By Rick Keitel

Project Director

Shalom! My name is Rich Keitel. Here is an update on how Project Kallah Bet is going…

A quick rundown of my background. I am a full tenured professor of theatre at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. I am also a professional director and equity actor with over 100 productions to my credit. During our first session at camp (Kallah Aleph), I directed “The Prince of Egypt.”  It was a smash hit! The show that I decided to direct for this session is…

Shh!, it’s still a secret!  It is a show I directed in Pittsburgh in 1998 with my college students, and I am every bit as proud of my fantastic GUCI Anaf campers. We are busy rehearsing “The Coolest Musical of all time” (CMOAT). We held auditions the second day of camp and, once again, I’m proud to report that 100% of the Anaf campers were cast! We have an international cast this session, including five amazing Israeli campers, in additional to campers from all over the USA. The Kallah Bet musical has special meaning because we perform during the last week of camp, as all the campers are preparing to say goodbye to each other.

The closing song of the CMOAT is very beautiful and sums up how important friendship is. I’m predicting that there will be very few dry eyes in the audience! The entire cast helps to put on the show by working on various crews – set, props, costumes, and Project Ruach, which helps get the camp excited about the show. I explained to the cast that the goal of rehearsal is to make the show better and better each day. I have been teaching them the same theatre games and tools that I use with my University students to improve their acting.

We are privileged to be rehearsing the show in our beautiful new(ish) air conditioned building – the Mercaz Tarboot.  All of the Anaf campers are currently on their three day camping excursion, Kesher, and when they return, we will have one more week to polish and put on the CMOAT! We are having a great time in rehearsals; everybody is contributing their ideas and pitching in to create a memorable theatrical event. And wait until you see the beautiful cast t-shirts! I look forward to seeing future Garin, Shoresh and Geza campers work on a show when they join Anaf. Thank you for loaning me your talented children, it has been a pleasure working with them.