DROUGHT DOESN’T HURT MITZVAH GARDEN — Despite the drought, it was a wonderful growing season for the Mitzvah Garden. The garden donated an estimated 8,000 pounds of produce to food pantries, outpacing the past two years. Mazel tov to a job well done to all the Mitzvah Garden volunteers.
‘CURTAINS’ DEBUTS NOV. 2 —The Barn Players will present the award-winning stage show “CURTAINS” Nov. 2 through Nov. 18. The musical score is by famed playwright and Jewish Kansas City native John Kander and is rated PG.
“CURTAINS” is the story of a new musical premiering at a Boston theatre in 1959 on its way to the Broadway stage — when the no-talent leading lady is murdered during her curtain call on the opening night of the show the entire cast is suspect — can the Boston detective solve the case? This award-winning musical is the concluding production of the Barn Players’ 2012 season. Tickets may be ordered on line at www.thebarnplayers.org, or by calling 800-838-3006.
DRY BONES TO CREATE HAGGADAH — Cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen, creator of Dry Bones, Israel’s longest-running comic strip, recently launched The Dry Bones Passover Haggadah project on Kickstarter, the world’s largest crowd-funding platform for creative projects. Kirschen hoped to raise a minimum of $5,000 from the ever-expanding Kickstarter community to create the new Haggadah and within a day and half of the Oct. 15 launch, 101 backers had already provided more than that.
Funding through Kickstarter works on an all-or-nothing basis. Project creators set a funding goal and deadline. Interested funders pledge money; if the project reaches its goal, the backers’ credit cards are charged. If the project falls short, no one is charged. If successful, the backers are rewarded for their pledges, no matter how small.
“The beauty of micro-funding,” Kirschen explains, “is that anyone can participate. We’ve set a range of rewards for our backers — pledge even one dollar and we’ll recognize that gift with a certificate. Pledge $10 or more and you’ll get an unprotected eBook (pdf) of the completed Haggadah, and we have gifts of original artwork and more.”
According to the Times of Israel, Kirschen said he’s been dreaming about this project for many years, and loved the idea of being able to fund it without selling the Haggadah through a publisher and going through the commercialized publicity process. He wants “to sit down and do the manuscript,” and then plans on self-publishing the Haggadah on Amazon, using the money raised on Kickstarter.
The Dry Bones Passover Haggadah project will conclude on Kickstarter on Nov. 16. Interested backers can learn more about the project at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/997082407/the-dry-bones-passover-haggadah-by-yaakov-kirschen/.
Correction
The article about the Caviar Family Jewish Scholar in Residence Series published in last week’s edition (Oct. 18) mentioned Dr. Ron Wolfson is coming to the community Nov. 9 as part of the series. Wolfson will actually be here as part of the PJ Library Shabbaton, under the sponsorship of CAJE/Jewish Federation and the JCC. The event will be held that evening, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at K.I. For the cost and additional information, or to register, visit jewishkansascity.org.