When history is told from one perspective, who gets lost? Join us as we uncover five queer Jewish icons that all deserve their own place in the cultural canon.
A group of artists and researchers will use the PechaKucha form to tell the stories of five queer Jewish icons that history needs to reclaim and rejoice. From a Mancunian Jewish housewife turned cabaret performer to a Weimar German drag artist, these icons will celebrate how Jewish and queer identities overlap, endure, and enhance the world around us.
Performers include curator Joanne Rosenthal, performer Stav Meishar, playwright Stephen Laughton, storyteller S. Bear Bergman and JW3 Young Adult Programmer Joe Hyman.
PechaKucha is Japanese for “chit chat”. It is a storytelling platform where presenters share 20 slides and talk about each one for 20 seconds. This event will be online.
NB: They may be some images of an adult nature.
Artist Biogs■
Jo Rosenthal
Jo Rosenthal is a freelance curator who produces exhibitions that deal with 'difficult' pasts and marginalised histories. She recently curated the award-winning Jews Money Myth exhibition for the Jewish Museum London and is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London.
Stav Meishar
Stav Meishar is an award-winning queer performance maker, multidisciplinary stage artist, academic researcher and educator. Her work explores the amalgamation of history and current affairs via the lens of social justice, using tools from the worlds of theatre, circus, and contemporary performance. www.StavMeishar.com
Stephen Laughton
Stephen is the recipient of the 2019 JB Priestley Award for Young Writers of Promise and has won a Developing Your Creating Practice Award from Arts Council England to undertake a writing residency within the prestigious Astrophysics Department of the American Museum for Natural History in New York City, working alongside a team of pre-eminent Astrophysicists including Dr. Rebecca Oppenheimer and Dr. Neil De Grasse Tyson.
Stephen’s most recent play ONE JEWISH BOY transferred into London’s West End in spring 2020, where it was once again met with critical acclaim.
S. Bear Bergman
S. Bear Bergman is an author, storyteller, educator and the founder and publisher of children’s book publisher Flamingo Rampant, which makes feminist, culturally-diverse children’s picture books celebrating LGBT2Q+ kids and families. He writes creative non-fiction for grown ups, fiction for children, resolutely factual features for various publications, the advice column Asking Bear, and was the co-editor (along with Kate Bornstein) of Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation. These days he spends most of his time making trans cultural competency interventions any way he can and trying to avoid stepping on Lego. His forthcoming book is SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEING A HUMAN, from Arsenal Pulp in the fall of 2021.
Joe Hyman
Joe Hyman is a cultural and community programmer, visual artist and LGBTQ+ activist. He currently works at JW3 as the Young Adult programmer where he develops programmes to attract a broad range of young audiences to the centre. He is also the co-founder of DAVAR, the Jewish Art Immersive. DAVAR creates immersive experiences that explore Jewish traditional texts through the creation of visual art. Joe completed a BA in Architecture at Westminster University and an Integrated Masters in Architectural Engineering at University of Leeds and spent time studying at Yeshivat Hadar in New York and Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi in Jerusalem.
