Michael Kaye calls his hometown a shtetl. Like any shtetl, it comes complete with a few shuls, a kosher butcher shop and a nice Jewish bookstore. The name of his shtetl: Berkeley, U.S.A.
And in this shtetl, the Jews like to tell their stories.
An actor and writer, Kaye also includes Jewish storyteller on his resume, a pursuit he enjoys so much he decided to stage a whole evening of it in Berkeley.
Kaye’s “Stories from the Shtetl: A Night of Master Storytellers” takes place Wednesday, Nov. 2 at the Subter-ranean Arthouse in Berkeley. Joining Kaye on the bill are Alicia Datner, Will Franklin and Joshua Safran.
The latter is a Berkeley lawyer-cum-raconteur. The other two are professional standup comedians, but all have a knack for storytelling so mesmerizing that Kaye added them to his lineup.
“The stories they tell are all autobiographical,” he says. “Will and Alicia will pepper their work with funny material, mostly stories from their lives that have a relationship to Jewish-themed experience.”
He considers Berkeley a shtetl because of the Jewish institutions there, from synagogues to the JCC of the East Bay to the Afikomen Judaica store. “These different places where Jews come together collectively create a state of shtetl,” Kaye says.
So what makes a story a Jewish story? The Chassidic tales are famously redolent of mysticism and the Old Country. Other Jewish stories center on family, wandering or strange interludes.
Kaye says there’s no simplistic answer to the question, but for a story to be Jewish, it has to “invoke a certain amount of suffering.
“There must be some tension and angst in there somewhere,” he notes. “Probably some form of redemption. Most Jewish stories end up where things work out. In the tradition of Jewish storytelling, there’s something larger at play. In my own work I hope [the stories] bring out deeper questions.”
He won’t tip his hand by detailing the story he plans to tell, but Kaye does say the story is “unusual,” and one that “most people will be shocked to hear. It’s basically a story of my attempt to fulfill myself by reaching out to a celebrity.”
Want to know more? Pull up a chair and listen.
Kaye’s fascination for Jewish storytelling goes back years. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to Reform Jewish parents, then moved with his family to Brooklyn. Eventually they relocated to Fresno, where he spent his teen years.
After his bar mitzvah, he dropped his connection to Judaism until he began studying mystical traditions, including the Jewish variety, as an undergrad at U.C. Berkeley.
A visit to Israel when he was 27, especially his first time at the Kotel, locked in his Jewish reawakening. He joined an Orthodox synagogue in New York City, where he was living at the time, and gradually became more observant.
At the same time, he pursued his interest in writing and performing. He performed at local clubs, and studied other storytellers (as opposed to comedians) to master the form. Eventually Kaye moved back to the Bay Area.
Kaye is also a mashgiach (certified kashrut inspector). His main client: Hagafen Winery in Napa County. There, he might spend a typical day running 10 tons of Cabernet grapes through a crusher then shoveling out the muck by hand.
But that’s another story.
As for his night of Jewish storytelling, Kaye says he got the idea because, like any enterprising person, he saw a need that required attention.
“In general, there is no [Jewish]
storytelling series ongoing and strong,” he says. “I know so many people have great Jewish stories. There’s a tradition of storytelling among Jews that is long, rich and wonderful.”
Wonderful enough, he hopes, to inspire audiences to think about their own Jewish stories.
“It’s not like a magic show where we bring up volunteers from the audience,” he says, “but I’m hoping people will come to this and begin to think, ‘I’ve got a story, too.’”
“Stories from the Shtetl: A Night of Master Storytellers” takes place 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2 at the Subterranean Arthouse, 2179 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. $10.
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