Robyn Israel says it’s a thrill to resurrect her grandparents, whom she’s never met, in her one-woman show Jewish Girls Don’t Kayak.
Robyn Israel can kayak quite well despite being a Jewish girl.
“I play dozens of characters,” the London, Ont.-based playwright-actress says, “including three generations of my family. I never knew any of my grandparents. I have pictures of them up on the stage, and it’s special for me to be able to bring them back to life in my play,” she says, her voice noticeably emotional over the phone.
Jewish Girls Don’t Kayak, which plays at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre in Toronto on Sept. 12 at 8 p.m., is about many things, but mostly about what it was like for Israel to grow up with that surname and the name’s impact on three generations of her family.
“It’s a semi-autobiographical account of my life, but the real focus is on my last name and how we got that name. It’s about the evolution of a name and of a family.”
She says the play is basically about growing up in a Montreal Jewish setting with a traditional Jewish upbringing and her bohemian sojourn in California. It’s a look at an unconventional person who embraces other cultures while trying to maintain her Jewish identity.
“I always felt uncomfortable having such a Jewish name. As I got older, I started to date outside the faith. I started to struggle with my Judaism and found myself drawn to other cultures.”
The play is a series of vignettes drawn from experiences in her life. Among the characters she plays are her immigrant grandfather, her mother and her Buddhist ex-boyfriend.
Some scenes, including the ones on her website [www.robynisrael.com], are humorous looks at her life experiences, similar to standup comedy. However, Israel insists her 90-minute play is not all comedy.
“There are many poignant bits. It gets very personal,” she says. “I wear my heart on my sleeve. I talk about my relationship breakups and anti-Semitism. It’s definitely not all laughs.”
She says the play is also about the Jewish experience. “Good and bad. Funny and sad.”
A shorter version of the play won an award for outstanding comedy at the London Fringe Festival in 2007. Since then she’s revamped it and is taking it on the road, which also includes Hamilton, Montreal and New York.
“It really taps into the larger human experience – what it’s like to be a daughter, what it’s like to be a divorcée, what it’s like to be in a relationship. Every person who comes to see it relates with it on some level. Not just as a Jew but as a human being,” she says.
The play also attempts to break stereotypes. The title comes from the notion that Jewish people have no athletic skills. Ironically, when first contacted for this interview, Israel was on a canoe trip.
Tickets to the Miles Nadal JCC show on Sept. 12 are available at the door. She brings her show to Hamilton on Oct. 17 at the Staircase Café Theatre, 27 Dundurn St. Call 905-529-3000 for tickets.
