"It's no RentWalk, but it'll do."

It’s totally exciting to be back at Z Space! It’s been about four years since I was collecting a regular paycheck here as Z’s first executive director (from 2001-2006). People always ask me if I miss [Z Space founder and then-artistic director) David Dower. The answer is YES. He was a lot of fun - one great idea after another, that’s what it was like working with David. The sky was the limit. We’re still in touch, even though he’s moved on to the major leagues. He’s still the same guy.

My favorite thing about the old Z Space Studio was our yearly RentWalk. As much as I don’t miss organizing them, they were some of the best times and we raised quite a bit of money. Staff walked, board members walked, artists walked. Over the years we walked with Josh Kornbluth, Anne Galjour, Brian Thorstenson, Doug Jacobs, Nina Wise, JoAnne Winter, Michelle Carter, Ellen Moore, Nancy Shelby, Patty Silver, Sheila Balter, the list goes on and on. The last one that Z Space did, in 2006, I happened to be at the hospital (having just given birth to my baby girl) and I called David Dower to tell him I was wearing my RentWalk T-shirt in the delivery room. Apparently in my post-partum delirium I was telling all the doctors and nurses about Z Space. I’m sure the sight of me giving birth with that huge Z SPACE RENTWALK logo on my T-shirt is etched into their brains, guaranteeing that none of those people will ever come to a Z Space anything.

Chloe is three now, and I’m happy to be back here. We’ve outgrown the RentWalk days, but in some ways nothing ‘s changed. Z Space is still the organization I loved at first sight, almost ten years ago. It still feels like the place to be. There’s always something cool going on. A reading, a rehearsal, a group of artists meeting. On any given day, music abounds, people rush around. Only now it’s even better, because I have these cathedral windows to stare at while I sit at my desk. And we have our own theater, which opens up so many opportunities. Even when the stage is not being used, just knowing it’s there, sitting empty, waiting for something great to happen on it, it makes me smile.

A few weeks ago we had our first reading of A Round-Heeled Woman, which is our big show coming up in January. A big coup, thanks to Lisa Steindler, who is amazing as Z’s current fearless leader. Sharon Gless was fantastic. Actually, everyone was good I thought, but she was a stand-out. Guess that’s why she’s the star. She brought See’s Candy suckers for everyone. She was incredibly gracious, funny, and read her character brilliantly without even trying. I was surprised how much presence she brought to the room, given that she had no make-up on, her hair wasn’t doing anything great, and she was in very casual clothes. Wow, I thought, she’s definitely has it, whatever “it” is. Something compelling about her. Sharon also offered to come in and do a benefit for us, free of charge, on her night off. Pretty cool. So we’re going to make it a fun evening, with a cocktail reception on January 11^th and then an interview with her on the stage, led by Jan Wahl from KRON (“the Hat Lady”) and ending with an audience Q&A . Can’t wait. It’s no RentWalk, but it’ll do.

-Laura Bergman, Development Director

Free reading this Monday!

Z Space invites you to a free reading this Monday, sponsored by board member Anne Hallinan!

When Caryl Churchill's short play, Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza premiered in February 2009 at the Royal Court in London, it met with an impassioned response--dividing critics and audiences. According to the Guardian, "The Guardian's Michael Billington called it a 'heartfelt lamentation ', while the Times found it 'straitjacketed political orthodoxy '. For Howard Jacobson, it is 'wantonly inflammatory '. Bloggers have debated whether the play--prompted by Churchill's ourtrage and distress at the then recent events in Gaza-- is antisemitic . It has been denounced as "horrifically anti-Israel...(and) beyond the boundaries of reasonable political discourse."

Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon, writing in the March 26, 2009 issue of The Nation, defended Churchill against charges of anti-Semitism in an article titled "Tell Her the Truth:"

"We emphatically disagree," they wrote. "We think Churchill's play should be seen and discussed as widely as possible. Though you'd never guess from the descriptions offered by its detractors, the play is dense, beautiful, elusive and intentionally indeterminate. This is not to say that the play isn't also direct and elusive and intentionally indeterminate. This is not to say that the play isn't also direct and incendiary. It is. It's disturbing, it's provocative, but appropriately so, given the magnitude of the calamity it enfolds in its pages. Any play about the crisis in the Middle East that doesn't arouse anger and distress has missed the point.


Upon reading the Kushner and Solomon article, Z Space board member Anne Hallinan resolved to bring this brief play ( 6 pages, 10 minutes playing time) to San Francisco audiences, following the presentations in Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, Cambridge, Los Angeles, and other U.S. cities. Joining with Word for Word Charter Member Patricia Silver to form Agora Theater (think 'marketplace of ideas' in the public square), they then enlisted writer/director Hal Gelb to create characters and situations from Churchill's text and direct the reading. Looking for a companion piece that would both compliment and contrast with Churchill's work, Gelb, Hallinan and Silver chose Israel Horovitz' What Strong Fences Make from among the several short dramatic works written in response to Seven Jewish Children. Horovitz' initial response was to turn down a commission by Washington DC's Theatre J, but he overcame his reluctance. Disagreeing with Kushner and Solomon, he was offended by Churchill's piece and decided that another voice needed to be heard, one that presents the moral dilemmas confronting Israelis.

On Monday, November 9, both plays will be given a staged reading at Theatre Artaud, courtesy of Z Space !

Cast members include Sheila Balter, Anne Hallinan, Danielle Levin, Anthony Nemirovsky, Robert Sicular and Patricia Silver. After the readings, multicultural consultant and family therapist Jane Ariel, Ph.D. will faciliate a discussion with the audience about the plays.

Admission is FREE and no reservations are necessary.

Both playwrights have made their work available free of royalties provided that no admission fee is charged and a collection is taken for the medical charity of the playwrights' choice:

Churchill requests that donations be made to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) which works for the health and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees: http://www.map-uk.org/
Horowitz asks that audiences contribute to One Family Fund, a charity offering aid to children wounded in attacks on Israel. (One Family Fund aids Israeli-Jews, Israeli-Arabs, Israeli-Druze, Israeli-Bedouins, and children of diplomats living in Israel: http://www.onefamilyfund.org/