Series.

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This microgrant program for creative or cultural exploration is a new collaboration between the Museum of Jewish Montreal and Moishe House Montreal, providing seed funding to help young adults bring their innovative project ideas to life. By offering this funding, we hope to give applicants the chance to pursue their interests and realize their ideas while encouraging intellectual curiosity and community building. These microgrants have been made possible through the generous support of the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation

Initial project support for Games I Don’t Want to Play was provided by the The Segal Centre for Performing Arts‘s Jewish Artist Mentorship Program.