The COJECO BluePrint Fellowship
Theater
About Face
About Face is a surreal drama about a Soviet Jewish immigrant family in America. After years of living in fear, the Berezovsky family fled the Soviet Union to start a new life in America. Nine years later, 16-year-old Lina struggles to stake her claim on an elusive American identity, while her grandmother remains tormented by […]
Arlekino Theatre
Arlekino Theater Troupe cultivates interest for cultural arts in Russian-speaking Jewish children, while instilling an appreciation for their Jewish heritage. This project has been flourishing as part of the Generation R programming at the JCC Manhattan since 2011, nurturing children’s self-expression, inquiry, and exploration, and promotes Russian language development. The program includes dramatic play, music, dance, […]
Jane Tuv is the Director of Russian-speaking Children & Families Programs. Under her leadership, program offerings catering to Russian-speaking Jewish families and children at the JCC tripled, with participants coming from all boroughs of New York for classes, holiday events, Shabbat dinners, and performances. Through Jane's meaningful programs for the Russian-speaking Jewish community and her dedication to high-quality, progressive early childhood education, a vast number of underserved Russian-speaking families who felt disconnected from the greater American-Jewish community, have shown a significant spike in involvement in Jewish life, and have brought the traditions experienced at Generation R programs into their home.
In addition to her role at Generation R, Jane is the founding director of Arlekino Theater Troupe, a performing and fine arts program, which strives to instill an appreciation for Jewish heritage in the arts in young children whose parents emigrated from the Former Soviet Union. She has partnered with more than 20 Jewish organizations in the Tri-State Area to bring expressive arts education to the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora. An informal Jewish educator, Jane designs programs with a focus on the Reggio Emilia approach, nurturing children's curiosities, imagination, and self-expression.
This year, Jane became one of five recipients of the Jewish Education Project's Young Pioneers Award for her work at Arlekino and Generation R and was also selected as one of Jewish Week's "36 Under 36." This past February Jane also launched a progressive Russian language program for infants and toddlers in her neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, which has garnered high acclaim. Jane's teaching career spans Pushkin Academy of Russian Heritage, the Farber-Bruch Early Childhood Center at the Marks JCH of Bensonhurst, the Saul and Carole Zabar Nursery School at the JCC Manhattan, and the Parenting Program at Temple Shaaray Tefila.
Blender Bodies
Our bodies are live blenders of heritage, history, family, rituals and beliefs. Blender Bodies is a multimedia art installation that offers a different view that reflects the multicultural nature of Jewish communities around the world and exposes the common ground we all share collectively as human beings. The project is driven by an exploration of […]
Ronit Levin Delgado (born Tel-Aviv, Israel) a multi media artist and a Fulbright scholar, lives and works in NYC. Levin Delgado holds a MFA in the Studio Art at MSU, NJ (2013) and a BFA from Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem (2008). Levin Delgado has won many honors and awards bestowed on her, including the Ministry of Culture scholarship, 2011-2013 Fulbright scholarship and in 2014 she was chosen to be the recipient of the First Annual Prize for Bezalel Alumni Ambassador. Levin Delgado has had solo exhibitions and participated in numerous international group exhibitions in Israel, Europe and the US.
Central Park: An Original Musical Story
A musical, performed by talented children from the Russian Jewish community, with songs composed by BluePrint Fellow Dina Pruzhansky based on poems by masters like Samuil Marshak, Renata Mucha and others. Two performances of the Musical (one in Russian and one in English) took place on March 17, 2014 at JCC Manhattan. Both of the shows […]
Dina Pruzhansky is a Russian-Israeli pianist and composer based in New York. After winning a number of nationwide music competition in her native country Azerbaijan, she moved to Israel. Since 2006, Ms. Pruzhansky resides in New York City. An alumna from Mannes College for Music, she has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals throughout the United States, Russia, Israel, Belgium and Germany, and has shared the stage with many leading artists, including the soloists of the Metropolitan and San Francisco opera houses and the soloists of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. New York City recital venues include Merkin Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Steinway Hall, Bechstein Piano Center, Union Club, the Yamaha Piano Salon, Scandinavia House, The Ukrainian Institute, the Russian Permanent Mission to the U.N. and others.
Crossing Boundaries
“Crossing Boundaries” was an Improv Show at The Playback Theatre – a project dedicated to stories of immigration. The performance addressed issues and problems related to immigration and how people’s traditions, beliefs, and views are affected through acculturation into this country. Playback Theatre used a talented cast of actors and musicians (including our own Alex […]
Alexander Alabin was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1969. In 1984 after graduating from high school he was accepted into the State College of Medicine and graduated from there with a Physician’s Assistant Diploma in 1992. Shortly after graduation he decided to switch to music as he was already playing guitar and piano on a near professional level and composing original music. In 1992 Alex immigrated to the United States of America. The range of venues and gigs that Alex has played in ranges from The New York City Subway System (those were the days!) to Carnegie Hall, The Windows of the World Restaurant , and The German Consulate. In 1997 he was accepted into the New School University in New York City; and in 2001 he completed his BFA majoring in Jazz Composition and Arranging. Today, Alex works as a Music Therapist in a Nursing Home and Rehabilitating Center, where he combines music and medicine; as well as an original composer at the Village Playback Theater.
GOGA
Multidisciplinary performance, a play with music and live readings based on a memoir book about coming to American in 1988 as a young Soviet girl.
Jewish Fairy-tales
The project will create original theatrical performances for families with children based on famous Jewish children’s books drawing from Yiddish culture and the wealth of the Russian-Jewish literary heritage.
ALEX NOTKIN Was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Graduated from The St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy 2008. Worked in various Russian and European feature films, TV series, Commercials and theatre productions. Lived in Israel from 1990 to 2004. In 2013, in St. Petersburg, Alex directed his own theatre show ‘The Letters of Vertinsky’ in which he also starred as the lead. This production participated in various European festivals. Alex has also established himself as a well known Voice Over actor: Among his Voice Over highlights are: AVATAR (The Russian Version) in which he dubbed the lead Jake Sully played by Sam Worthington, TERMINATOR 4, SALVATION where he dubbed Christian Bale, Crab Sebastian in Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid 2 and many more. In 2014 Alex moves to New York City to pursue his acting career, he then completes an acting Conservatory Program at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and continues working as an actor, Voice Over artist and stage director. His recent U.S. projects include: Theatre: Serge in ‘Art’ which he also directed at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre NY Officer Augustus in the Off Broadway production of ‘Green Card the New Musical’ TV and Commercials Madam Secretary, Mozart in the Jungle, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, Sheepshead Bay, Ponder and Ghostek Commercials Voice Over Mercedes Benz, Metlife Stage Directing ‘Art’, ‘Defendant Maurice Chevalier’-Off Broadway, ‘Loitering’-Off Broadway Collaborated with WZO and Russian Speaking Jewish communities in New York.
Le Grand Voyage
The project will focus on the creation of a theatrical piece about immigration with a Clown troupe. Clown form is a perfect way to express complex life experiences and will become an engaging performance to adults and children alike.
Letter to God – A Staged Reading
An English language adaptation of a theater play by a Jewish-Ukrainian playwright Anatoli Krim, that will begin with a staged reading with a goal of a full staged play.
Magic Streetcar
A Children’s Immersive Theater Project Based on the poetry of R. Mykha and other Jewish authors in Russian An immersive theatrical project for kids (ages 2-5 yo) in Russian. On this interactive journey kids are able to use all their senses and get to know their favorite characters from famous children’s poems. The show premiered with four […]
Alya Adelman was born in Kharkov, Ukraine and immigrated to US in 1994. Alya was fascinated with theater since her early childhood and by the age of 14 already produced her first play for the school graduation. After moving to the United States, she worked with a talented director, Simon Rivkin, who led a Russian acting studio in Boston. In New York, she continues advancing her career at HB and Terry Schreiber studios, as well as learning modern dance techniques with legendary Mary Anthony. She currently performs as part of Lost and Found Project.
Man is Not a Rock
Man is Not a Rock is a reenactment of the first interview given in the West by Joseph Brodsky, Jewish poet and Soviet dissident, after he was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1972 for “social parasitism.” The first English translation of the interview was recently published in The Baffler magazine, which gave me permission […]
Anya Khalamayzer is a writer with a homestead in New York and roots looping the world. After graduating CUNY Bernard Baruch College in 2011, she explored a variety of topics through a journalistic lens with editorial positions covering business and the arts. She is the author of a full-length screenplay, Smoke Over Paloma, set for production in 2015. She currently works with nonprofit organizations, and strives to give as much to the world through her craft as it gifts her.
Marlo: Jewish [En]Lightning
Marlo: Book One: Jewish [En]Lightning is the second book in Chicago-headquartered Urban Pop Art Projects’ publishing imprint Urban Pop Art Books. New York artist/ videographer/ author Aleks Degtyarev expertly navigates his id to deconstruct a complicated identity: that of the post-Soviet child immigrant all grown up. Navigating questions about identity often sidelined by urges to just […]
Aleks Degtyarev could be described as a story teller. Aleks has been passionately involved in the media world for over 10 years. Among a diversified skill set his main focus has always been producing, filming and editing, combined with education. As a multi-disciplinary artist, Aleks grounds all his work from a writer’s background sealing it with his knowledge of poetry and philosophy. Working with actors/talent as a director, he is not afraid to get in front of the lens and expose his own vulnerability. Aleks believes that everyone has a great story to tell and he searches out ways to inspire his collaborators to tell their stories. His major focus is honest media that has transformative potential, seeking to strengthen communities, and evolving communication.
Me and Ethel Rosenberg
Staged reading of a one-woman show, created, written, and performed by Yelena Shmulenson. April 16, 2013 at Stage Left Studio, 214 West 30th Street
Yelena Shmulenson emigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1993 from Simferopol, Ukraine. She decided to become an actress instead of getting a real job, and now spends her life making silly faces. Her theater credits include five seasons with the Folksbiene, two seasons at the Ellis Island Theatre, “Enemies: A Love Story” in Russian, Frank (‘Klezmatics’) London’s musical of “A Night In the Old Marketplace”, and “The Essence: A Yiddish Theater Dim Sum”, which was a big hit in Sweden. On film, she was a spy in Robert DeNiro’s “The Good Shepherd”, she played Lady Capulet in “Romeo & Juliet in Yiddish”, she burned in “Fire At The Triangle” (PBS), and she fought a dybbuk in the Coen Brothers’ “A Serious Man”. She can be heard in the NPR radio drama ”The Witches of Lublin” (with Tovah Feldshuh) as Leah, the bass-playing Witch. She has also recorded several audio books, winning the Earphones Award for her recordings of “Train to Trieste” and Cynthia Ozick’s “The Shawl” and “Rosa”. Recently she has appeared on Season Three of “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO) and "Orange is the New Black" (Netflix). She is fluent in five languages.
Moscow to Manhattan
Young Russian Jews Take Over 92YTribeca! An evening of stories, humor, music, video, and a giant interactive hand. July 17, 2012 at 92Y Tribeca Dive headfirst into the raucous, unhinged, exuberant world that is your Russian-Jewish identity, or someone else’s. Chanteuse Mira Stroika and storyteller Ilya Khodosh take over 92YTribeca for one night only to […]
Mira Stroika is a multimedia performance artist and accordion playing singer-songwriter, with extensive training and experience in the performing arts. She studied classical piano since the age of 4 with a Russian-Jewish instructor, continued with performance and composition classes at Yale University and studied voice with Bel Canto master Nicola Verussi. She has had additional acting and playwriting training with Deb Margolin, an OBIE award winning Jewish playwright and has studied video art with Pia Lindman and Jennie Livingston (Paris is Burning).
As a professional performer, Mira Stroika has made headway in the Russian and Jewish music scene in New York having performed and collaborated with Frank London (Grammy award-winning bandleader of the Klezmatics), Metropolitan Klezmer, Slavic Soul Party, Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad and Romashka. Her playing and singing were also featured in an exhibit on Chagall and the Yiddish theater at the Jewish Museum. She has performed at the Oshman Family JCC in California including the grand opening and a sold-out show with an audience of nearly 400. As an indie cabaret artist, she has performed at numerous events and venues in non-Jewish/non-Russian settings and received media recognition including from the Huffington Post:
“Take two cups of Edith Piaf, one half cup Eartha Kitt, a sprinkle of Betty Boop plus a serious portion of that je ne sais quoi that enthralls audiences, and you have what I see as one of New York’s most exciting new cabaret singers: Mira Stroika.“Find more about Mira Stroika at www.mirastroika.com
Ilya Khodosh is a writer and performer in New York. He was a company member of the storytelling/spoken-word show Birthright Israel Monologues, which toured nationwide. He was published in the anthology, “What We Brought Back: Jewish Life After Birthright.” He recently served as the Associate Artistic Director of the United Solo Theater Festival, the largest solo performance festival in the world, where he also premiered his second one-person show. A graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course, he is a regular contributor to the Berkshire Review for the Arts. He is also a freelance Russian translator and has written for Radio Free Europe. At Williams College, he was awarded the Hutchinson Fellowship for outstanding work in theater. Read Ilya’s blog.
Queen Esther
Queen Esther: Children’s Purim Shpiel Opera Russian-born Soprano Nika Leoni founded of the performance company Classical Presentations, which created a number of versatile productions, including Albert Markov’s new opera for children Queen Esther, in which she also sang the title role. Queen Esther had its world premiere in New York in 2010 with encore performances in […]
The Russian-born soprano Nika Leoni has toured internationally, appearing in opera and concert at theaters throughout the United States, Germany, Austria, Italy, England, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Her performance repertoire ranges from large-scale opera roles to intimate art songs, and she also made her recent debut as a dramatic actress/singer in a Broadway-style musical play. Earlier this year, Nika Leoni’s first recorded album of Russian Romances and Traditional Songs titled “Dark Eyes” was released on Larion Records.
