If Cows Could Fly (2008)
Produced by
Playwright: Allan Merovitz
Director: Ronald Weihs
Venue
Harbourfront Centre – Studio Theatre
Run
August 31st, 2008 – September 1st, 2008
Synopsis
This show had several production runs and this edition was presented as part of the Ashkenaz Festival at Habourfront Centre. Co-presented with Artword Theatre, sponsored by the Sam Zane Endowment Fund.
If Cows Could Fly is an autobiographical musical play about growing up Jewish in the Ottawa Valley. Written and performed by Dora award-winning actor, singer and klezmer musician Allan Merovitz, the play travels from villages in Poland and Bessarabia, to Antwerp, London, and on to the new worlds of Nova Scotia, Montreal, and finally Smiths Falls. Merovitz reconstructs the fragmented memories of his family in the Diaspora, and intersperses them with a wide range of musical styles — Yiddish songs, country-and-western ballads, as well as klezmer and Ottawa Valley fiddle tunes — in order to present the 20th century Jewish experience in Europe and Canada. Running through all the stories is the indomitable spirit to survive, persist, and transcend. An impossible dream is said to come true only “if cows could fly”. Impossible? Maybe not! (harbourfrontcentre.com)
Cast
| Allan Merovitz | Performer |
Creative Team
| Allan Merovitz | Playwright |
| Ronald Weihs | Director |
| Judith Sandiford | Designer |
Music
| Frank Rackow | Clarinet / Saxophone |
| Henri Oppenheim | Violin |
| Ronald Weihs | Violin |
Production
| Barry Karp | Producer |
