Goldstar

The popular Giants of Jazz on Film series features The Great Jazz Singers. Jazz scholar and collector Mark Cantor presents and narrates ultra-rare film clips from his private collection, featuring classic performances by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nat "King" Cole, Sarah Vaughan and many more legendary vocalists. Learn more...

Rabbi David Weiss Halivni is a survivor of Auschwitz and one of the greatest Talmudic scholars of the past century. Rabbi Michael Berenbaum, leading scholar of the Holocaust, joins Weiss-Halivni for a conversation about Jewish theology after Auschwitz. Learn more...

What will these masters of political satire have to say about President Obama? With 28 comedy albums under their belt, the former Congressional staffers throw political jabs from the right and punch lines from the left in a show that delivers knock-out laughs. Learn more...

British journalist and novelist Chris Cleave (Incendiary, Little Bee) is earning increasing fame for his provocative, witty explorations of selfishness, ethical struggles, and the limits of human decency. He speaks at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Learn more...

Rabbi Marc Schneier and Martin Luther King III discuss Cooperation and Conflict: Relations Between African Americans and Jews. These two prominent leaders engage in candid conversation about Jewish-African American relations, addressing both problems and solutions, from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Barack Obama. Learn more...

Cantor Roslyn Barak offers her signature blend of discussion and music in her new multimedia show Shakin' the Blues Away: The Genius of Irving Berlin. Barak presents a fascinating exploration of Berlin's Jewish roots and his influence on America's musical culture, and ends with a sing-along of Berlin's most beloved tunes. Learn more...

The great Theodore Bikel brings Sholom Aleichem and his colorful characters to life in Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears. Singing and speaking in English and Yiddish, Bikel brings to life the world of one of the world's great storytellers. Learn more...

Israeli-Canadian jazz star Sophie Milman's coolly expressive voice led her 2007 album Make Someone Happy to the top of the iTunes and Billboard jazz charts, and earned her a JUNO Award for Best Vocal Jazz Album. She's performed sold-out shows at the Blue Note, Hollywood Bowl and the Kennedy Center. Learn more...

Mark Cantor's acclaimed Giants of Jazz on Film series brings rare filmed performances by the world's greatest jazz legends to the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Jazz on the Tube features live TV performances from the 1950s and '60s, by legendary artists ranging from Louis Armstrong and Count Basie to Charlie Parker and Art Tatum. Learn more...

Wasserstein's hit comedy reunites three Jewish-American sisters: Sara, the head of an international bank who is "assimilated beyond her wildest dreams"; Pfeni, a globetrotting journalist; and Gorgeous, a housewife, mother and Massachusetts radio personality. Offering sharp truths on what divides relatives and what draws them together, the play explores how women define themselves through romances, careers and family. Learn more...

Atul Gawande discusses his newest book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. The New Yorker staff writer, Harvard professor, general surgeon and author of Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance and Complications finds a remedy for grievous medical errors in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. Learn more...

Romanian poet, novelist, and essayist Andrei Codrescu is known for his audacious cultural commentary on All Things Considered. In particular, he is recognized for his critically-acclaimed coverage on the Romanian Revolution in 1989. He is also the founder of the online literary journal Exquisite Corpse. Codrescu will discuss his life and works with Barbara Lane, Director of Lectures and Literature for JCCSF. Learn more...

The Great Broadway Sing-Along mixes performance with audience participation in an evening of classic show tunes. Producer Ellie Mednick and an outstanding cast perform well-known songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein, the Gershwins, Porter, Sondheim and Berlin, from hit shows like West Side Story, Mary Poppins, Hair and Billy Elliot. This popular event is suitable for the whole family. Learn more...

Master storyteller Brenda Wong Aoki presents Return of the Sun. This unique and colorful version of the Japanese legend of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess features Indian, Afro-Peruvian, Mayan and Korean dance companies alongside Aoki, whose style is based on Japan's Noh and Kyogen drama. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco presents Irving Berlin's I Love a Piano. In this blockbuster musical revue, six talented singers will perform more than 60 songs. Berlin wrote many of American music's most unforgettable tunes, from "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "There's No Business Like Show Business" to "God Bless America" and "White Christmas." Learn more...

Barry Jenkins' feature film is a love story of bikes and one-night stands told through two African-American twenty-somethings dealing with issues of class, identity and the evolving conundrum of being a minority in rapidly gentrifying San Francisco - the city with the smallest proportional black population of any major American city. Starring Wyatt Cenac (The Daily Show) and Tracey Heggins (Fashion House). Director Barry Jenkins joins San Francisco Film Society Director Graham Leggat following the film. Learn more...

Argentina's Marcelo Moguilevsky and Cesar Lerner bring their innovative take on traditional klezmer music to Kanbar Hall. For two decades, The Lerner Moguilevsky Duo have been combining musical elements from Argentinian folk music, jazz, contemporary music, and tango -- along with a strong sense of improvisation -- with the centuries-old Jewish folk sounds of klezmer to wow audiences worldwide. Learn more...

Trey McIntyre has taken the national dance scene by storm with his fresh, barrier-breaking choreography and innovative use of technology. McIntyre's young company's San Francisco debut is a thrilling multimedia performance that intertwines ballet onstage with magnificent HD footage of dancing in Montana's Glacier National Park. Learn more...

Michael Bishop, the Nobel Prize-winning Chancellor of UC San Francisco, and KQED host Michael Krasny discuss The Future of Cancer at Kanbar Hall. Bishop will focus on the cutting edge of cancer research and treatment, including the short- and long-term strategies that are emerging to combat the genetic malfunction at the root of cancer. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco welcomes author Gregory Maguire, whose novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West inspired the Tony Award-winning hit musical Wicked. His other best-selling novels include Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, and Son of a Witch. Learn more...

In The Tumblers, a group of World War II-era Jews board a train headed for the circus instead of a death camp. To make their escape, they camouflage themselves as acrobats and perform before an audience of Nazi sympathizers. This is a staged reading from Nathan Englander's bestselling short story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. Learn more...

Novelist and screenwriter Barry Gifford visits the Jewish Community Center to read from his latest work. The Imagination of the Heart serves as the final novel in a "neo-noir" series that started with Wild at Heart, which was adapted by David Lynch into a film starring Nicolas Cage. Gifford also co-wrote the screenplay to Lynch's Lost Highway. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center welcomes author Francine Prose (The Glorious Ones, A Changed Man) for a discussion about the legacy of Anne Frank and her Diary of a Young Girl. Prose argues that Anne Frank's book was intended for the public, and offers an appreciation of Diary as the work of an ambitious and talented young writer. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center presents a conversation with author Julia Glass, hosted by bestselling author Michelle Richmond (The Year of Fog). The Massachusetts-based Glass is the author of novels The Whole World Over and I See You Everywhere. Her 2002 debut novel, Three Junes, won the National Book Award. Learn more...

Eric Bogosian, award-winning playwright (Talk Radio), actor (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), and novelist (Wasted Beauty, Mall) speaks about his life, career, and Untitled, his latest novel which recreates the landscape and atmosphere of downtown New York. Learn more...

Rova Saxophone Quartet returns to the JCCSF for another ground-breaking collaboration. Featuring acclaimed Berlin digital-animation artist Lillevan and an international crew of music giants from the field of improvised music, the show will consist of a suite of pieces in which the musician's sounds influence the spontaneously composed film images, and the in-time digital animation inspires the music. Learn more...

Holocaust scholar Saul Friedlander speaks at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. With The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939 and The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945, Friedlander has written the definitive historical work on Nazi Germany's murder of Europe's Jews. Friedlander, whose parents died at Auschwitz, received the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 Learn more...

TheatreworksUSA presents a delightful collection of mini-musicals based on favorite children's storybooks, including Amazing Grace, Owen, Martha Speaks, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Borreguita and the Coyote, Master Man, Math Curse and Imogene's Antlers. Learn more...

Biblical scholar Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg speaks at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Her latest book, The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious, explores biblical commentators' understanding of the interplay between conscious and unconscious levels of experience. In this talk, she'll focus on the story of Ruth. Learn more...

Commissioned by Harvard Law School for the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials, Liz Lerman's Small Dances About Big Ideas uses movement, spoken word and documentary soundscape to examine the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust and more recent atrocities in places like Bosnia and Rwanda. Learn more...

Celebrate Cab's 100th birthday year by revisiting the fabulous Cotton Club of the 1920s and 1930s, when jazz ruled the day and the nightclubs. Catch clips of Calloway onstage, as well as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lena Horne and many more. Learn more...

As the amount of media that kids consume has risen over the past few decades, so too has the prevalence of unhealthy and risky behaviors that kids learn from the media, including aggression, obesity, substance abuse and unsafe sexual behavior. In a lecture at Kanbar Hall, Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer offers practical tools for combating these negative effects. Learn more...

Three-time Grammy nominees Trout Fishing in America bring an infectious mix of folk/pop and family music to Kanbar Hall. The band draws on the wide-ranging influences of reggae, Latin, blues, jazz and classical music to create a unique sound the whole family will enjoy. Learn more...

Richard Milner's one-man musical about the life and times of Charles Darwin has been hailed by critics as "the thinking person's musical." Milner, a noted anthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History, delights audiences of all ages with his witty blend of song, history, science and madness. Learn more...

Contemporary classical composer John Adams joins California historian Kenneth Starr for a conversation about music at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Adams is best known for groundbreaking works like Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, which blend opera, classical, and experimental and pop music to illuminate recent political events. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco's annual Purim singles party features dancing to music provided by DJ Switched ON Audio. This festive evening includes snacking, drinking and dance lessons taught by a professional belly dancer. Costumes are optional, but prizes will be awarded for the most original costumes. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco presents Dean Cameron's Nigerian Spam Scam Scam. In this show, a hit across the country and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Cameron tells the story of his absurd, deliberately misleading messages to an email con man, weaving his experience into a hilarious multimedia comedy about a relationship built on misunderstanding, desperation and deception. Learn more...

Frank Ferrante presents his portrayal of Groucho Marx, which has been seen on PBS, and in sold-out shows in New York and London. This fast-paced comedy consists of legendary Groucho one-liners, anecdotes and songs including "Hooray for Captain Spalding" and "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady." When he's not playing Groucho, Ferrante is an award-winning actor and playwright, and an audience favorite at San Francisco's famous Teatro ZinZanni. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco welcomes Azadeh Moaveni. A foreign correspondent for Time, Moaveni was one of the few female correspondents allowed to work in Iran. She'll provide a candid account of her experiences, which are the basis for her new book Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran. Learn more...

Part coming-of-age story, part political thriller, and part paean to soccer, this Academy Award-nominated Brazilian drama tells the story of Mauro, a boy left in the care of his Jewish grandfather's neighbor when his political activist parents are forced to go underground. The boy discovers a diverse neighborhood, all of whom are transfixed by iconic soccer star Pelé and the 1970 World Cup. Learn more...

Author Ann Packer discusses her recently released second novel, Songs Without Words, at the Jewish Community Center. Her new book is an uncanny observation of contemporary American domestic life that takes readers inside a lifelong friendship pushed to the breaking point. It follows her debut, The Dive from Clausen's Pier, which was a national bestseller and critical success. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco welcomes Tin Hat. This chamber ensemble has become known for their innovative, whimsical performances, which fuse genres and moods in unexpected and delightful ways. In preparation for an upcoming recording, they'll be playing alongside the Bay Area's Magik*Magik Orchestra. Learn more...

Popular speaker, Internet expert and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain will discuss and screen clips from her latest features, including the still-in-production Connected: A Declaration of Interdependence, as well as her award-winning The Tribe, which used Barbie dolls to tackle the challenging issue of Jewish identity. Shlain has been honored as one of Newsweek's "Women Shaping the 21st Century," and she is also the founder of The Webby Awards. Learn more...

The words of Bernard Malamud will explode into vivid theatrical life when Traveling Jewish Theatre brings the author's two most celebrated stories to the stage in the style of the Word for Word Performing Arts Company. The Magic Barrel centers on a hapless rabbinical student's encounter with a mysterious, herring-eating matchmaker. The Jewbird is Malamud's darkly hilarious fable of assimilation and identity. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco welcomes Hâlau o Keikiali'i. This leading San Francisco-based Hula group presents an evening of powerful dance, beautiful chanting and exquisite costumes. The performance includes both traditional (Hula Kahiko) and modern (Hula 'Auana) styles. Learn more...

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco presents a screening of Wondrous Oblivion. This inspiring tale of tolerance and loyalty stars Delroy Lindo as a Jamaican immigrant to London circa 1960, whose friendship with a young Jewish boy is kindled by a mutual love of cricket and tested by his narrow-minded neighbors. Learn more...

Martin S. Indyk, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, was a key member of President Clinton's Middle East peace team. Now a Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Indyk shares an insider's account of U.S. diplomacy, gives his analysis of the current Gaza crisis, and offers his suggestions for creating peace in the troubled region. Learn more...

Clowns, acrobats, contortionists and more light up the stage in the astounding New Pickle Circus's annual engagement at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Pickle Family veterans and Circus Center students delight audiences of all ages with their amazing performances. Learn more...

Based on original transcripts from the famous 1925 State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes "Monkey Trial," this staged radio play's subject is still relevant and controversial. The specifics may have changed - what was once a battle between science and faith is today reframed as an argument pitting evolution against intelligent design - but the passions behind The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial endure. Learn more...

Hailed by The New York Times as "one of the ten best choreographers in the world," Lar Lubovitch makes dances that resonate with an essential humanity - and celebrate the sheer joy of dancing. This evening's program, celebrating his company's 40th anniversary, features the classic Men's Stories: A Concerto in Ruins and other dances. Learn more...

JCCSF presents Tony Curtis in conversation with Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle movie critic. Curtis made comedy history with Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, and carried on notorious romances with many female stars. In his new biography, American Prince, Curtis tells the story of his life and illustrious career, sparing no detail, no name and no ego. Learn more...