Sweet grant for Jewish theatre group
DALIA SABLE
JEWISH educational theatre company Honey Apple Productions’ 2008 tour of the Big Apple has certainly proved fruitful for the emerging performers – the group has just been awarded an Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) grant valued at $21,000.
During its three-week trip last December, Honey Apple’s performance troupe, the Meid’s, staged shows for more than 3000 young students in the New York tri-state area, including 17 schools in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Long Island, Queens and New Jersey.
So impressive were the performances that future tours have been requested, with interest also coming from as far as Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto.
Honey Apple Productions founder and director Ruth Zimmerman said: “It was very excited to receive the grant. It felt like a real milestone and an indication of our growth.
It was also very satisfying to see all the hard work that had gone into organising the Meid’s US tour acknowledged. Both the grant and the tremendous response we received from our audience in the US will enable Honey Apple Productions to continue expanding its market overseas.”
The company was born in response to what Zimmerman perceived as a need for quality entertainment specific to Jewish children.
Taking inspiration from eight years of teaching Jewish studies and music in Melbourne and abroad, she writes all the company’s pantomimes and songs.
The Meid’s will return to Melbourne with their Purim concert early next year.
Enquiries: www.themeidls.com/north-america-tour.htm; www.themeidls.com.
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