J Entertainmen Weighing In U-M students' Fat City Theatre Company looks at social conventions. Suzanne Chessler Special to the Jewish News Paskin, who performed in director responsibilities with shows throughout high school Kate Binkow, a sophomore Ann Arbor and was a member of the from Atlanta. "We have our Yiddish Arts Ensemble, is rehearsals at the university and directing Neil LaBute's Bench in our apartments, and we at City Theatre Company, new on Seat, which is about two col- hold our meetings in cafes." the Ann Arbor scene, is serving a lege students on a date and stage menu that has nothing to do Paskin and Binkow had the just getting to know each idea for the company last with gaining weight. It has everything to other. do with gaining weighty insights — seri- spring and connected with He appears in Christopher eight other students. As a ous and humorous. . Durang's The Hardy Boys and group, they decided to seek The troupe, formed and made up of Marc Paskin: Fat City University of Michigan theater students, • the Mystery of Where Babies out plays by both well- Theatre Company Come From, an adventure par- co-founding member known writers and local debuts Jan. 15-16 at the Kerrytown ody; Alan Ball's Made for a Concert House with six short plays picked dramatists just getting start- and artistic director. Woman, an exploratiOn of con- ed. by founders to get the audience thinking sumerism; and Craig Lucas' Other members include in different ways about important issues. What I Meant Was, a satire on being politi- Elyse Handleman, of West Bloomfield, a Eat Our Shorts, the inaugural produc- cally correct. design and production major serving as tion, takes a comic look at social conven- technical adviser; Alexandra Odell, of tions: dating, marriage, masculinity, femi- Other plays are David Ives' Time Flies, a science-fiction understanding of shOrt- Traverse City, a theater performance major nism and sex education. "We really wanted to create another the- lived love, and Alan Ball's The M Word, a taking on the role of business manager; commentary about falling in love in the and Gina Rattan, of Connecticut, an aspir- ater venue for young artists:' says Marc Paskin, a sophomore from Chicago taking presence of other ambitions. ing director. "We picked our company from people The rest of the troupe members, spe- on responsibilities as artistic director and cializing in theater performance, include involving himself directly with three of the we knew who are committed to theater, and we make all of our decisions as a Sara Greenfield of Plymouth, Brian plays. "We hope our programs will be provocative, interesting and accessible. group:' says Paskin, who shares artistic Holden of Traverse City, Ali Kresch of New F York, Nick Lang of Franklin and Alex Polcyn of Highland. "Kate and I had seed money and dona- tions from family members to get this all started," says Paskin, looking ahead to a longer production planned at another venue. "We're going to have a reception after the first performance to celebrate and hopefully get more funds for the non- profit company." Founding members of the theater com- pany hope they can expand to include guest artists in future productions. Balancing studies and Fat City means keeping academics first. "I'm really getting an appreciation for the business side of theater:' says Paskin, scouting more permanent space. "I hope we'll continue to grow." Ell See Eat Our Shorts 8 p.m. Sunday-Monday, Jan. 15-16, at the Kerrytown Concert House, 415 N. Fourth Ave., in Ann Arbor. $5-$10. (734) 769-2999. New Sparks SoulFarm "unwinds" in "spiritual" concert at Young Israel of Oak Park. • N oah Solomon Chase and C The two start-up members of Lanzbom were driving across SoulFarm captured their style of com- bining musical sounds from their Jewish America as singers and multi- instrumentalists heritage with world music styles. They when a farmer in bring original one audience invit- songs from their ed them to stay at half-dozen CDs to a his place overnight suburban concert 8 and offered them a p.m. Saturday, Jan. "soul farmer's 14, at Young Israel breakfast" in the of Oak Park. The morning. sponsor is the Both entertain- Young Israel ers liked the sound C Lanzbom and Noah Solomon Chase Council of and sense of the Metropolitan phrase "soul farm- of SoulFarm Detroit, the ing" and quickly umbrella organiza- decided to turn it tion for Young Israel of Oak Park and into the name for what would become Young Israel of Southfield. sometimes a duo and sometimes a quar- "Unwind," from our latest CD, could be tet. 52 January 12 2006 called our signature song right now," says Chase, 36, who explains that at other times he and Lanzbom appear with Mark Ambrosino on drums and vocals and Jeff Langston on bass. "It's about enjoying life and its small moments. It's about enjoying nature — the moonlight and the stars above." The performance will he considered spiritual rather than religious. "The two of us have been together for 10 years," Chase says. "We met in Israel and later moved to New York. We shared a vision of wanting to create something that hadn't been heard before by com- bining music in ways that gives off some new sparks." The original members, who define some of their work as "new American music," generally work together to write their songs. Chase, as the lead singer, tends to focus on the lyrics. They record on their own label, Desert Rock Records. Besides appearing in their own con- certs, SoulFarm has toured other coun- tries and opened for big-name enter- tainers, including Bruce Hornsby, Shawn Colvin and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. "We draw from our heritage and hope to move people from all walks of life," says Chase, who hasn't been in Michigan for a few years. "We play only organic instruments, and we include Jewish themes." 0 SoulFarm performs 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, at Young Israel of Oak Park, 15140 W. 10 Mile. $25. (248) 352-6550.