The cast of The Hub/Killing My Lobster Purim-related sketch comedy show The Whole Megillah 2: Uncut includes, from left, Alex Hersler, Andy Alabran, Millie DeBenet, Danny Webber and Wylie Herman. The show is at The Jewish Theater and, for one night, at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Photo by Pak Han
The year always goes by so quickly. March 7 and 8 – next week, people – is Purim already. Where does the time go?
If you haven’t made your festive Purim plans, you should go see The Whole Megillah 2: Uncut, a co-production of The Hub at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and sketch comedy troupe Killing My Lobster. For a second year, the Lobsters, with help from The Hub’s Dan Wolf, lampoons all things Purim while adhering to the Purim tradition of telling tales from the Book of Esther, otherwise known as the Megillah.
I interviewed Wolf and Lobster Creative Director Andy Alabran for a story in the San Francisco Chronicle. Read the story here.
In the story, Wolf discusses the genesis of this Megillah:
“People have been dressing up and enjoying this story for centuries,” Wolf says. “When I called Andy to tell him my idea, I knew we could do two things: uphold the tradition of telling the story, and have a lot of fun. I talked to people at the JCC, and they agreed. We’re always so serious. There’s a time when it’s OK to lighten up. Purim is one of those times.”
The notion of dressing up was one way Wolf and the comedy writers at Killing My Lobster approached their “Megillah.” “I wanted it to be traditional, I wanted it to be contemporary and I wanted it to be very San Francisco,” Wolf says.
To that end, a video was created featuring a stellar roster of San Francisco drag queens enjoying cocktails and telling the Purim story. Happily, this video is available on YouTube. Please enjoy.
And now we have chapters 3 and 4…
And as a bonus prize, we have Alabran learning why delicious hamantaschen prune cookies are known as “Haman’s Hat.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The Whole Megillah 2: Uncut, presented by Killing My Lobster and the Hub, continues through March 10 at The Jewish Theater, 470 Florida St., San Francisco. Additional performance March 7 at Kanbar Hall at Kanbar Hall at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St. Tickets are $15-$30. Call 415-292-1233 or visit www.jccsf.org.