Wednesday, May 18, 2022,
6:30pm – 8:30pm ET
In Person at the Weitzman

Weitzman Members Only
Free with suggested $10 donation
Registration Required- Click Here

Enjoy this teaser!

Members of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History are welcomed to join for this exclusive evening of kibbitz, nosh, and the exclusive premiere of a tribute to an American Klezmer legend. When the doors open at 6:30pm, Weitzman members will schmooze on the concourse while enjoying homemade babka as well as wine and champagne. After the schmooze, the event will move into the theater for an exclusive premiere of the show N*A*F*T*U*L*E, which uses original handmade art, live music and narration to tell a story about the American Klezmer legend, Naftule Brandwein. The performance will followed by a Q&A with the artists.

In an effort to protect the most vulnerable members of our community we ask that all attendees ages 5 & older present proof of vaccination for COVID-19 upon entering the museum. Attendees will also be required to wear a face covering while in the theater.

What is a Crankie?

A crankie is a scrolled panorama. It is a visual aid to storytelling and song. The crankie itself is a modern term for a very old idea. If you want to imagine the construction of a crankie, think the torah scrolls but with pictures. In its most basic form is a long scroll that provides the visual narration to a story or song. Versions of the crankie have been around for hundreds of years if not longer. Its most recent iteration has a direct link to an 1800s trend of moving panoramas. While these pre-cinema moving pictures all but faded away, in recent years, young artists have begun to embrace the intimacy of the format, using hand cranked (thus crankie) scrolls to slow down the minds of overstimulated audiences. The result is an intimate visual bridge in which to allow the words of a storyteller or singer to connect to an audience.

About the Performance

N*A*F*T*U*L*E
In the 1920s’ a virtuoso of the klezmer clarinet went electric. A small part of the story of Natfule Brandwein, the eccentric Jewish musical virtuoso who shined bright in the first half of the 20th century. N*A*F*T*U*L*E is a collaboration between visual artist Tine Kinderman, musician Michael Winograd, and Josh Kohn.

About the Artists
Tine Kindermann is a visual artist and musician from Berlin, Germany, who has been living and working in New York City since 1993. A figurative artist working in various media, her work, which includes painting, miniature tableaux and dioramas, video and sculpture, has been shown at Stephen Romano Gallery, the Governors Island Art Fair, RePop, Mark Miller Gallery and other galleries in New York City, as well as Neurotitan Gallery and Gallery Kurt im Hirsch in Berlin.

Clarinetist Michael Winograd lives in Brooklyn, NY.  He is a performer and composer of Klezmer, Eastern European Jewish wedding and celebration music. He performs internationally with his band the Honorable Mentshn, and plays regularly with today’s premier klezmer musicians.  Michael has shared the stage with Itzhak Perlman, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Frank London, Budowitz and countless others.  He is a member of Pneuma Quartet, and co-founded Sandaraa along with Pakistani super star Zeb Bangash.  In 2016 Michael recorded the opening track for Vulfpeck’s LP “The Beautiful Game,” and has since been a regular guest with them in concert, including a sold out show and live recording at Madison Square Garden in 2019.  Michael is a founder of the Yiddish New York festival, now embarking on it’s 6th edition.  He served as Artistic Director of KlezKanada from 2016-2021.

Ira Khonen Temple is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and embedded cultural organizer. Recent credits include accordionist for Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, and music director of Indecent at the Weston Playhouse, Great Small Works’ Muntergang and Other Cheerful Downfalls, the Aftselakhis Spectacle Committe Purimshpil, and Zoe Beloff’s Days of the Commune. Ira is a founder of the radical-traditional Yiddish music group Tsibele.

Josh Kohn is the Associate Director at the Center for Cultural Vibrancy. He first heard of the story of Naftule Brandwein electrocuting himself in front of Meyer Lansky after a performance with Michael Winograd several years ago. Not a day went by where he didn’t dream longingly of seeing that story as a crankie. He worked on this script with the help of Tine, Michael, his wife Marianne, and his three-year-old daughter Golda who, despite the provenance of her name, is not a fan of Naftule Brandwein (yet).