2024 Chutzpah Festival

The Chutzpah Festival is a performing arts festival hosted by the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver at the Norman Rothstein Theatre each year.

The festival normally takes place in the fall. However, in 2025 there’s a bonus spring edition of the festival with five days of shows from March 19th until the 23rd.

Click Vancouver Chutzpah Festival for the event’s official website.

This article contains the following information about the Chutzpah Festival:

Cabaret Yitesh (Photo by Shendl Ashkenaz)

The Chutzpah! Festival in Vancouver

Pronounced with a silent “C” and featuring theatre, music and dance, the Chutzpah Festival normally takes place in the fall. The 2024 festival ran from November 1st until November 10th. Details about the main festival in 2025 are to be confirmed.

This year, there’s also a special Chutzpah Plus Festival happening in the spring. There are several shows taking place from March 19th until the 23rd.

Chutzpah Festival Location

Chutzpah Festival performances take place primarily at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s 318-seat Norman Rothstein Theatre.

The Norman Rothstein Theatre is at 950 West 41st Avenue in Vancouver.

See the Vancouver Chutzpah Festival website for tickets and full details.

Vancouver Jewish Community Centre — Norman Rothstein Theatre

About the Chutzpah Plus Festival (Spring Edition)

In addition to the main festival in the fall, in 2025 there’s also the Chutzpah Plus Festival in March. There are six performances happening between Wednesday, March 19th, and Sunday, March 23rd. Tickets range from $18 to $40 each.

The schedule of shows happening in the spring of 2025 is below.

Irish Bahr’s Stories from the Brink: My Festive Near-Death Adventures – a funny but impactful theatre and storytelling performance by Iris Bahr takes place on March 19th at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre.
The Comedy of Talia Reese – “Kosher Style” comedy with Talia Reese at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre on March 20th.
UNIVERSUS Dance Double Bill – a fusion of dance and storytelling featuring Belle Spirale Dance Projects and Fernando Hernando Magadan. The shows take place on March 21st and 22nd at the Vancouver Playhouse, located at 600 Hamilton Street.
Yamma Ensemble Concert + Workshop – a concert for an intergenerational audience with a workshop about Middle Eastern rhythms and instruments. The event is held at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre on March 21st.
Yamma Ensemble – traditional Hebrew and Jewish music performed live on March 22nd at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre.
City Birds – a family concert featuring musicians Tamar Eisenman and Sagit Shir. The show runs at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre on March 23rd.

About the Main Chutzpah Festival in the Fall

The Chutzpah Festival draws talented musicians, comedians, dancers and actors from around the world including from Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Comedy, dance, music, theatre and multi-disciplinary performances from last year’s fall season are listed below. Ticket prices in 2024 ranged from about $20 to $40 depending on the show. In addition to the staged events, there were also various workshops for families to enjoy.

Details about the main festival in the fall of 2025 are to be confirmed.

Comedy Performances

Chutzpah Festival comedy shows in 2024 included:

Jacob Samuel: Big Talk – a Juno-award winning comedian from Vancouver, Jacob Samuel took to the stage at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre on November 1st. He also performed at China Cloud Studio on November 9th.

Jacob Samuel (Photos by Chelsea Stuyt & Leif Norman)

Dance Performances

Dance performances at the Chutzpah Festival in 2024 included the following:

Dance Double Bill – Chutzpah Festival veterans Rebecca Margolick and Livona Ellis performed once again in a double bill performance. They performed on both November 8th and 9th at the Scotiabank Dance Centre.

Musical Performances

Concerts and musical performances at the Chutzpah Festival in 2024 included the following:

Kommuna Lux – performed in partnership with Caravan World Rhythms, November 2nd was a night of Ukrainian klezmer music with the group Kommuna Lux. The concert was at The Pearl in downtown Vancouver.
Yamma Ensemble – the Yamma Ensemble is a group of five singers who have toured the globe singing Hebrew and Jewish music. They performed at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre on November 4th and 5th.
Mark Rubin: Jew of Oklahoma – a veteran of the music industry, Mark Rubin has performed for over four decades. He dips into all sorts of genres include country, swing, polka, klezmer and more. He performed on November 6th at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre.

See the Vancouver Chutzpah Festival website for tickets and full details.

Mark Rubin at Chutzpah Festival — Mark Rubin (Photos by George Brainard)

Theatre and Multi-Disciplinary

Theatre and multi-disciplinary performances at the Chutzpah Festival in 2024 included the following:

Truth to Power Café – the Canadian premiere of this multimedia theatre production that uses film, music, poetry and other mediums. It played at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre on November 3rd.
Gimpel the Fool Returns to Poland – presented in partnership with the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, this documentary screening followed the journey of the stage production Gimpel the Fool, an award-winning Israeli show. The screening was on November 4th at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre.
The Last Night at the Cabaret Yitesh – a modern homage to Yiddish theatre from the 1930s, this show featured cabaret songs, vaudeville acts and original comedy sketches. There were two shows at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre on November 9th and 10th.