In the Belly of the Whale
A solo performance by Jonathan Bender
Directed by Jennifer Milligan
"In the Belly of the Whale," a solo show on Jewish identity, investigates what it means to be Jewish in America today. Written to create dialogue among Jews of all denominations (as well as non-practicing Jews) about the nature of Jewish identity, and to expose non-Jews to the diversity of the Jewish experience and identity.
Jonathan Bender performs
"In the Belly of the Whale" for four performances only in the Carsen Theatre at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut Street in Boulder. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, January 10 & 12 and 2 & 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 13. Tickets are $13 Adult\$10 Student and can be purchased by calling the box office at 303-444-7826 or online at www.thedairy.org. It will perform again at the Mizel Center in Denver on March 29 th and 30 th.
"In the Belly of the Whale" was created through interviews with prominent and diverse members of the Jewish community in the style of Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project. The interviewees are portrayed as characters and placed within a fictional setting named in one of the original interviews, inside the belly of the whale in which Jonah of the Torah and Old Testament found himself. It follows the journey of a non-practicing Jew, also a spoken word poet, who is confronted with trying to understand what it means to be Jewish, both as a religion and as a larger cultural experience The show consists entirely of true stories, either verbatim from the interviews, or from the experiences of the performer. The performance also includes dance, spoken word, and song.
The show runs approximately 1 hour. Each is followed by a discussion, led by local rabbis and prominent figures in the Jewish community, to provide a forum for the audience to process and interact with others regarding their own personal experiences and opinions.
Jonathan Bender, MS, MFA, also founder of WholeSpeak (teaching acting and public speaking in Boulder/Denver), began his theater and public speaking career in the mid-1980's, and started directing at the age of 18. After getting his BA in Dramatic Art and Anthropology from UC Berkeley in the early 1990's, he worked in the San Francisco Bay Area as a director, speech and presentation coach, and acting teacher.
He left California to attend graduate school, first earning a Master's Degree in Performance Studies and Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where he specialized in the study of everyday life as performance. Jonathan moved to Boulder, Colorado, to join the inaugural class of Naropa University's MFA program in Theater: Contemporary Performance. There he trained with such luminaries as Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project (renowned for
The Laramie Projectand I Am My Own Wife), Meredith Monk and The House, and the SITI Company, specializing in physical, ensemble-developed theater and the creation of new work.
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In the Belly of the Whale" was workshopped as his MFA thesis production at Naropa in March, 2006 and presented at a national theater conference in Chicago in August of 2006. It was also performed at a 700+ person Jewish conference in New Mexico in July of 2007. Jonathan currently resides in Boulder, Colorado.
Listing/PSA
Jonathan Bender performs
"In the Belly of the Whale"
A solo show on the Jewish identity and what it means to be Jewish in America today.
Jan 10, 12 & 13
Thur\Sat at 7:30 p.m.; Sun at 2 & 7 p.m.
A discussion follows each performance.
Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut Street in Boulder.
Tickets are $13 Adult\$10 Student
Box office at 303-444-7826 or online at
www.thedairy.org.