We were approached by Gladys Haddad, Ricky Novick, and Marshall Mizrahi to join their team and create the film elements of their original stage production of Brick by Brick, in honor of the Sephardic Community Center's 40th anniversary.
The show depicts the founding story of the Sephardic Community Center (SCC), how it has evolved over the years, and what it means to the Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn. The SCC is one of the most important institutions in the Sephardic Syrian community; it has been the mainstay in terms of holding the community together across potential differentiators such as age, politics, and religious affiliation. It has kept the community centered in Brooklyn, and the Center is responsible for hundreds of married couples.
Marshall Mizrahi, the executive producer, and co-writer of the play, had the idea to add video elements to the play, showing the real center and people as an enhancement to the story on the stage. To that end, we are producing a bunch of video montages for the production that will interact with the story of "Brick by Brick" on the stage.
This is the trailer that we produced that they're sending out with invitations to the play:
Mizrahi and director/producer Yeeshai Gross worked together to decide which parts of the play could use the backstory that our films will provide.
We came up with about 7 different topics, like when the Syrian community almost moved out of Brooklyn in the 70s because of high crime, or how the SCC facilitates programs that have led to hundreds of marriages within the community, and the role of women as the backbone of programming at the Center.
The show will be on June 22nd and 23rd at 7PM at Monmouth University's Pollak Theater in West Long Branch, NJ. Purchase tickets here.