The true story of a Jewish pioneer in North Dakota, RACHEL CALOF is a compelling one-woman play with original music. This 80-minute production, suitable to all ages, is performed on a stage set with just a wooden table and two chairs. Actress Kate Fuglei transforms herself into the world of characters that populates Rachel Calof’s life as she triumphs over adversity.
The gripping, humane and yes, humorous story of one woman’s life on the North Dakota prairie in the 1890’s is spellbinding. It works its magic because it is honest, full of detail and suffused with the dreams, hopes and struggles of a young woman and young mother. Looking back on her life, Rachel Calof experiences in aching detail the daily challenges and triumphs of a young Jewish woman who came to North Dakota from a brutal childhood in Russia, with little but the picture of her fiancee, to introduce her to a new world.
A new world with an old world Mother-in-law, a 12’ by 14’ shack in which to live, a husband torn between fealty to his family and his new wife, freezing winters, flocks of chickens and opinionated cows; all these things and more give color, pathos and universality to her story.
RACHEL CALOF is highly unusual in that it addresses an aspect of the American immigrant experience that is rarely seen; the rural lives of Jewish immigrants as well as the day to day existence of a pioneer woman facing marriage, childbirth and carving her own destiny in a harsh and unrelenting environment. She gave the gift of life to nine children who all survived and had children and grandchildren of their own. Many of them have come to see RACHEL CALOF and have given it their blessing. When she was 55 and living in St. Paul she chronicled her story, writing her manuscript in Yiddish, in a stenographer’s notebook, which lay undiscovered until after her death. It was translated and published as RACHEL CALOF’S STORY: JEWISH HOMESTEADER ON THE NORTHERN PLAINS in 1995 by Indiana University Press, and serves as the basis for this one-woman show.
“Little things made the difference
between tragedy and happiness
in a matter of moments.”
-Rachel Calof
Kate toured the nation in the first national Broadway tour of SPRING AWAKENING. She has performed in regional theaters across the country including the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Guthrie, Arena Stage, McCarter Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, A Contemporary Theater and the Rubicon Theater. She can be seen in guest-star and co-star roles in over thirty network television shows , four films for television and eight feature films. She is one of the creators of RACHEL CALOF: A MEMOIR WITH MUSIC . She is the proud mother of Jack LaZebnik and Ben LaZebnik.
Ken LaZebnik co-wrote Robert Altman’s last film, A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor. Of his ten produced plays, two have won citations from The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA). LaZebnik’s most recent play, On the Spectrum, was voted by the ATCA as one of the three best new plays premiered outside New York City. LaZebnik wrote the film Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage, which featured Peter O’Toole. For television, he was a writer/producer for seven years on Touched By An Angel, and has written for Army Wives, When Calls The Heart, and Providence.
THEATER: Bmi musical theater workshop, ASCAP musical theater workshop. Incidental music for Broadway production of “The Price of Genius.” Composer-in-residence for theater company “Dearknows” at Lincoln center NYC, home for contemporary theater and art NYC, Olympia Dukakis’ Whole Theater NJ. “The School of Jolly Dogs a British Music Hall”, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Waterford, CT. FILM: Music for PBS documentaries: Senator Sam; Under the Gun: Democracy in Guatamala, Open Lines by Marjory Steinweiss: Chicago Film Festival, Breckenridge Film Festival, Max Ophuls Film Festival Sarbrucken, Germany. CONCERT MUSIC: Works for piano, string ensembles, orchestra and chorus. More info www.lesliesteinweiss.com.
Ellen S. Pressman is an Emmy award winner whose work has been featured on such acclaimed series as
thirtysomething, L.A. Law, Hill St. Blues, My So-Called Life and Party of Five. Ellen’s early directorial resume includes episodes of Felicity (J.J. Abrams), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon), My So Called Life (Winnie Holzman), as well as Time of Your Life, and Charmed. As a producer, Pressman has received Emmy awards and Golden Globe awards for Best Dramatic series, as well as Humanitas Prize awards, for Hill St. Blues, L.A. Law and thirtysomething. She has directed Rachel Calof throughout its development.
Upcoming Performances:
United Solo Festival at Theater Row
410 West 42nd St, NY, NY
Monday, Nov 16th at 9PM- SOLD OUT
Wednesday, Nov. 18th at 9PM- SOLD OUT
Saturday, Nov 21th at 2PM- SOLD OUT
Sunday, Nov 15th at 7:30PM – BUY TICKETS
Past Performances:
The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas, December 2014
Devils Lake, North Dakota, June 2014
Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, August 2013
Jewish Theater Conference, UCLA, January 2012
FRINGE/New York International Theater Festival, August 2011
John Raitt Theatre, Pepperdine University, February 2011
Ensemble Studio Theatre West, November 2010
Contact us to stay informed about Rachel Calof: A Memoir with Music.
*Required