The Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver will host the award-winning From Tel Aviv to Ramallah: A Beat Box Journey at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts March 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The performance is a collaboration between Yuri Lane, a Jewish “human beatbox,” Rachel Havrelock, the religion scholar who happens to be his wife, and Sharif Ezzat, a Muslim video artist. The play was inspired by the ordinary people that Lane and Havrelock encountered on their journey from Tel Aviv to Ramallah at the start of intifada — the uprising among Palestinian Arabs of the Gaza Strip and West Bank in protest against continued Israeli occupation of these territories.
Lane composed the beatbox soundtrack, Ezzat designed a shifting set of live visual projections timed according to Lane’s beats, and Havrelock wrote and directed the play, which brings to life 15 characters over the course of an hour. It takes audiences behind the clinical headlines and detached news reports by presenting a vibrant and complex portrait of everyday life in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A Beat Box Journey has played in theaters in San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; New York; New Jersey; Atlanta and Chicago and was nominated as best new play of 2003–04 by the Helen Hayes Awards.
Tickets are $10 for the public and free to University of Denver ID holders. For information and tickets, contact the Newman Center Box Office in person or at 303-871-7720. Tickets also are available at the Ritchie Center Box Office and through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com, 303-357-2787 or at any Ticketmaster outlet.
The Newman Center for the Performing Arts is located at 2344 E. Iliff Ave. Paid parking is available in the Newman Center garage.
For more information, contact Jamie Polliard at 303-871-2343.