Weekly Blog
Please check back on this tab weekly for updates on how the production is coming along and to see what students in the Historical Theater course are up to.
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Thursday April 2, 2020
Today in class we had the opportunity to meet with Harry Abraham and his family via Web Ex. Harry and his family were very happy to talk with us and tell us their memories of Ida Abraham, whose story is told in our production. We heard some of Harry's memories in Shanghai and we heard a lot about the strength and bravery of his mother. We felt really grateful to have been able to meet with Harry and his family to hear their stories and memories of Ida and we feel more driven to tell the story of this tough seamstress. Thank you to the Abraham's for giving your time to us.
We are still hard at work revising existing scenes and creating new ones.
Today in class we had the opportunity to meet with Harry Abraham and his family via Web Ex. Harry and his family were very happy to talk with us and tell us their memories of Ida Abraham, whose story is told in our production. We heard some of Harry's memories in Shanghai and we heard a lot about the strength and bravery of his mother. We felt really grateful to have been able to meet with Harry and his family to hear their stories and memories of Ida and we feel more driven to tell the story of this tough seamstress. Thank you to the Abraham's for giving your time to us.
We are still hard at work revising existing scenes and creating new ones.
Tuesday April 7, 2020
Today in class we had the opportunity to meet Eric Kisch who was a kid in Shanghai. He was in Shanghai from the time he was 2 and a half years old until he was 9. Some people had unpleasant memories but he had better memories growing up in Shanghai and looks back on that time with more positive memories. He grew up in the French Concession, which is where richer families lived before the proclamation forcing Jews to lived in the designated area in Hongkou. One positive memory that he has is of finding Sunkist oranges on the dock and experiencing the taste for the first time. While Eric has negative memories he also has positive ones. Currently Mr. Kisch lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio and hosts a 1 hour radio classical music radio show every week.
Today in class we had the opportunity to meet Eric Kisch who was a kid in Shanghai. He was in Shanghai from the time he was 2 and a half years old until he was 9. Some people had unpleasant memories but he had better memories growing up in Shanghai and looks back on that time with more positive memories. He grew up in the French Concession, which is where richer families lived before the proclamation forcing Jews to lived in the designated area in Hongkou. One positive memory that he has is of finding Sunkist oranges on the dock and experiencing the taste for the first time. While Eric has negative memories he also has positive ones. Currently Mr. Kisch lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio and hosts a 1 hour radio classical music radio show every week.
Thursday April 9,2020
Today in class the students worked on reading through the existing script, going over scene revisions, assigning revisions, and assigning new scenes. The play is in its final stages and the students are hard at work getting the script ready to be polished and converted into a radio play. Through the script reading today we paid closer attention to the vocabulary used and the word choices to start thinking about accuracy to how we speak on a daily basis. On Tuesday we're going to work on polishing the script more and preparing for our individual reports and presentations on a Shanghai refugee.
Today in class the students worked on reading through the existing script, going over scene revisions, assigning revisions, and assigning new scenes. The play is in its final stages and the students are hard at work getting the script ready to be polished and converted into a radio play. Through the script reading today we paid closer attention to the vocabulary used and the word choices to start thinking about accuracy to how we speak on a daily basis. On Tuesday we're going to work on polishing the script more and preparing for our individual reports and presentations on a Shanghai refugee.
Tuesday April 14, 2020
Today in class the student worked on the script, with a focus on acting and seeing what needed to be changed in the script before the students went to work recording their voices. The students decided that it would be helpful to hold an additional rehearsal tomorrow to make sure they are putting forward their best efforts. We begin the recording process this weekend and we hope to have our lines recorded by April 21st.
Today in class the student worked on the script, with a focus on acting and seeing what needed to be changed in the script before the students went to work recording their voices. The students decided that it would be helpful to hold an additional rehearsal tomorrow to make sure they are putting forward their best efforts. We begin the recording process this weekend and we hope to have our lines recorded by April 21st.
Thursday April 16, 2020
Today the students in Historical Theatre gave presentations on an individual Shanghai refugee. The students had the opportunity to interview the refugee they were learning about except for one. The three refugees the students presented on were Mike Medavoy, Veronica Dressler, and Inga Berkey. The students presenting on Veronica and Inga were able to interview them by telephone but the student writing on Mike Medavoy was unable to do so due to Mr. Medavoy's busy schedule. Please see below for a brief introduction to each of the refugees.
Mike Medavoy- Morris Michael Medavoy was born January 21, 1941 in Shanghai, China to Russian Jewish parents. He spent the first six years of his life there and after the end of WWII in 1947, his dad wanted to leave Shanghai. Due to the demand of American passports, his father decided that their family would move to Chile instead. They stayed there for 9 years and emigrated to the United States in 1957. Mike’s time in the U.S. was not wasted, as he obtained a degree in History from UCLA and received citizenship just six years later. When Mike was notified of his citizenship, he had been serving in the U.S. army where he joined the light weapons reserve and was a supply instructor. He eventually became a TV Newscaster for the Army Reserves and in this position, he experienced his first run-in with the film industry where he turned down a movie offer for “Good Morning Vietnam”. This was not his last run-in with the film industry, however. One summer when he was a boys’ camp counselor, Mike was approached by a parent who thought he had great energy and connected him to the film industry once again. Since then, Mike’s film career has taken off and he has worked with many film companies such as Universal Studios and Orion Pictures. Today, he is the President of Phoenix Pictures. (Biography provided by Kayli Perrine)
Veronica (Ronnie) Dressler- Veronica Dressler, better known as Ronnie is a former stateless Russian Jew. She has lived a great life that has fortunately spanned 73 years. From her very brief time in Shanghai, China to her earliest memories of living in Chile, South America to lastly becoming a citizen of the United States. Veronica is a very fascinating person with a colorful story to tell! P.S. as an interesting fact Ronnie is the younger sister of Mike Medavoy. (Biography provided by Kayla Owens)
Inga Berkey- Inga Berkey was born on March 19, 1939 to Arnold and Ellie Berkey. Prior to Inga's journey to Shanghai her father worked as a butcher with his father. Together Inga's father her grandfather helped to butcher and deliver meats, sausages and hides. Inga's mother worked a series of jobs including a homemaker, in a pharmacy, and in a delicatessen. Inga's family made the journey to Shanghai when Inga was 14 months old so she has no solid memories of making the journey. Inga's family left in 1939 to go to Shanghai where her family remained until 1947 when the war was over. After Inga's family left Shanghai they came to the United States. Once arriving to the United States her family spent about a month in California before going to Cleveland, Ohio. In Christian's interview with Inga, Inga told her she is proud of being Jewish. and states that her parents always took her to temple and shared memories of going to temple with her father. (Biography provided by Christian Yoder)
In addition to the students presenting on these individuals they were also informed that the Singer of Shanghai will be having refugees join the cast. We are proud to announce that Gary Sternberg, Harry Abraham, Eric Kisch, and Bert Reiner. All four of these gentlemen are refugees from Shanghai, and we are very proud to have them join our cast. There will be two additional guest stars joining our cast as well. Welcome to the cast Jakob Innes and Danny Spungen. Danny is an individual who has dedicated a large amount of time to the Shanghai refugee history and has one of the largest collections of resources in the United States about the Shanghai Jewish refugees.
Tuesday April 21, 2020
Today the students had another opportunity to meet and interview Jewish refugees. This meeting was also shared as a live stream event on Facebook so any interested users could watch the discussion. The special guests today were Rudy Nothenberg and Dr. Peter Engler. Not only was this live stream a special event being offered on Facebook but it was also a reunion for Dr. Engler and Rudy. During the Web Ex meeting Rudy and Peter shared their stories, students were able to ask the two gentlemen questions and the gentlemen asked students some questions as well. During the live stream viewers learned that Peter and Rudy actually knew each other in Shanghai and they belonged to the same Boy Scout Troop. It was a special time for the students, and Peter and Rudy because everyone got to reflect on the two gentlemen's memories of Shanghai. Please join us April 28, 2020 for another Facebook live stream with Gary Sternberg from 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m CST to learn more about Gary.
Today the students had another opportunity to meet and interview Jewish refugees. This meeting was also shared as a live stream event on Facebook so any interested users could watch the discussion. The special guests today were Rudy Nothenberg and Dr. Peter Engler. Not only was this live stream a special event being offered on Facebook but it was also a reunion for Dr. Engler and Rudy. During the Web Ex meeting Rudy and Peter shared their stories, students were able to ask the two gentlemen questions and the gentlemen asked students some questions as well. During the live stream viewers learned that Peter and Rudy actually knew each other in Shanghai and they belonged to the same Boy Scout Troop. It was a special time for the students, and Peter and Rudy because everyone got to reflect on the two gentlemen's memories of Shanghai. Please join us April 28, 2020 for another Facebook live stream with Gary Sternberg from 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m CST to learn more about Gary.
Thursday April 23,2020
Today in class was an exciting day! The students got to hear a rough cut of The Singer of Shanghai. The production is coming together nicely and it is starting to sound really good! We can't wait to share what we are working on. It feels really special to hear and see a project that you have spent so many hours working on come together. We will currently be working on polishing up the rough cut, rerecording lines that we want to deliver better, and recording lines that were missed in the rough cut. It's exciting times in the historical theatre class as we are preparing to interview Gary Sternberg on Tuesday April 28,2020 at 10:30 am CST. Please join us on our Facebook page to watch the event. https://www.facebook.com/pg/Historical-Theatre-Shanghai-Jewish-Refugees-100591154933926
Today in class was an exciting day! The students got to hear a rough cut of The Singer of Shanghai. The production is coming together nicely and it is starting to sound really good! We can't wait to share what we are working on. It feels really special to hear and see a project that you have spent so many hours working on come together. We will currently be working on polishing up the rough cut, rerecording lines that we want to deliver better, and recording lines that were missed in the rough cut. It's exciting times in the historical theatre class as we are preparing to interview Gary Sternberg on Tuesday April 28,2020 at 10:30 am CST. Please join us on our Facebook page to watch the event. https://www.facebook.com/pg/Historical-Theatre-Shanghai-Jewish-Refugees-100591154933926
Tuesday April 28, 2020
Today in class the students had the chance to meet and interview one of our guest cast members. Gary Sternberg joined us through Web Ex during our regularly scheduled class time. During the meeting we learned about Gary's time in Shanghai and coming to America. Gary talked about his time working at Caesar's palace in Las Vegas, Nevada as a blackjack dealer and he talked about his inventions. We learned that Gary has been issued 4 patents for inventions he has created during his life. Viewers were able to ask Gary questions and see pictures from his childhood and Gary talked about his memories of the pictures. He was able to ask the students some questions as well. For more information on Gary and his story please visit the following link to an article written by Kevin Ostoyich. https://www.aicgs.org/2019/04/the-dealers-cards-how-gary-sternberg-has-made-the-best-of-them/?fbclid=IwAR1oDyyJ4Z4X6gPgtdtr9PIDLQSL3DaEsGSZlGArcFx9MLZpAF59MZjBTec
Today in class the students had the chance to meet and interview one of our guest cast members. Gary Sternberg joined us through Web Ex during our regularly scheduled class time. During the meeting we learned about Gary's time in Shanghai and coming to America. Gary talked about his time working at Caesar's palace in Las Vegas, Nevada as a blackjack dealer and he talked about his inventions. We learned that Gary has been issued 4 patents for inventions he has created during his life. Viewers were able to ask Gary questions and see pictures from his childhood and Gary talked about his memories of the pictures. He was able to ask the students some questions as well. For more information on Gary and his story please visit the following link to an article written by Kevin Ostoyich. https://www.aicgs.org/2019/04/the-dealers-cards-how-gary-sternberg-has-made-the-best-of-them/?fbclid=IwAR1oDyyJ4Z4X6gPgtdtr9PIDLQSL3DaEsGSZlGArcFx9MLZpAF59MZjBTec
Thursday April 30, 2020
Today in class we listed to a second draft of The Singer of Shanghai and tried to listen to the production from an audience perspective. By listening to the production through an audience member's perspective the students were able to think about things that would captivate the audience to keep listening and try to see what would help instantly grab their interest. The production is coming together nicely and we will work on rerecording any lines that need redone or lines that were missed/ lost in the editing process. Over the weekend our director and music director will work on syncing the music where it needs to be in the play, assisting our guest stars who need help with the recording process and continue working on getting the production polished so we can broadcast the production next week. Please look forward to it.
Today in class we listed to a second draft of The Singer of Shanghai and tried to listen to the production from an audience perspective. By listening to the production through an audience member's perspective the students were able to think about things that would captivate the audience to keep listening and try to see what would help instantly grab their interest. The production is coming together nicely and we will work on rerecording any lines that need redone or lines that were missed/ lost in the editing process. Over the weekend our director and music director will work on syncing the music where it needs to be in the play, assisting our guest stars who need help with the recording process and continue working on getting the production polished so we can broadcast the production next week. Please look forward to it.
Tuesday May 5, 2020
Today was the last official day of courses here at Valparaiso University but that doesn't mean the work going in to the Singer of Shanghai has finished. We are all hard at work getting the production ready. In class today we were reflecting on the project and the course more generally, Everyone has reflected extremely positive on the process of taking the idea historian Kevin Ostoyich had with the Abraham's story and bringing their story to the production that we have today. Everyone feels that the process has been rewarding and some may even say life changing. None of the students knew what they were getting into upon initially signing up for the course, but I don't think any of us would choose to not take the course if we knew what the end result would be. One thing that no one anticipated was that things Arts and Entertainment Administration students would have to put in to practice what only appeared to be a discussion last semester because of the outbreak of Covid-19. This gave the students in the AE program to begin practicing real life situations that they might encounter in the future.
Today was the last official day of courses here at Valparaiso University but that doesn't mean the work going in to the Singer of Shanghai has finished. We are all hard at work getting the production ready. In class today we were reflecting on the project and the course more generally, Everyone has reflected extremely positive on the process of taking the idea historian Kevin Ostoyich had with the Abraham's story and bringing their story to the production that we have today. Everyone feels that the process has been rewarding and some may even say life changing. None of the students knew what they were getting into upon initially signing up for the course, but I don't think any of us would choose to not take the course if we knew what the end result would be. One thing that no one anticipated was that things Arts and Entertainment Administration students would have to put in to practice what only appeared to be a discussion last semester because of the outbreak of Covid-19. This gave the students in the AE program to begin practicing real life situations that they might encounter in the future.