By HELEN KAYE, JERUSALEM POST STAFFnaomi yoeli 311(photo credit: Eldad Maestro)
Actor/director Roni Pinkovitz has been appointed artistic director of Holon’s Mediatheque, effective October this year. He replaces Moshe Kepten, who will become the artistic director of the Israel Festival, a post that has been vacant for some years.Pinkovitz is a graduate of the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio and has a masters degree in directing from Middlesex University in the UK. He has directed plays at all of the major repertory theaters including such as Equus at Bet Lessin and Death of a Salesman at Habima. He was in-house director at Habima (1991-94) and at Haifa (1996-97), and artistic director at Haifa (1997-2000)Kepten, director of the hit run of Fiddler on the Roof at the Cameri and the new Spring Awakening at Beit Lessin, started his professional life as a musician with the IDF choir. He directed his first show for Gary Bilu at Bet Zvi in 1997. Bitten by the bug, he went on to study at Tel Aviv University where he gained a masters degree in directing. • Jerusalem Post staffFringe stage artists recognizedLast week, both local fringe and young artists had a week of plays culminating in prizes.The Golden Hedgehog Awards ceremony for fringe theater was on May 7. Best Production went to two plays: Michael, written and performed by the Michael Ensemble – and for which Itay Weiser got Best Director – and Among the Spheres, adapted and performed by Naomi Yoeli in collaboration with the Ruth Kanner Theater, and for which Yoeli also took Best Actress and Best Adaptation.A lifetime achievement award went to actor/director Shmuel Shilo, who also won Best Actor for Homeward, a Negev Theater production. Best Playwright went to Maor Zagorri for Virginity.The very gifted Zagorri also featured at the Future of the Theater prizegiving, a Tzavta initiative showcasing future theater artists from the various acting schools, on May 6. He wrote Oleanders, for which Negev Theater Arts School graduate Heli Twito received Most Promising Actress. Most Promising Actor went to Jonathan Magon from Seminar Hakibbutzim for Jonathan Harvey’s That’s So Great. • Helen Kaye Beta dance troupe has a premiere The Beta Ethiopian Dance Troupe premieres What One VoiceSays, by Adam Mckechnie and Daniel Benkes, andFathers and Sons, by Mika Ya’ari, at the InbalTheater at Suzanne Dallal on May 12.Beta founder and artistic director Ruth Eshel has been working with theEthiopians since 1995. Evolving from Eskesta, the traditionalshoulder-dancing group she established at Haifa University, Beta wasestablished in 2005. The company seeks to expand the Ethiopians’ dancelanguage while drawing on their traditions.McKechnie, a former Alvin Ailey dancer, and Benkes, a leadingdirector/choreographer, have been working with the company for twomonths. Ya’ari runs the Steps Trust that works to promote dance amongyouth. • Jerusalem Post staff
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