SOLO IN THE CITY: JEWISH WOMEN, JEWISH STARS Begins at Baruch Tonight

SOLO IN THE CITY: JEWISH WOMEN, JEWISH STARS is a solo performance series which will be presented throughout March at Baruch Performing Arts Center. The series will feature seven leading and emerging NYC-based soloists including Sandra Bernhard, Tovah Feldshuh, Judy Gold, and Jackie Hoffman performing one-woman shows and a special opening lecture/film event. The Baruch Performing Arts Center is located on the campus of Baruch College in Manhattan on East 25th Street between Lexington & 3rd Aves.

The series is co-presented with Baruch College's Jewish Studies Center, and co-sponsered by the Jewish Women Archives. Ticket prices vary by each event, and can be purchased online at www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac, by phone at 646-312-5073, or in person at the box office at 55 Lexington Ave. (enter E. 25th St. between Lexington & 3rd Aves.)

The performers in SOLO IN THE CITY: JEWISH WOMEN, JEWISH STARS include:

Sandra Bernhard: I Love Being Me, Don't You?
Friday, March 8, 2013, 8pm
Stage and screen comic diva Sandra Bernhard who broke into the industry with the hit 1983 Martin Scorsese film The King of Comedy and well-known for her role in the TV show Roseanne delivers her unique biting blend of music and monologue with her one-woman show I Love Being Me, Don't You? In this 90 minute performance, accompanied by Mitch Kaplan on piano, diehard Bernhard fans will love her satirical stabs at pop culture icons, and follow her personal memories from hometown Scottsdale to adult-town L.A., and then some. Currently on national tour, I Love Being Me, Don't You? couldn't be more unique and idiosyncratic. $50 -$70. ($70 tickets include VIP seating in the first 4 rows, and a meet-and-greet reception following the show).

Jackie Hoffman: Jackie Hoffman Live
Saturday, March 9, 2013, 8pm
The Obie-winning actress, best known for her roles in TV's The New Normal, the film Kissing Jessica Stein, and the Broadway musicals The Addams Family and Hairspray, performs a special solo comedy show. Hoffman gets "in your face, up close and personal" as she reflects upon her life, not so friendly friends, family, and experiences in the entertainment industry of New York City. From "fachadick' relatives to friends, co-workers and pop culture icons, everyone is on trial in Jackie Hoffman's show. $40.

Tovah Feldshuh: Tovah Out Of Her Mind!
Sunday, March 10, 2013, 2pm
The Tony-nominated and Drama Desk-winning actress who holds the record for the most Broadway performances in a one-woman show returns to Baruch Performing Arts Center after originating the lead role in the 2008 play "Irena's Vow", which later moved to Broadway. In Tovah Out Of Her Mind!, Ms. Feldshuh sings songs from Gershwin to Judy Collins and inhabits a gallery of hilarious characters ranging from socialite Muffy Brooke Asthma Alsop on Park Avenue to Grandma Ada in the Bronx. $55.

Sheba Mason: Conceiving Sheba Mason
Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 7:30pm
In Conceiving Sheba Mason, the up-and-coming comedienne tells hilarious and often scandalous stories of her own personal life as the illegitimate daughter of the famed comic star Jackie Mason, and her upbringing with an extremely liberal and single Jewish mother. Her rise on the comic scene at local and nationwide comic clubs has demonstrated that, as controversial as it is, her unique comedy view is resonating and timely, and always original. $25.

Rachael Sage: Songs for Sexy Yentas
Thursday, March 28, 2013, 7:30pm
Rachael Sage recently released her tenth album, "Haunted by You," on MPress Records. Named one of the Top 100 Independent Artists of the Past 15 Years by Performing Songwriter magazine, this American singer/songwriter, who has shared stages with musicians Sarah McLachlan, Judy Collins and Marc Cohn, performs her unique style of chamber/pop with violin and cello. Her performances combine musicianship with between-song banter, exactly what the New York Times dubbed, "Sage's inner Fanny Brice." Sage claims her musical interests began during her early teens, when she created demos on a 4-track recording system that she received as a Bat-Mitzvah present. $25.

Pianist Inna Faliks: Three Jewish Composers, Three Centuries
Saturday, March 30, 2013, 8pm
This award-winning Ukrainian-born classical pianist has performed at Carnegie Hall, Chicago's Orchestra Hall and Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall, among a multitude of other international recital halls and orchestras. As part of the series, Faliks will perform her special lecture/concert titled Three Jewish Composers, Three Centuries with compositions by Arnold Shoenberg (19th century), George Gershwin (20th century), and Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin (21st century). $25.

Judy Gold: 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother
Sunday, March 31, 2013, 2pm
This two-time Daytime Emmy winning comic and SiriusXM radio host has performed on HBO and on stages and clubs across the country. She brings her warmth and humor in 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother where she incorporates her own adventures in Jewish motherdom and her memories of growing up Jewish in suburban New Jersey with the voices of 50 Jewish mothers. This show reminds us why audiences across the country have fallen in love with Judy Gold, and why the LGBT communities are gaga for Judy Gold. $30.

SOLO IN THE CITY: JEWISH WOMEN, JEWISH STARS will also feature a special opening dialogue and film event titled Making Trouble, Making History: Jewish Women in Art and Entertainment, presented on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 6pm. The event will begin with selected clips of the 2006 comic documentary film Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women, featuring two of the series' performers (Jackie Hoffman and Judy Gold). Following the film is an onstage dialogue that examines and explores influences made by Jewish women on the American entertainment industry. The discussion will be moderated by writer and Brandeis University professor Joyce Antler, who has written numerous books and articles on the topic. The panelists include filmmaker Suzanne Wasserman and art critic Gail Levin. This special event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a reception in the center's lobby. Reservations for this event may be made at 646-312-5073.

Under the leadership of Managing Director John Malatesta, Baruch Performing Arts Center (BPAC) was launched by the School of Arts at Baruch College in September 2003 to present professional theater, music, dance, film and dialogues for the general public of the NYC metropolitan area. With a large black box theater and an intimate recital hall, John Malatesta has presented an annual fall and spring season of classic and contemporary theater at BPAC, with plays from resident companies The Acting Company, Ripe Time Productions, Folksbiene, and Wakka Wakka Productions. For the center, Malatesta also presents a year-long season of chamber and jazz music, including a bi-annual residency with the critically-acclaimed Alexander String Quartet. Concert series includes the Silberman Chamber Music Series, the Milt Hinton Jazz Series, the Concert Meister Series, NYC Classical Guitar Society, Repast Baroque, NY Flute Club and NY Piano Society. Plays presented at Baruch Performing Arts Center have been nominated for Drama Desk and Drama League Awards. Many high-profile actors have performed at Baruch Performing Arts Center, including F. Murray Abraham, Lynn Redgrave, Richard Dreyfus, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jay O. Sanders, Richard Easton, Dana Ivey, Mary Beth Peil, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tovah Feldshuh, who starred in the lead role of the 2008 play "Irena's Vow" at the center, which moved to Broadway in the winter of 2009. The noted musicians Wynton Marsalis, Tito Puente, Milt Hinton and George Winston, among a multitude of others, have performed in BPAC's recital hall, which holds a Steinway Classic Grand Piano and was called "an ideal hall for chamber music" by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times. All performances for Solo in the City will take place in the recital hall at Baruch Performing Arts Center at 55 Lexington Ave in NYC, Box Office (646) 312-5073, www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac.

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