Tag Archives: Avi Hoffman

Avi Hoffman’s YIDDISH FUN01: Academics, Kvetchers, and Laugh Lovers Unite – Yiddish is Back in Session!

18 Thursday Sep 2025

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Academics, Kvetchers, and Laugh-Lovers Unite
Yiddish Is Back In Session!

Avi Hoffman to lead a joyful fun-filled lecture series on the culture, history, and poetry of Yiddish:
Avi Hoffman’s Yiddish Fun01

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

September 18, 2025

DELRAY BEACH, FL — Feeling farklempt about the state of modern language? Longing for a class that is equal parts brainy, bouncy, and a bisl nostalgic? Look no further—Movies of Delray is proud to announce the return of Avi Hoffman’s Yiddish Fun01, a hands-on participatory 3-week series using the original curricula crafted by Columbia University Professor Miriam Hoffman, while her son, the renowned actor and Professor of freylakh, Avi Hoffman, will lead the learning—and the kvelling.

Rooted in the rich academic tradition of Yiddish studies, this course isn’t just about language; it’s about culture, history, music, poetry, and chutzpah. NO prior knowledge of Yiddish required—just an open mind and a curiosity for the mishigas that makes Yiddish tick.

Yiddish may be an ancient language, but around here, it’s always in session—and always a little bit funny. Mazel tov to that!

Participants will:

  • Engage with the same material taught at Columbia University (minus the tuition bill)

  • Experience music, poetry, comedy, art, and plenty of “oy vey” moments

  • Walk away with new words, lots of laughs, and an appreciation of how Yiddish shaped mainstream culture

Whether you are a curious academic or just curious about what your grandparents were muttering when they didn’t want you to understand, this course promises knowledge, nostalgia, and nakhes in equal measure. As one student raved, “Not only is it fun, but the inclusion of history and culture provides a richness that is astounding.” Others just call it “the highlight of my week.”

For more information Avi Hoffman’s Yiddish Fun01, to speak with Avi Hoffman, or to arrange to attend a session, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

In the attached photo:  Avi & Miriam Hoffman
Photo credit:  Unknown

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Avi Hoffman’s Yiddish Fun01
Based upon material by Miriam Hoffman
Led by Avi Hoffman
Tuesdays: October 21, October 28, November 4
12 – 1 pm
Tickets: $18 per class / $48 for the series
For reservations:  561-638-0020
All classes will be held at
The Movies of Delray
7421 West Atlantic Avenue
Delray Beach, FL 

Avi & Miriam Hoffman

Watch a testimonial video:

Celebrating Jewish Pride – A Free Reading of A PEOPLE by L M Feldman at Island City Stage on August 25th

28 Monday Jul 2025

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Celebrating Jewish Pride

Love Jewish to present a Free Staged Reading of
A People
by L M Feldman
Directed by Avi Hoffman
August 25th at Island City Stage
Love Jewish is dedicated to give a voice to contemporary Jewish LGBTQ+
artists and content creators.

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com /561-445-9244

July 28, 2025

WILTON MANORS, FL:  In celebration of Jewish Pride, Love Jewish, a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative, will present a staged reading of playwright L M Feldman’s theatrical mosaic A People as their inaugural season presentation. The performance will take place on August 25th at 7 pm at Island City Stage. 

Directed by Avi Hoffman and featuring South Florida favorites Ana Marie Calise, Eytan Deray, Lela Elam, Rayner Gabriel, Avi Hoffman, Autumn Kioti-Horn, Laura Turnbull, and others, A People will take audiences on a magical lyrical journey into heritage, tradition, religion, and humanity. 

Feldman holds up a mirror to 5000 years of Jewish identity and history, reminding us that we are all descendants from somewhere, and we can choose to deny our lineage, wrestle with it, or embrace it. Sometimes hilarious and sometimes terrifyingly honest, A People’s ensemble will take on a mass of old and new-world personalities to create snippets of life the way we see it, the way we want it, and the way it is.  

Utilizing the performing arts, media, publishing, education, language, and literature, the mission of Love Jewish is to Advocate for Jewish Pride, Build Cultural Bridges and Challenge Antisemitism Through the Arts by promoting Jewish history and life, and their far-reaching impact on the contemporary world. Based in Miami-Dade County, in proud partnership with the University of Miami and Florida Atlantic University, YI Love Jewish builds engagement and forges multicultural and diverse connections through an immersive and varied range of programming for audiences worldwide.

Tickets for A People are free, with a suggested donation of $10, and are now available.  They can be purchased online at www.YILoveJewish.org/events. Island City Stage is located at 2304 North Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors (33305). 

For more information about A People, Love Jewish, and Yiddishkayt Initiative please visit https://yilovejewish.org.  To arrange interviews, photos, or requests to see the performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244. 

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A People
By L M Feldman
Monday, August 25th at 7 pm
Tickets: FREE ($10 Suggested Donation)
To reserve:  https://yilovejewish.org/events
The performance will take place at
Island City Stage
2304 North Dixie Highway
Wilton Manors, FL  33305

L M Feldman is a queer, feminist playwright (and circus artist) who pens plays that are wildly theatrical but deeply intimate. Formally ambitious plays that move and take up space. Plays that are questioning, wrestling, and asking. Plays without answers. Plays about women and queers, plays about outsiders and searchers. Plays grappling with voice and agency, opportunity and access, history and its wake. Plays about the human connection. Plays that seek to be a greater, communal, rare theatrical event in which something transcendent transpires – for those both onstage & off.

Her plays include Thrive, or What You Will (Page 73 Residency, New Georges Audrey Residency); Another Kind Of Silence (Magic Theatre Virgin Play Festival, PlayPenn Conference, Playwrights Realm Fellowship, FEWW Prize Honorable Mention); Amanuensis (Georgetown University); A People (Orbiter 3, Jewish Plays Project); The Egg-Layers (Jane Chambers Honorable Mention, New Georges/Barnard College commission); Grace, or The Art of Climbing (Denver Center, Art House Productions, Nice People Theatre, ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award Nomination, Barrymore Nomination); ensemble-devised works, including Gumshoe (New Paradise Labs + Free Library of Philadelphia + Rosenbach Museum), War of the Worlds: Philadelphia (Swim Pony + Drexel University), And If You Lose Your Way, Or A Food Odyssey (The Invisible Dog, New York Innovative Theatre Award Nomination), and others; and a baker’s dozen of short plays. She has been nominated for the Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, Wendy Wasserstein Prize, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. She was awarded an artist grant through the Boomerang Fund and a creation grant from the State of Vermont, and she has been an artist-in-residence at Terra Firma, SPACE at Ryder Farm, the School of Making Thinking, Tofte Lake Center, Montana Artists Refuge, Montana Repertory Theatre, Sewanee University of the South, Cornell University, and Theater Emory/Brave New Works Festival. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, L is also a New Georges Affiliated Artist, a devised-work collaborator, a teacher of playwriting (Bryn Mawr College, Lantern Theatre/Jefferson Medical School, PlayPenn), and a freelance dramaturg.

(Click on each image to enlarge it, then right click on the enlarged image and ‘save image as’ or ‘copy image’)

L M Feldman
Avi Hoffman

Love Jewish to Present Avi Hoffman in CELEBRATING ‘YOSL’: REMEMBERING JOE PAPP! at the Triad Theater June 22nd

05 Thursday Jun 2025

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Love Jewish proudly presents Avi Hoffman in
Celebrating ‘Yosl’: Remembering Joe Papp  
A live and streaming concert event featuring Celebrity Video Testimonials

Theater icon Joseph Papp, aka Yosl Papirofsky, creator of the New York Shakespeare Festival & Public Theater, to be remembered and honored in a live and streaming concert celebrating his 104th birthday at the Triad Theatre on June 22, 2025, at 1 pm (EST).

“The single most creative and controversial figure in American theater”
– Newsweek

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

June 5, 2025
New York, NY – Joseph Papp (1921-1991), born ‘Yosl Papirofsky’, revolutionized modern theater as we know it. This theatrical icon – winner of 28 Tony Awards – will be the subject of a memorial concert on what would have been his 104th birthday on June 22 at 1 pm. This tribute will be presented by Love Jewish (a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative) at the Triad Theatre, 158 W. 72nd St., New York, NY 10023.

The concert event will also feature pre-recorded celebrity testimonials from Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody, F. Murray Abraham, Blythe Danner, John Lithgow, Estelle Parsons, and many others.

Joe Papp’s vision led him in 1957 to establish the “Shakespeare in the Park” free theatrical productions. Ten years later, he founded The Public Theater in the building that had formerly housed the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a haven for newly arrived refugees fleeing persecution. The building was saved from demolition through Mr. Papp’s efforts after a long negotiation with the City of New York. It became the permanent home of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theatre (The Public) and is currently designated as a New York City Historical Landmark.

Hair, A Chorus Line, and Runaways, are among the most famous shows to evolve from his ‘workshops’, along with over 700 other shows Papp nurtured and/or produced. Modern blockbusters like Hamilton were also developed at The Public.  He championed the cause of multi-ethnic casting and socially relevant topics and was a social activist who also helped develop other off-Broadway experimental theaters. He worked to preserve the historic Broadway Theatre District and was considered one of the most philanthropic providers of inner-city access to the arts, believing that “if public libraries were free, public theatre should be free as well.”

Celebrating Yosl is a tribute that features YI Founder and CEO, Drama Desk Award nominee (Death of a Salesman) and world-renowned actor and Jewish cultural activist Avi Hoffman, who Joe Papp mentored in the 1980s with the creation of the Joseph Papp Yiddish Theatre.

Avi Hoffman was recently awarded Congressional recognition, invited to the Vatican to meet the late Pope Francis, and was inducted into the Bronx Jewish Hall of Fame for his lifetime dedication to advancing Jewish culture, Yiddishkayt, and Holocaust Awareness. He is best known for his Too Jewish Trilogy: Award-winning, one-man shows Too Jewish, Too Jewish, Too! (PBS, Performer of the Year ’95 – NY Press Magazine; L.A. OVATION award – Best Actor In a Musical 2001; NY Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle award nominations) and Still Jewish After All These Years. On TV, he was featured as Sid Raskin in the Starz TV series Magic City, as well as on Netflix’s Bloodline, A&E’s The Glades, and on the NBC series Law and Order. He has recently starred in several indie films: You Will Not Play Wagner and the International Award-winning short Yiddish Films: Shehita (Best Thriller – HollyShorts Festival), Boxed, and the motion picture – The Imported Bridegroom. Avi has performed all over the world, has numerous acting and directing credits, and has received many awards and nominations.

In the photos below:          
Joseph Papp  
Avi Hoffman   
Photo credits:  Unknown
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What: CELEBRATING ‘YOSL’: Remembering Joe Papp!
Where: Triad Theatre, 158 W. 72nd St., New York, NY 10023
When: Sunday, June 22nd at 1:00 pm EST
Click: General Admission Tickets: $36
Click: 20 VIP/Reserved Seating and Private Post-Show meal with Avi: $90
Click: Balcony Student Tickets: $18 (with any valid student ID)
Click: Streaming Tickets: $18/$36
To sponsor this event, please contact Ana Marie Calise anac@whyilovejewish.org
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YI Love Jewish is a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative (YI), a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization that builds Jewish engagement and forges multi-cultural connections through an immersive and varied range of programming for audiences around the globe. YI offers a global clearinghouse of Jewish culture and entertainment staffed by experts in subject matter and production. The organization works with a wide range of organizations, including the University of Miami’s Sue and Leonard Miller Center and the George Feldenkreis Program in Contemporary Judaic Studies. YI partners with local Jewish Federations, JCCs, synagogues, Hadassah chapters, Hillel chapters, men’s groups, women’s guilds, special interest clubs, youth groups, summer camp programs and educational institutions worldwide.

Joe Papp
Avi Hoffman

THE RIGHTEOUS a New Play by Jeff Cohen at Miami New Drama April 22nd Only

14 Monday Apr 2025

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Yiddishkayt Initiative and The University of Miami Center for Jewish Studies
in Association with Miami New Drama and Second Serve Productions
to present a staged reading of
The Righteous
A new play by Jeff Cohen

In a World filled with turmoil and amorality, what does it mean to be Righteous?

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

April 14, 2025

MIAMI BEACH, FL:  In honor of Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day – Yiddishkayt Initiative (YI Love Jewish) and The University of Miami Miller Center for Judaic Studies in association with Miami New Drama and Second Serve Productions will present a staged reading of Drama Desk Award-winner Jeff Cohen’s (The Soap Myth) new play The Righteous.  The event will take place at Miami New Drama (at The Colony Theatre) on April 22nd at 7:30 pm.

What would you do if you learned that your country planned to exterminate an entire race of people? That is the horrible question faced by Eduard Schulte, a captain of German industry and member of Hitler’s inner circle.  The Righteous is the true story of the man who sounded the alarm of Hitler’s plan to murder all the Jews in Europe.  Schulte’s warning reached the desk of President Roosevelt in December 1942.  Roosevelt refused to act.

Schulte’s identity was a closely guarded secret for over forty years and his heroic act to stop the Holocaust was kept hidden from his family and from the world. The Righteous tells his story through the lens of Priscilla Schulte, the American granddaughter who never knew him. She uncovers a compelling and poignant portrait of a man who risked his life and the lives of his family to stand up against evil.  In 1988, Eduard Schulte was posthumously honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations – a Righteous Gentile.

The Righteous will be directed by the playwright Jeff Cohen, and feature Tony Award nominee Craig Bierko (The Music Man) and two-time Drama Desk Award nominee Avi Hoffman (Death of a Salesman), along with an award-winning cast of some of South Florida’s most talented actors, including Laura Turnbull, Patti Gardner, Irene Adjan, Peter Galman, Chiz Chisholm, Stephen Schnetzer, and Dave Corey. 

The Righteous will be staged for one night only at Miami New Drama (The Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, FL 33139).  Admission to the reading is FREE, however reservations are required, and can be made online at https://yilovejewish.org/events.

For more information about The Righteous, to arrange for interviews, for photos, and/or to arrange to see the performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244. 
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The Righteous
By Jeff Cohen
Tuesday, April 22 at 7:30 pm
Admission:  FREE (Reservations required)
For reservations:  https://yilovejewish.org/events
Or call 954-678-1496
The performance will take place at
Miami New Drama/Colony Theatre
1040 Lincoln Road,
Miami Beach, FL  33139
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Jeff Cohen (Playwright). Jeff Cohen’s drama The Soap Myth is considered one of the most important plays about antisemitism and Holocaust denial.  Ed Asner toured the country in The Soap Myth as a “concert reading” and the play was filmed and broadcast by PBS starring Mr. Asner and Tovah Feldshuh.  Other notable actors who have performed The Soap Myth include Richard Dreyfuss, Bob Gunton, John Rubinstein, Harris Yulin, and Jayne Atkinson.  His play The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller was a NY Times and Time Out New York Critic’s Pick. He received international acclaim and a special 2002 Drama Desk Award for his response to the attacks of 9/11. The Tribeca Playhouse Stage Door Canteen, his 10-week USO-style variety show to “entertain the troops” (the rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero) featured such stars as Kristen Chenoweth, Phylicia Rashad, Sandy Duncan, Colin Quinn and many more. He produced and directed a number of award-winning new plays including Christopher Shinn’s Four (NY Times Critic’s Pick)and Tristine Skyler’s The Moonlight Room (NY Times annual Ten Best productions).  The NY Times Arts & Leisure profiled him alongside internationally acclaimed avant-garde artists Ivo Van Hove and The Wooster Group for his groundbreaking work adapting classic plays to an American milieu. In his five-decades in the theater, Mr. Cohen has helped launch the careers of Laura Linney, Kathryn Hahn, Christopher Shinn, Michael Ealy and DB Sweeney – to name just a few.

(Click on each photo to expand, identify and/or download)

jeff Cohen
Craig Bierko
Avi Hoffman
Irene Adjan
Chiz Chisholm
Dave Corey
Peter W. Galman
Patti Gardner
Stephen Schnetzer
Laura Turnbull

LoveJewish.Org presents GATE B23: CARRY-ON BAGGAGE January 15th at 1 pm

06 Monday Jan 2025

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LoveJewish.Org presents
a FREE READING of
Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage
at the Sherman Library, Nova Southeastern University
January 15th at 1:00pm

A poignant and hilarious journey of stranded travelers comes to
Nova Southeastern University

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

January 6, 2025

DAVIE, FL: LoveJewish.org in association with NSU Florida’s Alvin Sherman Library and the University of Miami Sue and Leonard Miller Center will present a FREE reading of award-winning playwright Debbie Slevin’s critically acclaimed play Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage. The reading will take place at 1:00 pm on January 15thin the Sherman Library.

This ‘dramedy’, directed by Avi Hoffman, is a witty and compelling exploration of human connection amid uproarious chaos. It follows a diverse cast of travelers, each wrestling with personal challenges, as they are stranded at Gate B23 at Palm Beach International Airport whilst enduring an increasingly prolonged flight delay.  The play promises to deliver a unique theatrical experience that blends humor, tension, and profound human insights.

The reading of Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage will feature some of South Florida’s most prominent actors, including Brandon Campbell, Rayner Gabriel, Harriet Oser, Emma Garcia Seeger, Devra Seidel, Barbara Sloan, and Troy Stanley. Dave Corey will take on the role of the progressively disturbed Gate Attendant.

Debbie Slevin, an award-winning essayist and author is a writer, producer/director, and teacher. She conceived and co-produced The Apron Strings Project in Riverhead, NY, produced and directed The Last Five Years at Guild Hall in East Hampton, and the first NYC revival of Songs for a New World. Her play Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage was a best-selling selection of NYC International Fringe Festival and Manhattan Repertory Theater’s Winterfest. Now a well-read blogger for Huffpo50, Debbie’s writing has also appeared in Essence Magazine, Woman’s World, and Reform Judaism. She was also a staff writer for the Jewish Standard.

Tickets for Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage are FREE. Reservations can be made online at www.YILoveJewish.org/Events or at The Alvin Sherman Library at Nova Southeastern University, located at 3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd, Davie, FL 33314.

For more information about Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage, to speak with anyone involved in the reading, or to arrange to see the performance, please contact Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

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Gate B23: Carry-On Baggage
By Debbie Slevin
January 15, 2025 at 1:00 pm
Tickets: FREE
For tickets: www.YILoveJewish.org/Events
The reading will take place in
The Alvin Sherman Library at
Nova Southeastern University
3100 Ray Ferrero Jr. Blvd. Davie, FL 33314

Debbie Slevin

YI Love JewishTo Host SUNDAY SCHMOOZE SERIES at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts

26 Thursday Sep 2024

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YILove Jewish
To Host a
Sunday Schmooze Series
at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts
Beginning in October

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

September 26, 2024

CORAL SPRINGS, FL:  YILove Jewish (a division of the Yiddishkayt Initiative) will host a Sunday Schmooze series beginning October 13th at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts.  Each event will begin with coffee, bagels, and ‘schmoozing’ (‘talking with someone in a friendly and engaging way!’), followed by lively, educational, and entertaining programming.

 YI Love Jewish, founded by actor/producer/Jewish cultural activist Avi Hoffman and his mother, Miriam Hoffman, world-renowned scholar and professor of Yiddish language at Columbia University, is not-for-profit organization that celebrates and promotes Jewish history, life, and culture and their positive and far-reaching impact on the world. From performing arts, publishing, and education to language, philosophy and literature, YI offers a global clearinghouse of Jewish learning, culture and entertainment.

The Sunday Schmooze Series will offer a wide variety of programming and discussion opportunities and fits neatly into the YILove Jewish goal to utilize the arts to promote Jewish culture and identity both within and outside the Jewish community.

The first four programs to be offered are:

October 13th:  Anne Frank:  A discussion centering on how Anne Frank’s Diary influenced people’s perception of the Holocaust.  There will be a video interview with playwright Ron Elisha and star Alexis Fishman introducing their play Anne Being Frank, which will be presented at various venues in South Florida in November. 

November 17:  How are Jews portrayed in the media?  Igor Shteyrenberg, founder of the Miami Jewish Film Festival will discuss how Jewish culture has made its way into mainstream cinema.

December 22:  Chanukah Around the World.  How do Jews around the world celebrate?  Explore the different customs and traditional foods associated with ‘The Festival of Lights’ while enjoying latkes and donuts, and perhaps even playing a round or two of a dreidel game.

January 19:  Rhythm and Schmooze ‘Singalong’.  Join Avi Hoffman and Aaron Kula for a celebration of Jewish music.

For more information about YI Love Jewish and the Sunday Schmooze Series, and/or to purchase tickets, visit the organization’s website at https://yilovejewish.org or contact Sheri Smith – sheris@whyilovejewish.org / 561-254-5494 or Carol Kassie – carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

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Sunday Schmooze Series at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts
October 13/November 17/December 22/January 19
For tickets and Information:  https://yilovejewish.org
Single Schmooze tickets are $18 per person/series tickets are $54
All Schmoozes will take place from
11:30 am (Schmooze) 12 pm – 1:30 pm program at
The Coral Springs Center for the Arts
2885 Coral Springs Drive
Coral Springs, Florida 33065

Avi & Miriam Hoffman

CELEBRATING ‘YOSL’: The Legacy of Joe Papp – A Musical Celebration – June 22nd at the West Boca Community Theatre

29 Wednesday May 2024

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YI Love Jewish to Host “Celebrating ‘Yosl’” featuring a live concert event and celebrity video testimonials.

Theater icon Joseph Papp, aka Yosl Papirofsky, creator of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater, to be remembered and honored virtually and live on his 103rd birthday.

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Sheri Smith
sheris@yilovejewish.org
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

May 29, 2024
BOCA RATON, FL: He revolutionized theater as we know it today, and now Joseph Papp, born ‘Yosl Papirofsky’, will be the subject of a memorial/tribute concert on June 22ndat 7 pm, on what would have been his 103rd birthday. Celebrating Yosl – The Legacy of Joe Papp – A Musical Celebration will be presented by YI Love Jewish (a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative) at the West Boca Community Theatre in Boca Raton.

Celebrating Yosl will be hosted by YI Founder and CEO, world renowned actor and Jewish cultural activist Avi Hoffman, who was mentored by Papp in the 1980’s. The concert event will feature live, virtual, and pre-recorded celebrity testimonials.

“Joe Papp did more to revolutionize the world of theater than any impresario in the world,” says Hoffman, himself an internationally recognized entertainer and founder of YI, a global provider of Jewish cultural programming. Hoffman and his mother, retired author, journalist and Columbia University Professor Miriam Hoffman, became friends and colleagues of Papp in NYC in the 1980s, when they launched the Joseph Papp Yiddish Theatre. 

Joseph Papp

After Papp’s death, they continued a close association with Joe’s widow, Gail Merrifield-Papp, and his daughter Susan Papp-Lippman, who serves on the YI Board of Directors. 

Papp’s vision led him in 1957 to establish Free Shakespeare in Central Park. Ten years later, he created The Public Theater in the building that was formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a haven for newly arrived refugees. The building was saved from demolition through Mr. Papp’s efforts after a long negotiation with the City of New York. It became the permanent home of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theatre (The Public) and is currently designated as a New York City Historical Landmark. 

At the Public, an innovative model was used for creating a new dynamic way of producing plays in a workshop-style manner that had never been tried before. The concept involved bringing writers, directors, designers, and actors together in one place to brainstorm and create the foundations for new and groundbreaking productions. Some of the iconic Broadway shows to evolve from these workshops include the original productions of Hair, A Chorus Line, and Runaways.

One of the signature events of Celebrating Yosl will feature Hoffman’s re-creation of Joe Papp at the Ballroom – a recounting, in Papp’s own words (based on transcripts, quotes, and material from the Papp Archives), of his Brooklyn Yiddish upbringing, his political struggles, and his reconceiving of the creative process. Hoffman will also share his own personal recollections of his relationship with Papp. 

Celebrating Yosl:  The Legacy of Joe Papp – A Musical Celebration will take place at 7 pm on June 22nd, 2024, at the West Boca Community Theatre, 12811 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33498.

Tickets are $36 for the Live event and $72 for VIP/Special Seating and Backstage Access. Click HERE to purchase tickets.

For more information about Celebrating Yosl, please contact Sheri Smith at sheris@yilovejewish.org / 561-254-5494 or Carol Kassie at carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.  Photos and graphics available on request.

To sponsor this event, please contact sheris@yilovejewish.org.

~

Celebrating Yosl:  The Legacy of Joe Papp – A Musical Celebration
June 22nd at 7 pm
Tickets: $36/$72 (VIP Special Seating/Backstage Access)
To purchase tickets: https://tinyurl.com/3ze4jw89
West Boca Community Theatre
12811 Glades Road
Boca Raton, FL  33498
https://yilovejewish.org

About YI Love Jewish: YI Love Jewish is a division of Yiddishkayt Initiative (YI), a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization that builds Jewish engagement and forges multi-cultural connections through an immersive and varied range of programming for audiences around the globe. From performing arts, publishing and education to language, philosophy and literature, YI offers a global clearinghouse of Jewish culture and entertainment staffed by experts in subject matter and production. The organization works with a wide range of organizations, including the University of Miami’s Sue and Leonard Miller Center and the George Feldenkreis Program in Contemporary Judaic Studies and Federations, JCCs, synagogues, Hadassah chapters, Hillel chapters, men’s groups, women’s guilds, special interest clubs, youth groups, summer camp programs and educational institutions.

J

Broadcaster Arlene Herson To Be Honored at a Silent Auction at Boca Raton’s Gallery 22

08 Wednesday Mar 2023

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Broadcaster Arlene Herson
To Be Honored
at a Silent Auction at
Boca Raton’s Gallery 22

Proceeds to benefit YI Love Jewish’ mission to fight antisemitism through the arts.

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Alessandra Lasanta
Alessandra@yilovejewish.org / 888-945-6835
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

March 8, 2023

BOCA RATON, FL:  Broadcaster/journalist/philanthropist Arlene Herson will be honored at a Silent Auction on March 22nd.  The event, which will take place at Boca Raton’s Gallery 22, will be co-sponsored by the gallery and YI Love Jewish.  The proceeds from the auction will benefit YI Love Jewish’ mission to fight antisemitism through the arts.

The Silent Auction will be hosted by Yaacov and Sue Heller and will feature works by a number of world-renowned artists including Laurence Gartel (Father of Digital Art), Martin Levin (Kristallnacht Series), Frank Stumer, Sir Kelly Fawaz, and Yaacov Heller.

Award-winning performer and YI CEO Avi Hoffman will act as master of ceremonies and pianist Phil Hinton will provide live music during the evening.

Tickets for the Silent Auction are $100 and available online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/557150571357. The ticket price includes entry into the event, the silent auction, live music, and wine and cheese. 

Arlene Herson’s illustrious career includes numerous interviews with famous and distinguished personalities on both radio and television.  She produced The Magic Flute with Victor Borge conducting, and the musical 1776 with members of Congress playing the Founding Fathers. She was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, by Governor Jeb Bush to the Florida Film & Entertainment Advisory Council, and by President George H.W. Bush to the Take Pride in America Advisory Board.  She is one of the few non-lawyers appointed to the Florida Bar Grievance Committee.

YI Love Jewish is a division of the Yiddishkayt Initiative, a not-for-profit organization that celebrates and promotes Jewish history, life, and culture and their positive and far-reaching impact on the world.

For more information about YI Love Jewish and the Silent Auction, visit the organization’s website at www.YILoveJewish.org, email info@yilovejewish.org or contact Alessandra Lasanta –alessandra@yilovejewish.org / 888-945-6835, or Carol Kassie – carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.

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Fighting Antisemitism Through the Arts
A Silent Auction at Gallery 22 Honoring Arlene Herson
Wednesday, March 23, 2023, at 7:30 pm
Tickets: $100 (There are a limited number of tickets available)
For tickets:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/557150571357
The event will take place at
Gallery 22
320 Esplanade #53, Boca Raton, FL 33432

  • Arlene Herson

YI Love Jewish to Present Free Readings of Josef Mundi’s IT’S GOING AROUND

01 Wednesday Mar 2023

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YI Love Jewish
To Present Free Readings of
Josef Mundi’s Controversial Israeli Play
It’s Going Around


A new translation by Avi Hoffman will premiere in Boca Raton and Miami Beach in March

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Alessandra Lasanta
Alessandra@yilovejewish.org / 888-945-6835
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

March 1, 2023
BOCA RATON/MIAMI BEACH, FL:  As part of the YI Love Play Reading Series, YI Love Jewish will present Avi Hoffman’s English translation of the controversial Hebrew thriller It’s Going Around by Josef Mundi, for audiences in Boca Raton and Miami Beach on March 26 and March 28, 2023. 

An award-winning Israeli psychodrama about idealism, identity, and insanity, It’s Going Around speculates as to what happens when Dr. Theodore Herzl, the Father of Zionism and the concept of a Jewish State in Palestine, meets Franz Kafka, noted author, playwright and assimilated Jew, in an insane asylum in modern-day Israel. This play is the only one in the history of the State of Israel to be shut down by the authorities in the 1960s; it was eventually reinstated by the Israeli Supreme Court, and ultimately became one of the most important and successful plays in the history of Israeli Theatre.

Avi Hoffman translated, adapted, and will direct the reading, and will take on the role of Franz Kafka.  It’s Going Around will also star South Florida favorites Dave Corey as Theodore Herzl and Ilana Isaacson as The Secretary.  The events are free however donations are always welcome.   To RSVP:  Click on https://yilovejewish.org/yiloveplayreadings/

YI Love Play Readings is sponsored by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation Jewish Incubator Grant 2023, and the Afran Foundation and is co-sponsored by Dr. Bruce and Lesley Zafran of Parkland, the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies/George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies at the University of Miami, The Betsy South Beach, Miami Beach JCC, the Alper JCC and the Adolph & Rose Levis JCC, Mo’s Deli, and the Yiddish Theatre Alliance. 

With a six-year history of seasonal play readings as a way to educate and entertain, YI Love Jewish now has developed a year-long series that includes scholarly lectures with an aim to highlight different aspects of Jewish life, culture, language, and history. Each of the 2022/2023  YI Love Play Readings will be performed and filmed in front of a live audience in Boca Raton and Miami after which they will be made available to schools, Jewish centers, cultural partners and online audiences across the world.  The It’s Going Around reading is part of the organization’s celebration of Israel’s 75th Anniversary.

For more information about YI Love Jewish visit the organization’s website at www.YILoveJewish.org, email info@yilovejewish.org or contact Alessandra Lasanta –alessandra@yilovejewish.org / 888-945-6835, or Carol Kassie – carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244.
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It’s Going Around
By Josef Mundi
Translation by Avi Hoffman
March 26 & 28, 2023
Tickets:  Free (donations are welcome)
To reserve:  https://yilovejewish.org/yiloveplayreadings/
March 26 at 3 pm
Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center
21050 95th Avenue South
Boca Raton, FL  33428
March 28 at 7:30 pm
Miami Beach JCC,
4221 Pine Tree Dr.
Miami Beach, FL 33140


Avi Hoffman was recently awarded Congressional recognition, was invited to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis and was inducted into the Bronx Jewish Hall of Fame for his lifetime work advancing Jewish culture, Yiddishkayt and Holocaust awareness through the charity he founded the Yiddishkayt Initiative, Inc. (YILoveJewish.org). As an actor, he was nominated for a NY Drama Desk Award for his Yiddish language portrayal of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. He is best known for his Too Jewish Trilogy: Award winning one man shows Too Jewish, Too Jewish, Too! (PBS, Performer of the Year ’95 – NY Press Magazine; L.A. OVATION award – Best Actor In a Musical 2001; NY Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle award nominations) and his latest show Still Jewish After All These Years. On TV, he was featured as Sid Raskin in the Starz TV series Magic City, as well as on Netflix’ Bloodline,A&E’s The Glades and on the NBC series Law and Order. He starred in the International Award winning short Yiddish Films: Shehita (Best Thriller – HollyShorts Festival) , BOXED and the motion picture – The Imported Bridegroom. He was seen in the PBS documentary They Came For Good: A History of the Jews in the US. Avi has performed all over the world, has numerous acting and directing credits and has received multiple awards and nominations. Visit him at www.YILoveJewish.org

  • Josef Mundi
  • Ilana Isaacson
  • Dave Corey

March & April at the Miznzer Park Cultural Center

09 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by in Clients, Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center

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March & April at
Mizner Park Cultural Center:
Festival of Classics: A Night of Short Performances
& Artist Conversations – March 16
Tovah is Leona – March 28 & 29
Wiesenthal – April 3-5
Hank Williams and My Honky Tonk Heroes – April 8
Judy Carmichael: Swing Time!  A Celebration of the
Great American Song Book – April 17
Harrison Greenbaum:  What Just Happened?
A Comedy + Magic Show – April 25

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

March 9, 2020

BOCA RATON, FL:     Mizner Park Cultural Center will once again host a wide variety of entertainment and events over the coming weeks.  Comedy, music, magic, and live theatre are all on the popular venue’s schedule during March and April.

On March 16th, the award-winning actor Avi Hoffman will host Festival of Classics: A Night of Short Performances and Artist Conversations.  The show, presented by Joseph Papp Yiddish Theatre, Shakespeare Troupe of South Florida, Grace Arts, New City Players, and Thinking Cap Theatre with Emily Ricca Dance Collective, will showcase local South Florida companies performing the Classics.  Hoffman, who will be joined by special guest Susan Papp, will take on the persona of Joseph Papp, the American theatrical producer and founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theatre.

Tovah Feldshuh

Six-time Tony and Emmy nominated star Tovah Feldshuh returns to the theatre on March 28th and 29th for four encore performances of Tovah is Leona! a musical production featuring highlights from the new Broadway-bound musical Queen of Mean, based on Piers Ransdell’s New York Times best-selling biography of Leona Helmsley.  In the production, which sold out in January, Feldshuh, as the disgraced doyenne, comments and sings about anything and everything – from her meteoric rise from office temp to trophy wife, from wheeler-dealer to hotel magnate, to her relationship with real estate rival Donald Trump.

Tom Dugan as Simon Wiesenthal

Wiesenthal, the story of ‘an ordinary man who did extraordinary things’, will run for four performances only, from April 3rd – 5th.  Written by and starring Tom Dugan, Wiesenthal is the riveting true story of Simon Wiesenthal.  Nicknamed ‘The Jewish James Bond’, he devoted his life to bringing more than 1,100 Nazi war criminals to justice. Intelligent, funny, flawed, and noble, Wiesenthal was a universal hero.

Jason Petty will bring his acclaimed musical review, Hank Williams and my Honky Tonk Heroes, to the Cultural Center on April 8th.  Petty a masterful singer, actor, and historian, whose musicianship and songwriting abilities have won him numerous performances at The Grand Ole Opry, will recreate the magic that Williams and his ‘honky tonk heroes’ – the giants of country music – created.

Grammy-nominated pianist, vocalist, and songwriter Judy Carmichael will celebrate the music of swing piano greats with an evening of classics from the Great American Songbook in her show Swing Time!  A Celebration of the Great American Song Book on April 17th.  From the Gershwins to Cole Porter to Fats Waller and Peggy Lee, Carmichael’s mastery of the piano style popularized by Count Basie and James P. Johnson among others, has been lauded all over the world.

Harrison Greenbaum

Harrison Greenbaum will return to the Mizner Park Cultural Center with What Just Happened?  A Comedy + Magic Show on April 25th.   The award-winning magician and comedian, who has been featured on “America’s Got Talent”, NBC’s “Last Comic Standing”, and National Geographic’s “Brain Games”, has created a unique blend of comedy and magic, jaw-dropping cutting edge illusions, mind reading, and legerdemain, much of it invented specifically for this performance, and never seen before.

Tickets to each of these performances, as well as many other Mizner Park Cultural Center performances are on sale now and can be purchased online at http://miznerparkculturalcenter.com or by phone at 844-672-2849. Ticket details are below.

The Mizner Park Cultural Center is located at 201 Plaza Real, Boca Raton, FL 33432. Website: http://miznerparkculturalcenter.com/Like us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/MiznerParkCulturalCenter/

For more information about the Mizner Park Cultural Center, and any of these shows, please contact Carol Kassie at Carol@CarolKassie.com / 561-445-9244.
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Ticket prices and performance times:

Festival of Classics: A Night of Short Performances and Artist Conversations
Monday, March 16, at 2:30 pm & 7:30 pm
Tickets:  $25-$50Direct link for tickets:  https://miznerparkculturalcenter.com/events/festival-of-classics/Tovah is Leona
Saturday, March 28 at 3 pm & 8 pm
Sunday, March 29 at 2 pm & 7 pm
Tickets: $49 – $59
Direct link for tickets:  https://miznerparkculturalcenter.com/events/tovah-leona-march/2020-03-28/Wiesenthal
Friday, April 3 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, April 4 at 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 5 at 2:00 pm
Tickets:  $45
Direct link for tickets:  https://miznerparkculturalcenter.com/events/wiesenthal-2/2020-04-03/Hank Williams and My Honky Tonk Heroes
Wednesday, April 8 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: $39 – $45
Direct link for tickets:  https://miznerparkculturalcenter.com/events/hank-williams/Judy Carmichael:  Swing Time!  A Celebration of the Great American Song Book
Friday, April 17 at 7:30 pm
Tickets:  $37 – $47
Direct link for tickets:  https://miznerparkculturalcenter.com/events/judy-carmichael/Harrison Greenbaum:  What Just Happened?  A Comedy + Magic Show
Saturday, April 25 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: $29 – $39Direct link for tickets:  https://miznerparkculturalcenter.com/events/harrison-greenbaum-3/For tickets to all shows at the Mizner Park Cultural Center, and for more information: https://miznerparkculturalcenter.com/   or call 844-672-2849.