“Bear in performance is to reading his books what a live rock show is to listening to the album – so much better. So much richer! And you’ll never read his work the same way off the page again, not without thinking of the side stories and hilarious faces.
– Carol Queen, Author/Performance Artist
The First Jew In Canada: A Trans Tale
“absorbing… amusing…a richly textured story about two remarkable lives.” - Toronto Star, Critic’s Pick
“skillful…deeply affecting…funny and sad and sweet and difficult and true, a “Bear” hug of a show” - Broadway World
““The best solo show I have ever seen! People should rush out to see this… brilliant writing, incredible performance.” - Cup Of Hemlock Theatre Podcast
“Puts the trans in transcendent…a solo show with a sense of heart and honesty that’ll leave your cheeks wet and your chest warm” - Intermission Magazine
In 1738, a young transgender man named Jacques LaFargue set off from France to what is now Quebec City, determined to make for himself a new life. The First Jew In Canada: A Trans Tale is his story, embroidered onto the bones of nine verifiable facts about his life and existence, interwoven with the modern experience of a trans and Jewish immigrant to Canada three hundred years later. A thrilling and illuminating tale, The First Jew In Canada takes its audience on a stubbornly Jewish journey of optimism, faith, and joy - including the joy of finding an ancestor you never knew you had.
Audiences 12+. Run time of 55 minutes.
Click to download more information about bringing a performance of this show to your school, organization, synagogue or conference. A fantastic option for Pride or TDOV programming, history or theatre conferences.
STORYTELLING PERFORMANCE
Writer, storyteller, gender-jammer and raconteur S. Bear Bergman takes the stage with a mouthful of tender, teasing, complicated, challenging joyful words. Reading and performing from his extensive published work as well as new, unpublished pieces, Bear brings twenty-five years of performance training and a lifetime of storytelling experience to their performances – fresh, funny, and incredibly engaging.
Bear is more than happy to curate performances around certain themes, to suit the needs of groups or communities. Commonly requested themes are family, pride, sex and sexuality, growing up different, and Judaism, but feel free to ask about any topic or topics that might fit your needs. Without specific direction, Bear will generally choose a mix of stories – some funny and some more thoughtful, some classics and some new work. Readings almost always include at least one piece of unpublished work, and sometimes more.
Come enjoy the snap and crackle of a live show – something that cannot be repeated, paused, or saved; performed only for the warm souls that show up.
Also available, upon request:
* Improv Storytime, where the audience asks for the story topic and Bear tells a fresh, unrehearsed story spun out of road snacks into gold.
* Q&A afterward, where after a short break Bear will answer questions about art, craft, identity, culture and the mix of them all.
* Post-performance talk with theatre or writing classes about the differences between writing for publication and writing for performance (and when it’s possible to bridge that distance).
Gender Reveal Party
How much brave new performance can your participants make in a weekend?
• An opportunity to for audiences to experience the fullness of local trans and nonbinary people’s beauty, joy, and humanity.
• A safe space for trans and nonbinary community members to create without fear of censorship or gender-policing.
• The most fun (and tastiest!) gender diversity education you’ll ever offer to your local community.
Gender Reveal Party is an amazing, innovative contribution to the world of trans and nonbinary art, in which award-winning storyteller and writer S. Bear Bergman works with a cohort of 8 - 12 local tg/nb/gq people - whether or not they have performance experience - and helps them to devise a piece of performance about their personal gender or feelings about gender as a whole, which they then perform for an audience. It’s an empowering experience and a rare and exciting artistic opportunity for them, and whole new world for the audience as well, from the time they accept their hats to their last bit of celebration cake.
Click to download more information about Gender Reveal Party!
