At once personal and communal, accessible and experimental, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff is inspired by the year Alicia Jo Rabins spent as an artist-in-residence in a dilapidated office on Wall Street during 2008's Great Recession.
The piece combines storytelling, animation and original music with Rabins' unique vantage point as a Jewish-American artist working with ancient texts and traditions. Originally premiered as a critically acclaimed chamber-rock opera at Joe’s Pub in NYC, the live show has since toured to theaters, universities and festivals, where it was enthusiastically received by audiences and press alike - including being named one of the Portland, Oregon's ten best theater performances of 2014 by the Willamette Week.
Ten years later, questions of power, wealth and deception in American society have only grown more urgent.
In A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff: The Film, director Alicia J. Rose will bring Rabins’ songs and story from stage to screen, from past to present — maintaining the original narrative while also drawing a thread between the massively destabilizing global financial crash of 2008, and our current era of profound ethical and moral uncertainty.
Like the live show, A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff: The Film explores the story of Bernie Madoff and the system that allowed him to function for decades. Documentary research, ancient spiritual texts, and music combine to reflect Rabins' unique perspective as a Jewish-American woman who watched the events unfold up close. In feature film form, show will replace tell as we witness Rabins in an actual abandoned office floor of a high-rise, captured in Wall Street surrounded by the actual pulsing heart of inspiration for the project. Stunning animations by Zak Margolis will complete the immersive visual treatment.
**Exciting news: we have a generous donor who has offered to match donations up to $20,000! So every dollar you donate will be doubled!**
Meeting our goal will allow us to carry out production (filming) in Portland, Oregon this fall. For those of you interested in the big picture, we will still need to raise an additional $30,000 to complete the project, and any additional funds raised will go directly to post-production expenses.
Please contact us if you are interested in other perks or rewards not listed here - we are happy to dream up something with you!