From Feb ’08 Spotlight: What’s that glittering new Saturday hot spot lighting up South Michigan Avenue? It’s Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies! Long known for its excellent Sunday afternoon lectures, Spertus is now equipped with a fabulous state-of-the-art theatre, and I’m sure many of us will be flocking there weekend after weekend as the word spreads.
The first big event of 2008 was the U.S. premiere of The Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour on January 12, and all 400+ seats in the new Feinberg Theater were completely sold out well over a week in advance. Beloved Chicago comedian Aaron Freeman opened the show with a hilarious spoof on West Side Story (called, of course, West Bank Story), and he also served as Master of Ceremonies. Afterwards, Hal Lewis, Dean of Continuing Education and Public Programs, played the proud papa, inviting everyone to schmooze with the guys over drinks in the Wolfgang Puck Café.
For information on future programs, visit www.spertus.edu. I know I’ll be there myself on Sunday, February 24 when Tal Grinfas-David, Senior Educational Research Associate of the Institute for the Study of Modern Israel at Emory University, comes to lecture on “A Century of Israeli Music.”
