Local News
Josh Assor, theatrical man for all seasons, adds film production to his growing resumé
By MYRON LOVE
Over the years, our Jewish community has produced quite a number of individuals who have found success in the performing arts both here at home and elsewhere. Among them is Josh Assor.
The son of Hanania and Leslie Assor has done it all when it comes to musical theatre. A performer since he was a kid, he has in recent years been living in New York City and focusing exclusively on choreography in all its facets. Now though, having been back in Winnipeg since March due to the Covid-19 situation, he has had the opportunity to gain experience in a new area of entertainment – film and television production.
Assor is currently working for Winnipeg-based Eagle Vision, one of Canada’s top film and television production companies. “We have just finished filming the fourth season of ‘Burden of Truth’, he reports. “I am also working behind the scenes on a second Eagle Vision film.”
(“Burden of Truth” is filmed in Selkirk and Winnipeg and stars Kristin Kreuk as a big-city lawyer who returns to her home town to take on a case that changes her life and career. The series deals with the prejudices that Aboriginal people face within the larger community.)
“This job came up out of the blue,” Josh says. “It was a perfect opportunity to delve into a new area of my craft. I have been with Eagle Vision for six months and am having a great time.”
Josh was attracted to theatre and acting from a very young age. He actually began with some television roles followed by stage work. Some of the shows that he appeared in at Rainbow Stage were “Peter Pan”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Deam Coat” and “The Little Mermaid”.
Along the way, the young performer began taking dancing lessons. “I started training rather later in life in dance”, he recalls. I enrolled in Ken Peter Dance Express when I was 15. Originally, I was most interested in hip hop. I then followed with tap and, a couple of years later. I began studying all forms of dance, including jazz, ballet and musical theatre. By the time I was 17, I had decided to seriously pursue a career in the theatre.”
Josh attended Gray Academy to the end of Grade 9, then moved to Grant Park High School for Grades 10-12, attracted by the school’s well-known performing arts program.
The budding performer left Winnipeg after graduation for Los Angeles where he had scored a scholarship to study at the prestigious EDGE Performing Arts Center. He then moved to Toronto –when he was 19 – to begin the next phase of his career.
“I signed with an agent in Toronto,” Josh says. “Toronto is where most of the auditions take place. I did some television but mostly worked on the stage.”
His first major role was in a production of “West Side Story” at the Stratford Festival in 2008,” he recounts.
While he may have been based in Toronto over a period of three years, Josh notes, he spent a year in Montreal and the rest of the time in touring productions, which continued after his move to New York in 2010. Among his credits was the role of Neleus in the first national tour of “Mary Poppins” (and in which he also appeared on Broadway for the first time), “The Wizard of Oz” and Disney’s first National Tour of “Newsies” (in which he was the assistant dance captain).
“After more than two years in ‘Newsies’,” Josh notes, “I was ready for a change of pace. From day one – to become a choreographer was always my goal. I am happiest when I can be at my most creative. I felt that I had had a good run as a performer. I accomplished what I had wanted. It was time to focus on my development as a choreographer.”
Back in New York, his goal was to become a member of the faculty of the world-renowned Broadway Dance Centre. He started as a substitute teacher, became a guest instructor and, for the past three years, he has been a member of the faculty, focusing on musical theatre.
“People come from all over the world to study with us,” Josh says.
In addition to his teaching, Josh has continued to work professionally as a choreographer. Choreographic credits include New York Fashion Week, Audi, Celebrity Cruise Lines, Modos Furniture as well as regional productions of Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Newsies and the world premiere of “Medicine the Musical”, which ran in New York City, off-Broadway. He was the associate choreographer for the Saturday Night Fever National Tour as well as the Canadian Premiere of “Newsies” at Drayton Entrainment.
The show that he was scheduled to choreograph, which unfortunately was cancelled due to Covid, was “The Sound Of Music”, and which was scheduled to play both the Royal MTC as well as The Citadel Theater. “We are still hopeful to bring this show to life next season,” he reports.
Josh appreciates that he has been able to realize what he is passionate about in his life’s work. He adds that he is hoping to be able to get back to New York sometime in the next few months.
“Right now, I am living day by day,” he observes, “and playing it by ear.”
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Talented Winnipeg composer Sara Kreindler teams up with her mother Reena Kreindler to create new satirical show to premiere here in May
By BERNIE BELLAN It’s been many years since I’ve heard from Sara Kreindler. Sara’s name first appeared in The Jewish Post & News in 2002 when a satirical musical titled “A Touch of Class” was reviewed by the late Arnold Ross. That particular production featured songs from popular Broadway shows that touched upon themes such as “greed, poverty, oppression, and social unrest.”
When she appeared in that show, Ross noted, Kreindler had just recently returned to Winnipeg from England, where she had obtained a doctorate in Social Psychology from Oxford University.
While at Oxford, Kreindler found time to compose a satirical musical titled “Charity,” which played to rave reviews there, and was performed five times.
Continuing in the theme of writing satirical musicals, Sara has now teamed up with her mother, Reena, to write a new musical titled “A Perfect Man,” which is set to run at the Gargoyle Theatre from May 6-17.
According to a press release we received, “A Perfect Man” is “a satirical musical, set on a fictional analogue of ‘The Bachelor’.
“The story follows an anthropologist who arrives to research TV’s hottest reality-dating show — only to discover she’s been made a contestant, and the bachelor is her high school crush. Past and present collide against an exuberant pastiche score that uses vintage musical styles to highlight modern absurdities.”
“Praised as ‘a musician [who] can make biofuels funny’ (CBC), Sara is known for whip-smart satire on a panoply of topics. Her digital musical, ‘Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System, created during her former life as an academic, has garnered over 84,000 YouTube views. Naturally, she had a field day with the subject of reality dating.
“The topic just begs for campy zaniness, which I think we all need in these times — but also for a more cerebral critique of what these shows say about the culture that spawned them,” says Kreindler. And thanks to the romance context, the satire is woven into a deeper, more personal story. “It’s satire with a heart.”
Here is some more information about Sara Kreindler, taken from a 2009 article I wrote about her:
“Born in Israel, Sara’s precocious talent was nurtured by her mother, Reena, whose own particular talent is literary, not musical. According to Reena, however, Sara was singing from the time she was a baby, and she began to study piano at the age of four.
“As a young girl, Sara began writing her own songs and poems, along with the “occasional musical”, notes Reena. Yet, Sara’s rare talent put her at odds with the typical interests of other children her own age, on top of which she attended a school to which she was exposed to a fair degree of antisemtism.
“As a result, Sara says, being bullied was a common aspect of her childhood. On one occasion, when she was nine, she notes, Sara fought back against one particular bully by reciting the following little ditty:
“I write so many epigrams to you that all the people laugh.
I’m tired of writing epigrams.
I want to write your epitaph!”
“Sara went on to compose a musical titled ‘Flutesong’ while she was a student at Vincent Massey Collegiate, she says. After doing her undergraduate work at the University of Manitoba, majoring in Psychology, Sara won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University.
“Sara eventually earned a doctorate in Social Psychology and returned to Winnipeg, where she began teaching at the University of Manitoba, but she said she didn’t enjoy the “mass production” style of teaching upwards of 300 students at a time, so she switched careers and began doing health research for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.”
All the while Sara has been continuing to compose and perform her own songs, often teaming up with her mother, as she has for “A Perfect Man.”
Showtimes and ticket information for The Perfect Man are available at:
http://www.thegargoyletheatre.com/upcoming-events/the-perfect-man
Local News
Rabbi Kliel Rose to leave Congregation Etz Chayim for new post in Ottawa
The following email from Congregation Etz Chayim Executive Director Morissa Granove was sent to members of the congregation on Friday, April 10:
“Dear Members and Friends,
“As we know, Rabbi Kliel recently spent a weekend with Kehilllat Beth Israel where he has since been offered a position. After much thought and consideration, he has made the decision to sign a contract in Ottawa. He will continue to lead our congregation through Yom Kippur.
“This news marks a significant ending for our Etz Chayim community, and at the same time with change comes opportunity. Congregation Etz Chayim will soon embark on our own Rabbinical search with excitement as we look for our perfect candidates and explore the new possibilities that will help us to continue to shape a strong future for our synagogue and members.”
Kliel Rose took up the position of rabbi at Etz Chayim in August, 2018.
In an article announcing his appointment to the position in the June 6, 2018 issue of The Jewish Post & News, Myron Love wrote:
The congregation has been without a permanent rabbi since last summer when Rabbi Larry Lander chose to retire – after ten years here – and relocate to Toronto.
Kliel Rose is already a well-seasoned rabbi. He was ordained in 2004 by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
He previously served as spiritual leader at the West End Synagogue in Nashville and Temple Enamu-El in Miami Beach. His current posting is Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton.
Following the example of his parents, Kliel Rose has been active in interfaith dialogue and human rights work for which he was honoured in 2014 with the Human Rights Hero Award by Truah: The Rabbibic Call for Human Rights.
He has also participated in the Kellogg Management Education for Jewish Leaders program at Northwestern University and was most recently chosen to be among 20 rabbis from different denominations chosen to train in the Clergy leadership Incubator – a two-year program, under the leadership of Ranni Sidney Schwarz, intended to educate younger rabbis in innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
In Edmonton, Rose also served as Jewish chaplain at the University of Alberta and took the lead on a program called “Faith and Inclusion”, whose mandate was to support individuals with cognitive and physical learning challenges to feel more welcome within various faith communities.