"A Production." It's a loaded term that can apply to many events and situations in life. For example, a bar-mitzvah or a wedding can be considered a special event "production." When your car breaks down and you're late to an important meeting and you have to walk halfway there, it could be considered a crisis "production" (or a “balagan,” if you're Israeli) as you must be resourceful and think of a creative way to reach your destination. But when it comes to The Stage, a "production" means either a small scale or large scale performing arts event (which also requires special events planning skills, and being resourceful and creative, btw).
Pulling off a successful production is no easy feat. The Stage's production department held a meeting on Sat. Feb. 7th after Shabbat (yes, we work on weekends out of love!) to discuss how to revise the department's mission statement and goals, how to most effectively write a "How to Produce" manual, and how to revise our current production submission form on our website.
This was a rather large task at hand, so of course, drinks, cookies, and hummus flowed as our creative juices got pumping! Only one thing's for certain that all the department members agreed upon: There is no "one way" or "right way" to produce. Different considerations must be made for a community free-to-the-public event like our two events coming up next week - A Discussion on the Representation of the Israeli Sodier in Israeli Film - or- The Stage's monthly a Story Slam Series - and a large-scale full-blown performance like our musical revue, "Miscast!" back in December.
Leading the meeting were department Co-Heads Moran Broza and Ossie Kishlanski, as well as Jessica Fass, who stepped down from her previous post as Co-Head to focus on being Head of Recruitment.
All 3 talented ladies have produced large-scale productions for The Stage in the past. Moran and Jessica co-produced The Stage's inaugural production of "The Vagina Monologues" and Ossie served as assistant director of the "One Act Play Festival" in the summer and as the producer of "Miscast Musical" which she will be producing again in the upcoming revival of "Miscast!" (Auditions for the revival will be held on Feb 26th). Moran will co-produce the upcoming "Bachelors and Bachelorettes" with fellow Board member Daliah Dombrowski. All of the fine folks who have been selected to be on
the decision-making panel of the production department come from diverse cultural backgrounds and previous performing or visual arts experience.
We couldn't be fortunate enough to have found this passionate, ambitious, hardworking, wacky bunch of people in central Tel Aviv who all have a love of the arts in common and the desire to put on quality productions - however small-scale or
large-scale they may be! We may not always agree on the best way to "produce" - (Elahn may want to put a certain filter on the video he's filming of a show; Amber may want everyone to arrive early to the theater while Tomer might think that arriving on time is good enough; Neil might have a lightning design idea that conflicts with Paul's sound design cues) - but one thing is certain: There are no small productions, only producers who aren't thinking BIG ENOUGH!
The production department consists of a diverse group of native Israelis and international Olim with varying levels of performing arts experience. If you'd like to get more involved with one of the departments within The Stage, contact thestagetlv@gmail.com and address your inquires to Jessica. You can also fill out this nifty volunteer form we created.
The Production Department:
Moran Broza - Co-Head
Ossie Kishlanski - Co-Head
Jessica Fass - Head of Recruitment
Paul Berkowitz - Sound Designer
Neil Goldstein - Lighting Designer
Amber Gitter - Stage Manager/Production Supervisor/Director of The Stage's upcoming "Hauptmann"
Alisa Itskova - Assistant Producer of "Miscast" and other upcoming productions
Daiana Rapoport - Assistant Producer of "Miscast" and upcoming productions
Tomer Shechori - Director of "Creatures" in the One Act Play Festival & Actor
Elahn Zetlin - Videographer and YouTube SEO expert/online marketing consultant
Rachel Kosberg - New member; formerly worked at the Karov fringe theater of Tel Aviv
Written by: Jessica Fass