Local News
Jewish performers at upcoming Winnipeg Fringe Festival July 17-28
By BERNIE BELLAN As has been my long-time custom, I try to find Fringe shows that feature Jewish performers or playwrights – or, as is sometimes the case – plays that have a Jewish theme.
This year will see a very large number of Jewish performers, many of whom are repeat Fringe performers, but we will also have one play to be performed by one of the Fringe Festival’s most popular performers: Jem Rolls who, while he is not Jewish, has chosen for his theme this year a most unusual subject
(For information about venues and show times go to Winnipegfringe.com)
Alli Perlov: One Human Being Potentially Comedic Performance of The Nightmare Before Christmas
Alli Perlov has been a theatre kid her entire life. Her experiences include training at Manitoba Theatre for Young People, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Winnipeg, and a brief career in film and television in her teens.
For the past 13 years, Perlov has been a performing arts teacher in Winnipeg, teaching courses in musical theatre, improv and drama to students from Grades 6 to 12. In an effort to continue practicing what she teaches, Alli Perlov has mounted three one-person Fringe plays starting in 2017 and brings her fourth to this year’s festival with a new work for her most favourite film, “A One Human Being, Potentially Comedic Performance of The Nightmare Before Christmas”.
Some teachers take the summer off to recharge, while others mount a one-person Fringe festival show. In a similar approach to her 2018/2023 show, Perlov tackles her favourite film of all time in,
“A One Human Being Potentially Comedic Performance of The Nightmare Before Christmas”. Local performing arts teacher Alli Perlov aims to leave the audience in stitches as she performs dozens of creepy characters from the iconic 1993 Tim Burton stop-motion film.
In a musical parody full of charm and can-do spirit, Perlov tackles the task of making “try-hard” a compliment. Condensing the score to 50 minutes of music, and weaved with narrative, critiques and silly puns, everyone in the theatre is guaranteed a good time and a load of laughs.
Melanie Gall (3 separate shows): FORBIDDEN CABARET, STITCH IN TIME, ROCKIN’ BLUEBIRD (kids’ show)
Melanie Gall has been a Fringe favourite for years. Last year she performed in 3 separate shows – and she’s back doing 3 shows again!
FORBIDDEN CABARET
Hidden in the back alley of a Broadway theatre is the grittiest, most decadent club in New York. The year is 1934. Unlicensed musical entertainment is prohibited and the Dirty Blues are banned. But not at Club Hirondelle – and when the midnight hour strikes, the forbidden cabaret begins with some of the naughtiest songs from (almost) 100 years ago.
Featuring a dozen (real!) banned hits, including: “Boobs,” “What Can You Buy a Nudist on His Birthday?” and the Yiddish Theatre hit, “Mein Butcher.”
Melanie Gall is the award-winning performer of sellout hits Ingenue (5 STARS), American Songbook Experience (5 STARS) and Toast to Prohibition (5 STARS).
STITCH IN TIME
Excitement! Drama! Romance! And…knitting? A scintillating cabaret featuring ‘lost’ knitting songs of World War I and World War II.
Bring your knitting (or crochet) and stitch along to these funny, toe-tapping, needle-clicking tunes. Come out and have a ball! Melanie Gall presents over a dozen quirky historic songs, including “More Power to Your Knitting, Nell!” and “The Knitting Itch.”
During the wars, millions of women knit for soldiers and dozens of knitting songs appeared. After the wars, these songs were close to disappearing forever. But now, this music — a clever, sweet and entertaining footnote in history — will live again.
FIVE STARS – Glam Adelaide, Southside Advertiser
“Divine voice, highly recommended” – Fringe Review UK
“Cute, charming and funny” – Plank Magazine
ROCKIN’ BLUEBIRD (kids’ show)
Bluebird Scraps has always wanted to be a rock star. She dreams of bright lights, a cool costume, and thunderous applause. But the other birds just don’t understand! All the robins and sparrows sing together in their trees, but Scraps has a squawk that just doesn’t fit. With your help, she’ll find her voice and rock the show!
LEAPIN’ LOUIE LICHTENSTEIN
We sent an email to a Fringe performer by the name of Louie Lichtenstein, asking him if he was Jewish. The answer was yes. Here’s what Louie sent back:
Hello hard working Manitoba Jewish Media folks,
Leapin’ Louie, the most explosive Lithuanian Jewish Cowboy Comedian to ever come out of Oregon, is on his way to Winnipeg Fringe.
It’s Kids Fringe but awesome for adults too. An environmental theme no less.
Fly Through Time
with Leapin’ Louie Lichtenstein
A cowboy comedy circus show about animals who fly
Kids Fringe Manitoba Theatre For Young People
Pay what you can
Leapin’ Louie uses circus, cowboy tricks, a six-foot unicycle, and lots of comedy to explore all those wild critters, including us, who fly.
In 400 million years five amazing groups of animals developed flight: Insects, pterosaurs, birds, bats and finally humans. Only 66 years after the Wright Brothers invented the airplane, —we landed on the moon. We’re moving so fast! Can we leave enough room for our amazing wild ecosystems as we jet into the future? It’s a biodiversity science education show that’s really fun for adults and kids.
Leapin’ Louie is a master of physical comedy, trick roping, whip cracking, and juggling. He has performed one-person Leapin’ Louie shows in 35 different countries around the world, including many tours of Europe, Japan and Australia. He is considered the most explosive Lithuanian Jewish Cowboy Comedian to ever come out of Oregon, USA. This is his first time at Winnipeg Fringe.
“‘Awesome’ is a terrible word, but there’s no shame using it – in the truest sense – to describe Leapin’ Louie” Broadway Baby ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ (Edinburgh Fringe Festival)
Keir Cutler: JOAN OF ARC ASCENDING
“Joan of Arc is easily and by far the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced.” Mark Twain
A new work, created and performed by Keir Cutler. For his 17th presentation at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, Keir Cutler will perform a captivating world premiere show that invites audiences to rediscover the legendary true story of Joan of Arc. His portrayal defies contemporary doubt and invites wonder, probing Joan’s life through the lens of the miraculous.
The show also features live music by University of Manitoba musicology grad student, Manitoban Kyla Kelsey, and onstage original art work by Michael Cutler, Keir’s brother.
Montrealer Keir Cutler has been called “a masterful entertainer,” (Winnipeg Free Press) “a marvel to watch,” (Toronto Sun) and “a phenomenal performer!” (winnipegonstage.com)
Keir has a PhD in theatre from Wayne State University in Detroit, a playwriting diploma from the National Theatre School of Canada, He is the writer/performer of twelve solo works, and the author of multiple plays and books. He is a veteran of more than 100 fringe and theatre festivals.
Jem Rolls: THE KID WAS A SPY
The true story of Ted Hall.
Brooklyn, October 1944. The youngest physicist in the Manhattan project asks himself a very big question.
Will the world be safer after the war if he gives the bomb to the Russians?
And he does.
• Events take place in the world of OPPENHEIMER
• Jem Rolls has done more Fringes than anyone else on earth … [Except Alex Dallas.]
This show takes the audience from the murky world of spies to the idyll of young love. From teenage friendship to stark treason. From big decision to deep consequence. From high idealism to extreme cynicism. And from pure science to Hiroshima and the electric chair.
The show also brings in the stories of Klaus Fuchs, the greatest atomic spy; and Ethel Rosenberg, executed yet innocent.
THE KID WAS A SPY is the third in Jem Rolls’ series of shows about Jewish Nuclear Physicists no-one has ever heard of.
Which is, to put it mildly, the niche of a niche of a niche.
One only realistically enterable in the unique world of Canadian Fringe.
Which most Canadians do not realize is unique.
The first two shows in the series, THE INVENTOR OF ALL THINGS, about Leo Szilard, and THE WALK IN THE SNOW, about Lise Meitner, have each seen multiple sellouts and five star
reviews.
Randy Ross: TALES OF A RELUCTANT WORLD TRAVELER
Novelist and Fringe veteran Randy Ross provides an unflinching look at world travel and the writing life, while bringing new meaning to suffering for one’s art.
The Show: Tales of a Reluctant World Traveler is the story of how a Boston homebody turned a rotten, solo trip around the globe into a comedy novel and an acclaimed one-man play. The show is part travelogue, part performance, and part off-kilter author talk. A must-see for book lovers, writers, travelers, whiners, kvetches, and misanthropes. Please note: The show carries content warnings for gooey diseases, heartless publishers, and liquor made from cobras.
The Performer: Randy Ross is a Boston-area novelist and story-teller. He has performed at more 30 fringe festivals around the U.S., Canada, and in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2007, Ross took a four-month, solo trip around the world and learned to say in three languages: “Speak English?” “Got Pepto-Bismol?” and “Is this the evacuation helicopter?” His shows and novel were inspired by the trip.
Adam Schwartz (producer): NEUROHILARITY EXPOSED
SHOWCASING INTERSECTIONAL COMEDY AT FRINGE FEST
Neuodivergent Cast of Winnipeg Comics Includes Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+, Asian, and Other Perspectives
About Neurohilarity
Neurohilarity is a non-profit organization created to give neurodivergent artists a stage to share their stories and promote a more positive representation of neurodiversity.
It was started in 2022 by Adam Schwartz.
Award-winning comedy showcase Neurohilarity is back again at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, but this year, it’s taking its mandate of amplifying underrepresented voices one step further with an ultra-diverse cast that highlights the intersectionality of neurodivergence.
This is the third year that Autistic comedian and producer Adam Schwartz has brought Neurohilarity to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, and he’s excited to show how neurodivergent and disability-centric comedy can look so many different ways. At the crossroads of disability, race, gender, and sexuality, there is no shortage of weird things to laugh about.
The stellar lineup includes a few familiar faces from last year’s festival run—which earned the Jenny Revue Mind and Body: The Health and Wellness Award. Returning performers include Danielle Kayahara, whom the Winnipeg Free Press called “self-deprecating, sympathetic and downright adorable as she describes her compulsion to ‘overthink everything’ while pausing to second-guess her comments.”
This year’s newcomers to the Neurohilarity stage include up-and-comer Kaitlynn Brightnose (IndigE-Girl Comedy), and comedy veteran Rollin Penner (Yuk Yuk’s, CBC, Winnipeg Comedy Festival). The show will be hosted by ADHD dynamo Carole Cunningham, a regular host at Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club who is often accompanied onstage by her chihuahua, Karen.
Willow Rosenberg: A LESBIAN IN A BEAR STORE
From new playwright Willow Rosenberg, comes a deeply personal, funny, and emotional journey through her mom’s Beanie Baby collection. “A Lesbian in a Bear Store” has something for everyone. Including adorable animals, all of the gay, some of the Jewish, and a special appearance by one of the most angsty teenage poems you’
Tickets are $12 in advance, or bring your favourite plushie for discounted $10 tickets at the door.
Jay Stoller: UBUNTU
Visiting musicians from South Africa join local drumming group
Local African drummer Jay Stoller is thrilled to announce the upcoming production of Ubuntu, an interactive performance that brings to life the power of working together as a community. This exciting show is set to take place at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival from July 18 – 26.
Ubuntu will be a highly unique production at this year’s Fringe. Not only is it a collaboration of musicians from Winnipeg and South Africa, the audience will be fully participating in the show: everyone in attendance will have an African djembe drum to play along with the musicians on stage. Yes, there will be 200+ drums in the theatre!
Jay and his local drum group members are excited to welcome drummer extraordinaire Tiny Modise and vocalist Nosipho Mtotoba, both from Soweto, South Africa.
Ubuntu is a Southern African philosophy that says ‘I am because we are’. Through the interactive show, the power of drumming together will be demonstrated as Winnipeg’s Fringe community makes amazing music together.
(And yes, we asked Jay whether he’s related to any Stollers in Winnipeg, to which he replied, “Yes, we do have some family with the same last name, although probably second cousins.”)
Benji Rothman: REVIEWING THE FREE PRESS
The Winnipeg Free Press has run amok, reviewing each and every Fringe show for decades, completely unabated and without recourse. Well now, it’s their turn.
In this brand new show, Benji Rothman takes the Winnipeg Free Press to task, diving deep into their history and casting judgement on their performance as Manitoba’s leading news outlet.
Local News
Nakba exhbit at CMHR – you can see it right here and make your own assessment
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted June 26, updated July 19) The Nakba exhibit at the Canadian Exhibit for Human Rights opened to the public June 27. The morning before the exhibit was set to open to the public, (it had a private opening for invited guests the evening of June 26) we received a press release from the CMHR. That press release gave a very detailed description of what was in the exhibit, along with photos (supplied by Annie Kierans of the CMHR).
There is also a link right at the beginning of the press release that will allow you to watch the same videos that anyone attending the exhibit can watch. We reprinted what was sent to us without making one edit. We leave it to you to form your own opinion as to whether the exhibit is fair in its presentation, and whether it is lacking “context” – which is an accusation that has been levelled at the exhibit’s organizers by some representatives of Jewish organizations.
We have received many emails in reaction to the exhibit. If you have an opinion and would like to see it published on this website, you can send it to jewishp@mymts.net, but please indicate whether you would be willing to have it published on this website.
Here is what we received the morning of June 26:
Winnipeg, MB — June 26, 2026 — The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) will open a new exhibit tomorrow that explores human rights violations related to the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinian Canadians.
Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present will be on display in the Rights Today gallery on Level 5 until 2028. Featuring personal stories told through artifacts and video testimonies, the exhibit presents Palestinian Canadians reflecting on their ongoing struggle for human rights. The small exhibit reveals enduring patterns of loss and resilience, helping visitors understand more about this contemporary human rights story.
Palestinian Canadian stories are now included alongside many other stories of forced displacement and human rights violations featured in the Museum’s galleries. Each of these stories contribute to our visitors understanding of human rights and help the Museum fulfill its mandate to foster reflection and dialogue.
Exhibition highlights
Personal stories and artifacts: Experience firsthand accounts from Palestinian Canadians sharing their journeys of displacement and memory through a series of five artifacts. Cases display artifacts like property deeds, house keys, and a traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, accompanied by short videos that deepen understanding of the impacts of displacement.
Powerful artworks: In her painting Bound Together in Gaza, Malak Mattar, a Gazan artist, captures the struggles and resilience of her generation shaped by conflict. Her work pays homage to Guernica, Picasso’s powerful masterpiece depicting civilian suffering during war.
Curfews and Closures, by Rajie Cook, bears witness to life under military occupation during the 2000–2005 Palestinian uprising, when curfews and closures were expanded and further limited basic rights and freedoms.
Cultural heritage: Discover traditional Palestinian embroidery called tatreez. Tatreez motifs and colours are tied to place, family history and regional identity. Patterns are associated with particular towns, villages or areas of Palestine. In this way, tatreez is a form of storytelling: a way of preserving memory, sustaining identity and expressing resilience across displacement and exile.
Poetry and reflection: Engage with Mahmoud Darwish’s evocative verses, inspiring personal reflection on exile, voice, and responsibility. Visitors can take a card containing Darwish’s poem and add a personal note, fostering ongoing dialogue beyond the exhibit.
Contemporary context: Witness striking images of current events in Gaza and the West Bank, connecting past displacement to ongoing struggles.
Quotes:
“No force can silence the truth we carry. Growing up in Canada, my children lived the Nakba through our stories. And now we watch it happen again, live, on our phones. When I see the images coming out of Gaza, I am not watching the news. I am watching my history repeat itself.” -Fouad Sahyoun, a Palestinian Canadian featured in the exhibit
“We developed this exhibit with a clear awareness that Palestinian Canadian voices have too often been marginalized, silenced or spoken over — and that anti-Palestinian racism affects whose stories are heard and whose suffering is recognized. That is why we intentionally centred Palestinian Canadian voices throughout the exhibit.” -Isabelle Masson, Curator of Palestine Uprooted
“Human rights matter precisely when they are inconvenient, when the question of who deserves the dignity of having their rights recognized is genuinely contested. These are the moments where having a national museum for human rights is most important.
There are people who believe this exhibit should not exist in its current form. There are people who believe it should have existed sooner. There are people who will visit this exhibit and feel that it does not say enough, and others who will feel it says too much.
We have listened to every one of these voices. We have reflected. And we have renewed our resolve to continue the difficult, sometimes contested, and often controversial work of building understanding about human rights. We are a museum grounded in Canada’s human rights framework, whose mandate requires us to bear witness to the full complexity of the human story. We are proud to open this exhibit because the story it tells will help achieve that mandate, and because this story belongs in the collective memory of Canadians.”
- – Isha Khan, CEO
Local News
A photo that’s being circulated on the internet about me
For those of you not familiar with nutjob Michael Kalo – the psycho who created the notorious “$hitler’s List” years ago and the same psycho who went after Ben Carr, well – now he’s obviously taken a strong disliking to the stance I’ve taken on the Nakba exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. (You can read elsewhere on this website how I simply posted the entire exhibit as it is – and asked readers to form their own opinions.)
Kalo likes to send out emails to various individual using phony names – such as Frank Ostrowski. When people ask me (or asked Ben Carr) why we don’t take action against him, my answer is: What’s the use? He only basks in the attention.
So Michael – enjoy the attention you’re receiving. I know how much of an embarrassment you are to your wonderfully talented daughters.
Local News
Ami Hassan returning as owner of Falafel Place
By BERNIE BELLAN In a surprise move – and after more than a six-year absence as owner of Falafel Place (Corydon at Wilton) the legendary Ami Hassan has decided to return as owner of one of Winnipeg’s most famous eateries.
Long known for his sometimes irreverent attitude to his customers, e.g., “If you’re finished, get out!”, Ami decided to return to running Falafel Place after having retired years ago (or so he thought) from running the Corydon Avenue restaurant.
We asked Ami whether he’ll be sending a special invitation to Julia Roberts to come visit him at Falafel Place. He asked again: “Who’s Julia Roberts?” (Just kidding – he really does know how Julia Roberts is.) Read the story how Ami told her to leave the restaurant and come back later at Julia Roberts turned away from Falafel Place
Ami did note that when customers saw him inside the restaurant one recent day as he was getting it ready for the reopening Monday, August 10, over 20 of them came in asking him if he was open already.
We asked Ami whether the menu will be the same as it was when he last ran the place and he said everything will be the same.
Falafel Place will be open 7 days a week from 7 am – 2 pm. Remember, if you’re finished – get out!
