8 - The Jewish Tribune - March 11, 2010
ca
THEATRE > PROFILE > CAMPUS
Versatile Jewish actress focuses on Morro and Jasp series, Hanna’s Suitcase
Mike Cohen tre learned about her life after a
Quebec Bureau Chief girl’s suitcase was sent to her in
2000. Her search ended in
MONTREAL – When Amy Lee Toronto when she found George
was growing up in Winnipeg and Brady, Hanna’s brother.
attending Hebrew school, she Hanna’s Suitcase will be
dreamed of a career on stage showing at the LKTYP April 18 to
and perhaps even a role that May 21, with Lee playing the
could define her commitment to lead role of Hanna.
Judaism. “To be able to tell her story is
Last fall she learned that the such an honour,” said Lee, who
Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for is in Montreal this week for pre-
Young People (LKTYP) was sentations of another show
mounting a new production of called Morro and Jasp do
Hanna’s Suitcase, the com- Puberty. “I always knew of this
pelling true story of a Czech girl play and thought it was beauti-
– Hanna Brady – who died in ful. A friend of mine played
the Holocaust and how the cura- George in the last tour, so when
tor of a Japanese Holocaust cen- he told me they were casting
*.1 0 35" /5 /05*$&  "7 *4 *.1 0 35" /5
The Government of Canada
has Funds Available for
Projects to Commemorate
the M.S. St. Louis Incident
In 2008, the Government of Canada launched
the Community Historical Recognition
Program (CHRP). Under the CHRP, funding is
available for commemorative and educational
projects that provide recognition of the
M.S. St. Louis incident of 1939 which affected
the Jewish-Canadian community in the context
of the restrictive immigration policies of the
day, and that promote the Jewish-Canadian
community’s contributions to building
Canada. Eligible Canadian organizations with
a mandate relevant to, or a demonstrated
partnership or link with the Jewish-Canadian
community can apply for funding.
For more information on how to apply,
please contact the CHRP at 1-888-77MULTI
(1-888-776-8584) (toll-free) or by e-mail at
CHRP-PRHC@cic.gc.ca.
Program guidelines and application
forms can also be downloaded
from the CHRP’s website:
www.cic.gc.ca/proposals
again I took a direct approach. Truth According to Morro and
Since I do not have an agent I Jasp, The Bully Show: Clown in
wrote a letter to the producers the Round and Morro and Jasp
and told them how this role was Go Green).
very close to my heart. It Other selected performance
worked.” credits include November, Pride
Lee, now 26, left her native and Prejudice, The Soldier
Winnipeg nine years ago to Dreams, Our Lady of 121st
attend York University in Toron- Street, Balm in Gilead, Sav-
to. She graduated with an Hon- age/Love, I Will Not Hatch!, The
ours BA in Psychology and The- Way and Vacancy.
atre, specializing in devised the- Morro and Jasp is a project
atre. Since that time she has Lee began while still in universi-
been busy collaborating with Up ty. She plays 12-year-old Jasp,
Your Nose and In Your Toes and Heather Marie Annis plays
(UNIT) Productions on what has her on-stage sister Morro.
amounted to a Morro and Jasp “It started off as a 10-minute
series (The Funtastical Friend- piece,” she said. “We basically
ship of Morro and Jasp, The did one a year and it grew in
Le gouvernement du Canada
offre du financement pour des
projets commémoratifs en lien
avec l’incident du M.S. St. Louis
En 2008, le gouvernement du Canada a lancé le
Programme de reconnaissance historique pour
les communautés (PRHC). Dans le cadre du
PRHC, un financement est offert pour des projets
communautaires commémoratifs et éducatifs
visant à reconnaître l’incident du M.S. St. Louis
de 1939, qui a touché la communauté juive
du Canada et qui découle des politiques
d’immigration restrictives de l’époque, et à faire
la promotion des contributions de la communauté
judéo-canadienne à l’édification du Canada. Les
organismes canadiens qui disposent d’un mandat
pertinent ou qui entretiennent un partenariat
ou un lien manifeste avec la communauté judéo-
canadienne peuvent présenter une demande
de financement.
Pour de plus amples renseignements sur la façon
de présenter une demande, veuillez communiquer
avec un représentant du PRHC, par téléphone,
au 1-888-77MULTI (1-888-776-8584) (sans frais),
ou par courriel, à PRHC-CHRP@cic.gc.ca.
Vous pouvez également télécharger les directives
du programme et les formulaires de demande
sur le site Web du PRHC :
www.cic.gc.ca/propositions
popularity and length. Morro
and Jasp do Puberty is
described as providing 60 min-
utes of laughter, longing, tears
and tampons. It is not recom-
mended for children, a depar-
ture from earlier shows which
were popular with school audi-
ences.
Lee said it offers “a hilarious
look back at the best period of
your life, exploring the bumpy
road to adulthood with all of its
romanticized dreams and harsh
realities.”
The show will be at Montreal’s
Le Nouveau Theatre Ste. Cather-
ine (264 Ste. Catherine E.)
through March 14, moving to
www.jewishtribune.
Actress Amy Lee keeping busy
the Theatre Passe Muraille
Backspace (16 Ryerson Ave.) in
Toronto from March 16 to 20.
Lee will then have a few weeks
to prepare for Hanna’s
Suitcase.
“I am very moved by the Holo-
caust,” she said. “I went to Yad
Vashem at the age of 10 when
my family and I visited Israel. I
will never forget going through
the Children’s Memorial. I
returned to Israel two years ago
on a Birthright Israel experience
and I visited the memorial
again.”
In Hanna’s Suitcase, Lee’s
character ranges in age from 10
to 13.
“In the first act, the scenes
take place in Tokyo and I am
shown on stage playing hop-
scotch and at school. I do not
actually speak,” she said. “The
second act shows Hanna in
Czechoslovakia with her family.
She starts off living a normal life
and slowly things start to deteri-
orate.”
For ticket information on the
Montreal and Toronto shows of
Morro and Jasp go to www.mor-
roandjast.com. For Hanna’s
Suitcase go to www.lktyp.ca.
Jewish, Muslim
students fight
distrust, tension
with program
that brings them
together
LONDON, ON – In the midst of
Israeli Apartheid Week across
Canadian campuses, 75 Jewish
and Muslim students at the Uni-
versity of Western Ontario came
together last Wednesday to build
a relationship on the foundation
of charity.
The students participated in an
event where they made more
than 250 sandwiches that were
distributed at a local Out of the
Cold program.
During the past year many of
these same students have been
volunteering together on a week-
ly basis to help serve the under-
privileged community in Lon-
don.
“It’s a way for us to bring our
own communities together, but
also brings the students closer to
the London community,” said
Marty Rotenberg, who co-found-
ed the program a year ago.
They call their group the
‘Tzedekah/Sadaqah Project,’
which translates into ‘works of
charity’ in Hebrew and Arabic
respectively. The title defines the
similarities between the two, but
also acknowledges that differ-
ences do exist and are also dis-
cussed.