Metro Briefs August 7

Metro Briefs August 7

Jewish Family & Children’s Service has announced two recent changes in the agency’s executive leadership staff. Dr. Jordan Golin, Psy. D., has been named chief operating officer and will also continue his responsibilities as director of clinical and elder care services, overseeing Squirrel Hill Psychological Services and the older adults division of JF&CS.

Linda Ehrenreich, former COO, has been named to the newly created chief innovation officer position. Ehrenreich will explore areas of community need that JF&CS can address and make meaningful contributions through programming and community partnerships.  In this role, she will work with JF&CS staff and other like-minded organizations, funders and donors on the development of ideas that address demonstrated community need.

The Holocaust Center and Toonseum invite the community to the Chutz-Pow! Superheroes of the Holocaust comic-book launch and block party on Thursday, Aug. 14 from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Toonseum, 945 Liberty Ave.

The artists who created the comic book will be at the exhibit, which will include live music, local food trucks, vegetarian and kosher food options and cash-only vendors and activities. Alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks will be available. A portion of Liberty Avenue, from 10th Street to Smithfield Street, will be closed for this event.

Visit holocaustcenterpgh.org to register or contact Zach Zafris at 412-421-1500 or zzafris@jfedpgh.org.

The fourth annual P.A.W.S. (Pancreatic Awareness Walk for Scientific Research) dog walk to raise research funds for pancreatic cancer will be held on Sunday, Aug. 17 at 10 a.m.  

Walkers will meet at the entrance to Frick Park at the Blue Slide Park on the corner of Beechwood Boulevard and Nicholson Street. There is a $40 registration fee. The walk benefits the Esther Horvitz/Allen Lebovitz Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund of the National Pancreas Foundation (pancreasfoundation.org). Pancreatic cancer is  the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States and is anticipated to be the second by 2020.

Registration and donation information is available at bidpal.net/paws2014. Contact Bruce Horvitz at Bruce.Horvitz@gmail.com or 412-401-6500 for more information.

Pittsburgh KadimaNiks and USYers will head to Cedar Point on Sunday, Aug. 17. It is open to all incoming sixth- to 12th-graders, and the deadline for registration is Aug. 10. The trip is made possible by the Agency for Jewish Learning; there is a $10 charge. Contact Elana Barkowitz at elana.barkowitz@gmail.com or 412-401-9066 for more information.

Front Porch Theatricals is producing the Jason Robert Brown/Alfred Uhry Tony Award-winning musical “Parade.” The show opens at the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side with a paid preview on Thursday, Aug. 21. Opening night is Aug. 22, and it runs through Aug. 31.   

The director, Benjamin Shaw, is a Pittsburgher,  and graduated from the Community Day School and the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School.  He is returning home for the project he brought to Front Porch a year ago. 

Shaw was the assistant director of the recent Broadway run of “The Glass Menagerie” and assistant director of the national tour of “Elf,” which was in Pittsburgh last year. 

“Parade” is the true story of Leo Frank, a relocated New York Jew who stood wrongly accused, convicted and lynched for the 1913 murder of one of his young, female factory workers in Atlanta. 

Leads are Daina Michele Griffith (Lucille Frank), the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s 2013 Performer of the Year, and Jesse Manocherian (Leo Frank), a New York actor. The remainder of the cast includes local professionals and amateurs as well as musical theater talent from Carnegie Mellon University and Point Park University.

Dan Droz designed the production posters.

Visit frontporchpgh.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

Central Scholarship & Loan Referral Service and the Jewish Family & Children’s Service Sara and Tena Goldstein Memorial Fund recently awarded more than $400,000 in scholarships to approximately 200 area Jewish students at their annual check-distribution ceremony. CSLRS is a needs-based scholarship program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and is administered by JF&CS, which coordinates the efforts of a group of organizations, agencies and scholarship endowment funds to provide scholarships to local Jewish students enrolled in accredited institutions of higher education.

More Than Just Learning hosts Shirley and Morris Shratter interview friends on their vacation experiences every Tuesday in August at 8 p.m. on Ch. 21-PCTV-Comcast and Verizon 47, in Pittsburgh only.

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