the play Productions Artword Theatre has mounted full productions of If Cows Could Fly at its Toronto performance facility in 2000 and 2001, to positive audience and reviewer response. Then in 2007, a campaign was launched to bring "Cows" to Ottawa, for the first time. This production ran at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre from Febuary 21 to March 9, 2008, as well as two nights in Hamilton before that run. The reviewers raved, and the audiences came out in large numbers, even during blizzards! the songs See our full page of Ottawa information, poster and press releases. If Cows Could Fly, in Hamilton and Ottawa, 2008 Artword Theatre presents Allan Merovitz in If Cows Could Fly, February 15 and 16 in Hamilton at the Downtown Arts Centre, and in Ottawa from February 21 to March 9, 2008 in the new Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre Written and performed by Allan Merovitz, with an onstage Klezmer band (Henri Oppenheim, accordion; Frank Rackow, clarinet; Ronald Weihs, fiddle). Directed by Ronald Weihs, designed by Judith Sandiford, produced by Barry Karp and Artword Theatre. How it all began Allan Merovitz worked on the material that makes up this play for over a decade, taping interviews with family members and doing research on Jews in Canada and North America. At the same time he was turning into one of the foremost interpreters of Yiddish music in Canada. Originally entitled Zaide Didn’t Want to be a Soldier, the material has been presented in many different forms. The stories were turned into touring productions in schools. Sometimes, in a concert, Allan would launch into one of the tales to introduce a song. In 1999, Theatre Passe Muraille offered Allan a workshop and an opportunity to present the play for one night on its mainstage to an invited audience. Allan asked Ronald Weihs, the Artistic Director of Artword Theater, to function as dramaturge and director. This led to a long collaboration that continues today. The purpose of the workshop was to integrate the stories in Zaide Didn't Want to be a Soldier with songs appropriate to the theme of cultures colliding and combining. Of course, this meant selections from Allan's Yiddish and Klezmer repertoire, but the choices didn't stop there. They include cowboy songs and country and western, because Allan has been a cowboy. And Smiths Falls is in the Ottawa valley, a hotbed of Scottish Canadian fiddle music. Now under the direction and dramaturgy of Ronald Weihs, Artistic Director of Artword Theatre, Allan has brought together the stories and the music and turned If Cows Could Fly into a totally new musical production.

OTTAWA REVIEWS 2008 "Nimble and electric with energy, Merovitz plays a dizzying array of characters....Merovitz also sings wonderfully....Don't miss this show." Patrick Langston, Ottawa Citizen, Feb 23, 2008 Allan Merovitz is lovable and enchanting. He’s a wonderful storyteller.... And with him on stage are three Klezmer musicians who play everything from Klezmer to Pontiac County step dancing and Ottawa Valley country music, and it works. It’s wonderful....Go see this. It’s a fine evening. I laughed, I cried. I had a wonderful time. Alvina Ruprecht, CBC, Ottawa, Feb 25, 2008 TORONTO REVIEWS 2000-2001 ". . . a lovely heartwarming evening for the whole family" Avril Benoit, CBC "... It’s all done with great energy and authority; both in speech and song Merovitz seems to have every Canadian and U.S. idiom down pat." Robert Cushman, National Post "Merovitz is a good storyteller and a beautiful singer, and If Cows Could Fly is laden with songs ranging from fiddle and country ballads to klezmer and jazz standards." Joanne Huffa, Eye Magazine "Tracing his ancestry back to its eastern European roots, storyteller/musician Allan Merovitz uses his family to play out several strands of the 20th century Jewish experience in Europe and Canada...with tales of shtetles, immigration to Canada and moving Yiddish melodies." Jon Kaplan, Now Magazine