This podcast features
the 30 minute highlight segment of the 90 minute Interfaith Comedy Show
performance on October 24, 2015 by comedians Aaron Freeman, Arif Choudhury and
Ray Hanania, with a special premiere standup performance by Aaron Hanania. The
event was taped before an audience of more than 250 people in the auditorium of
the Holy Cross Church in Deerfield, co-sponsored by Beth Chaverim Humanistic
Jewish Community. For more information on the performers of the Interfaith
Comedy Show, visit the websites AaronFreeman.com, RayHanania.com and...
This podcast features
the 30 minute highlight segment of the 90 minute Interfaith Comedy Show
performance on October 24, 2015 by comedians Aaron Freeman, Arif Choudhury and
Ray Hanania, with a special premiere standup performance by Aaron Hanania. The
event was taped before an audience of more than 250 people in the auditorium of
the Holy Cross Church in Deerfield, co-sponsored by Beth Chaverim Humanistic
Jewish Community. For more information on the performers of the Interfaith
Comedy Show, visit the websites AaronFreeman.com, RayHanania.com and Aaron
Hanania’s website at Aaron411.com.
Deerfield, Il.
– An interfaith gathering of people committed to promoting religious tolerance
and inter-cultural dialogue will host a comedy show in Deerfield Oct. 24
featuring three comedians of different faiths.
The three
performers at the show hosted by the Southeast Lake County Inter-Religious
Council are Jewish comic Aaron Freeman, Muslim comic Arif Choudhury and
Christian comic Ray Hanania, with a special surprise premiere standup comedy performance by high school student Aaron Hanania.
The show was held at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Deerfield at 7 pm.
It is the
fourth show co-sponsored by a coalition of several area religious congregations
who are part of the Southeast Lake County Inter-Religious Council (SELCIRCL)
including Beth Chaverim Humanistic Jewish Community of Deerfield, Christ United
Methodist Church of Deerfield, First Presbyterian Church of Deerfield, Holy
Cross Catholic Church of Deerfield, Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit of
Lincolnshire, St. Gregory's Episcopal Church of Deerfield, and Zion Lutheran
Church of Deerfield.
Freeman, who
is Jewish, and Hanania, who is Palestinian, have performed together in the past
under the label of The Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour that partnered with two
Israeli-based comedians, Yisrael Campbell and Charley Warady. Choudhury is
based in New York where he tours throughout the country. Aaron Hanania is Ray Hanania's 14-year-old son.
The Southeast
Lake County Inter-Religious Council, (SELCIRCL), consists of the clergy of
local Christian, Jewish and Bahai congregations from Southeast Lake County
congregations.
“Together, we
explore issues of interfaith and intercultural dialogue in order to promote
understanding and greater tolerance, and to work together on issues of social
justice,” said Rabbi Jodi Kornfeld of Beth Chaverim Humanistic Jewish
Community.
“This is not
only one of our most popular annual programs, but it is one of our most
important. Through the media of live performances, we have been able to
address questions of prejudice and stereotypes, and in the process, open the
discussion more widely to how we can overcome our differences and find our
common humanity.”
Aaron Freeman,
one of Chicagoland’s best known comedians and media personalities called the
show a unique mix that doesn’t happen as often as it should.
“Any time you
can have an Arab, a Jew and a Muslim together on a stage, it can be explosive.
You never know what’s going to happen,” Freeman said. “You want to make sure
you are there, as witnesses.”
Comedian Bios:
Arif Choudhury is a professional storyteller,
filmmaker, theater artist, and stand-up comic. He is currently working on
a documentary film about folk storytellers in a remote village in China and
just completed a short film entitled “Coloring”. Choudhury performs “More in Common than You Think,” his one-person
program of stories for schools, libraries, conferences, and festivals
around the country and abroad. He tells humorous stories of growing up in
one of the few Bangladeshi-Muslim immigrant families in Chicago. Focusing
on issues of ethnic and religious identity, assimilation, multiculturalism, and
diversity, his stories poke fun at how we think of one another.
Aaron Freeman is a comedian, MOOC enthusiast, the
Artist In Residence for the Chicago Council on Science and Technology. I
lecture on science communication for Harvard's science communication program
“comscicon.” Along with my wife, the comics artist Sharon Rosenzweig, he
creates comics and comic videos for the website “Graphic Medicine” and for The
Annals of Internal Medicine. Freeman is an improv actor, auctioneer, MC, host,
moderator and “a great interview subject
and all-around fun guy!” He is a member of The Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour,
which performed in Israel, Palestine, Canada Ireland, and at campuses
throughout the United States. His website is www.AaronFreeman.com.
Ray Hanania is an award winning journalist and
Christian Palestinian activist and co-founder of The Israeli Palestinian Comedy
Tour. Hanania’s comedy lampoons his married life: His wife, Alison, and son,
Aaron, are Jewish. Hanania is not a professional comedian but entered standup
comedy as a form of peace activism, using humor to respond to rising anti-Arab
stereotypes and hatred following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Hanania
has performed in London, Beirut and Dubai and form Arab and Jewish groups
throughout the United States. His website is www.Hanania.com. He writers for the Southwest
News-Herald Newspaper Group and Al Jazeera English
SHOW DETAILS
WHERE: Holy
Cross Catholic Church
724 Elder Lane, Deerfield, Illinois
WHEN: Saturday,
October 24, at 7 PM
