{"id":54176,"date":"2016-09-12T14:03:31","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T19:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=54176"},"modified":"2016-09-14T06:41:57","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T11:41:57","slug":"strengthening-jerusalems-women-one-song-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/strengthening-jerusalems-women-one-song-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Strengthening Jerusalem’s Women One Song at a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"unnamed\"\u201cCOUNT THE STARS \u2013 The Journey of Avraham and Sara\u201d, a spectacular biblical\u00a0musical about the couple that changed humanity with their faith and loving kindness, is\u00a0one of the most exciting projects at the OU Israel Center this season. Two evenings a\u00a0week, dancers, singers and gymnasts rehearse on every floor and in the stairwells too,\u00a0in preparation of the November production at the Gerard Behar Theatre. Music fills the\u00a0OU, along with the feeling of community, warmth and friendship.<\/p>\n

This bi-product of rehearsals was the reason the WPC Jerusalem teamed up with OU\u00a0Israel six months ago. They wanted to empower a women\u2019s community in the center of\u00a0Jerusalem with love of performance as their common language.<\/p>\n

The WPC began its activities at the OU Israel Center during this past\u00a0year\u2019s terror\u00a0attacks with monthly events that would create friendships and spread light during a dark\u00a0time. They soon understood that the participating women wanted the community and\u00a0harmony to continue onward. In addition to organizing their monthly performance-\u00a0oriented programs at the OU, the WPC answered the requests of its participants to\u00a0mount a full-scale production.<\/p>\n

\"unnamed-2\"Sharon Katz and Avital Macales, two of the creators of the WPC Jerusalem, along with\u00a0Shifra C. Penkower and Bati Katz, decided to bring their own original musical to the\u00a0stage. Macales and Katz co-authored and co-composed \u201cCOUNT the STARS\u201d. The\u00a0show received rave reviews when it was performed in Gush Etzion two years ago by\u00a0Raise Your Spirits Theatre, the first of four performance companies founded by famed\u00a0women\u2019s theater impresario Sharon Katz.<\/p>\n

Now\u00a0enhanced with new songs and more dancing than ever, \u201cSTARS\u201d will wow\u00a0audiences even more with its epic story of our nation\u2019s birth. Avraham leaps to life\u00a0through song, dance, laughter and tears, as he rejects a world of idol worship and\u00a0escapes to create a revolutionary world of goodness and belief in one G-d.<\/p>\n

SUPERSTAR CAST AND CREW<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the starring role as Avraham, wearing padding and heels to beef up her delicate\u00a0frame, is the most popular performer in Israel\u2019s women\u2019s theater today, singing\u00a0superstar Avital Macales. Macales has stolen the hearts of audiences in lead roles from\u00a0Raise Your Spirits, Modi\u2019in\u2019s Women in Theater, and Efrat Community Theater.<\/p>\n

\"unnamed-1\"Cast again as Avraham\u2019s trusty servant, comic relief and sidekick is Macales\u2019 co-\u00a0producer\/co-author Sharon Katz. Women\u2019s theater legend Sharon Katz is the founder of\u00a0four thriving performance companies \u2013 Raise Your Spirits (2001), Dames of the Dance\u00a0mega-dance spectaculars (2007), NOARoked teen dance productions (2014) and now\u00a0the Women\u2019s Performance Community of Jerusalem. Co-author of three other hit\u00a0biblical music, Katz has also produced and performed in 17 different productions.<\/p>\n

The Jerusalem production is directed by Shifra Penkower, choreographed by Judy Kizer\u00a0with musical direction by noted choral director Ellen Macales.<\/p>\n

Tickets are on sale now at\u00a0http:\/\/www.tixwise.co.il\/he\/countthestars<\/a>. To find out more\u00a0about WPC Jerusalem and \u201cCOUNT THE STARS\u201d,\u00a0http:\/\/www.ouisrael.org\/the-\u00a0womens-performance- community-of- jerusalem\/<\/a>. Profits from \u201cSTARS\u201d go to tzedakah to\u00a0strengthen teenage girls in Israel\u2019s periphery and to continue the valuable programs of\u00a0the Women\u2019s Performance Community of Jerusalem.\u00a0wpc.jerusalem@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCOUNT THE STARS \u2013 The Journey of Avraham and Sara\u201d, a spectacular biblical\u00a0musical about the couple that changed humanity with their faith and loving kindness, is\u00a0one of the most exciting projects at the OU Israel Center this season. Two evenings a\u00a0week, dancers, singers and gymnasts rehearse on every floor and in the stairwells too,\u00a0in preparation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nStrengthening Jerusalem's Women One Song at a Time - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/strengthening-jerusalems-women-one-song-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Strengthening Jerusalem's Women One Song at a Time - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cCOUNT THE STARS \u2013 The Journey of Avraham and Sara\u201d, a spectacular biblical\u00a0musical about the couple that changed humanity with their faith and loving kindness, is\u00a0one of the most exciting projects at the OU Israel Center this season. 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