Metrotainment: Showtime

Making room for kids; Elephants dance in Givatayim; Cartoon museum revisits the Haggada; Bringing science to the people.

By BARRY DAVIS
Biblical cartoon 521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Biblical cartoon 521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Making room for kids
The Judah and Israel association of young actors will put on the premiere performance of Ta’asu Makom (“Make Room”) at 8 p.m. this Thursday at the Judah and Israel Club auditorium at 34 Allenby Street, Tel Aviv.
The new production is based on the association’s goals: achieving creativity, social involvement and individual empowerment for youths aged 15 to 18.
The play is based on a series of vignettes – both onstage and among the audience – of realistic and surrealistic situations addressing a wide range of topics such as parents, teachers, friends, impersonal Internet-based communication, and substance and other addictions. The play incorporates music, drama and comedy.
The Judah and Israel actors worked on the production together with members of the Tziporela theater company.
For more information, see www.yandi.org.il
Elephants dance in Givatayim
The Orna Porat Children’s and Youth Theater will put on a two performances of Elephants Don’t Do Ballet at the Givatayim Theater, tomorrow at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The show is for children aged four to eight.
The show is based on the book of the same name by Penny McKinlay. It tells the story of an elephant called Esmeralda who wants to dance ballet. Naturally, given her size, Esmeralda goes through a steep learning curve, but gets there in the end.
The cast includes Chen Danon, Yael Rosen Tal and Shlomit Pundminski.
For more information, see www.porat-theater.co.il or call (03) 510-6924
Cartoon museum revisits the Haggada
The Israeli Cartoon Museum’s program of junior activities in Holon over the Pessah vacation includes a four-day camp (April 11- 14) at which children aged nine to 12 can create their own comic characters based on the four sons in the Haggada – the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son, and the one who doesn’t know how to ask.
Later in the vacation there will be more hands-on activities and entertainment for the whole family at the Musicomics event.
On April 21 and 22 a group of artists will create characters inspired by live music performed by young bands playing in the museum grounds. The event also includes drawing workshops and stands with works by artists.
Next Friday and Saturday, the public will also be able to buy Haggadot with illustrations drawn by some of the country’s top cartoonists.
For more information. see www.cartoon.org.il or call (03) 652-1849.
Bringing science to the people
If patrons of bars and cafes across Tel Aviv are looking to spend their evening imbibing liquids and engaging in their regular chitchat, some of them may be in for an edifying surprise.
This Thursday 40 senior scientists and top research students from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot will descend on a selected equivalent number of bars and cafes in Tel Aviv to advise customers of some of the latest discoveries and developments in their chosen fields. The topics will be conveyed in layman-friendly terms and will cover such areas as the possibility of life on other planets, how life came into existence on planet Earth and how stars are formed.
The Weizmann Institute personnel involved in the initiative include institute president Prof. Daniel Zaifman, Dr. Nahum Olonovsky, who will talk about bats’ guiding system, and Prof. Tal Alexander, who will discuss the possibility of there being a black hole in our galaxy.
The bars and cafes on the Weizmann Institute Thursday evening circuit include Cafe Bialik, Tmuna, Susskin, Rothschild Kitchen and Alexandria.