Gabrielle Brechner

Video

Images

Pushing the boundaries of theatrical expression with original puppets, sets and music, Fabrik is the story of the search for home, told through the life of an immigrant man who “made a factory from a button.”

Fabrik tells the story of Moritz Rabinowitz, a Polish Jew who emigrated to Norway in 1911 to escape persecution. In Haugesund, a small fishing village, he discovered a land rich with opportunity, and a place he could prosper. Poor but determined, he eventually became the largest clothing manufacturer in the country, with department stores in several cities and his own factory.

Although wealthy and a leading employer, he experienced a good deal of anti-Semitism. The only Jews in Haugesund, he and his family were treated as outsiders and when the Germans finally invaded Norway, Rabinowitz was the most wanted Norwegian Jew on the Gestapo’s list.

Fabrik has been performed around the globe, and continues to travel and receive acclaim in places like England, San Francisco, and Norway. The Village Voice called Fabrik “A charming and disturbing creation” and The New York Times commented that it was “…consistently startling…”

Gabrielle Brechner is a first generation American and native New Yorker who was raised, literally, at her father’s “American Jewish Theater.”

She spent the first 18 years of her life working her way from the Box Office to the Assistant Director. She received a B.F.A. in Theater Performance from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in English Literature with a Minor in Holocaust Literature.

Since 2001 she has been working as a primary writer and director in Wakka Wakka Productions, Inc., a four-member collaborative ensemble focused on the creation of new productions that push the boundaries of the conventional theatrical art form. Their work has been presented throughout NYC at venues including BB King Blues Club, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and in association with the Cityparks Foundation.

Their 2006 work, The Death of Little Ibsen, described by The New York Times as “an exquisite little one act show the evokes the best of Jim Henson’s early dangerous days with the Muppets,” was received with great critical acclaim and has toured nationally and internationally.

Contact Info:

http://www.wakkawakka.org/