A Night In ‘Bubby’s Kitchen’

Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center will host a special, one-night-only performance of “Bubby’s Kitchen” on October 9 at 8 p.m. Created and written by Shira Ginsburg, who also stars in the show, “Bubby’s Kitchen” is inspired by the heroic actions of resistance her grandparents took against the Nazis as Jewish Partisans as they survived years in the forests of Belarus. A study in bravery, camaraderie and the sheer will to live, “Bubby’s Kitchen” is story of one young woman’s struggle to live up to her grandparents’ incredible legacy.

Cantor Shira Ginsburg masterfully weaves together a story of loss, survival, food and family with vibrancy, wit, and a more than a few tugs at the heartstrings. A one-act, one-woman musical, “Bubby’s Kitchen” explores the balance between the new and the old, responsibility and desire, and life and love. Whether struggling to find real happiness or discovering the key to the svelte Ginsburg figure, the answers overflow like babka and blintzes in Bubby’s kitchen.

“This is a story that resonates with all audiences,” said WHBPAC Executive Director Julienne Penza-Boone. “The idea of community has never been more prevalent.”

As told in the Hollywood blockbuster film “Defiance” starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, 30,000 Jews came out of the forests at the end of WWII. Among them were Yudis and Motke Ginsburg, who with the Bielski and Iskra Partisan units fought Nazis, blew up trains and bridges with handmade bombs, and created their own liberation before being liberated.

After surviving the ghettos, woods and DP camps, they made their way to America with one dream, two children, and the shirts on their backs. With love, tenacity and determination, they started a farm, raised a family and became the heart of Jewish life in Troy, New York.

“This is a story of survival, both physically and emotionally, that people can identify with,” said WHBPAC Marketing Director Heather Draskin.

Tickets for “Bubby’s Kitchen” are $56 to $76 at WHBPAC.org. The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center is at 76 Main Street, Westhampton Beach.