"WORD BEAT" - Sam Hurwitt, SF Chronicle (12/5/04)
"The latest and most epic expression of Barsky's desire to craft new folklore out of the old tradition is 'The Bright River,' his transcendental beatbox journey opens today at A Traveling Jewish Theater." (full review)

"Barsky's 'Bright River' flows to beat of beatbox" by Chad Jones, Oakland Tribune (12/23/04)
IN HIS SHOW "The Bright River," Tim Barsky spins yarns, plays amazing music with equally amazing musicians and cracks open the afterlife. Denizens of the East Bay may have seen Barsky's show last spring when it began to take shape at Berkeley's Ashby Stage. By the end of that run, the show was selling out, and all the buzz attracted the attention of San Francisco's Traveling Jewish Theatre. "Bright River" was added to the company's 2004-2005 season, and with the help of director Jeff Raz, the show has been shined up a little but still retains the odd charm that made it so beguiling in Berkeley. (full review)

"Hop a subway to a restless hip-hop underworld" - Robert Hurwitt, SF Chronicle (12/9/04)
"Genre-mixing hip-hop musical...a curious and often transfixing amalgam of Jewish, Greek and other folklore, film noir narrative, adventures in mass transit and riveting, beatbox-driven rhythms."
"The music of the Everyday Ensemble is unceasingly compelling." (full review)

"River of Rage and Hope: Tim Barsky's hip-hop-klezmerized The Bright River returns, with reinforcements." by Susan Kuchinskas, East Bay Express (1/5/05)
"The Bright River flow of street lore and Jewish mysticism is not an anomaly, but part of an emerging genre-bending style. 'There's a marvelous, incredible explosion of beatbox and Jewish theater in the Bay Area that's a very strange consonance of Jewish theater culture and beatbox culture,' Barsky says." (full review)

As If in Sleep - The most teeming, inventive, and good-spirited production in the city right now - by Michael Scott Moore, SF Weekly
The weirdest part of Tim Barsky's one-man storytelling extravaganza is also the best reason to see it: Barsky plays hip hop flute. I am not kidding. He trills minor-toned melodies over a heavy beatbox rhythm with a trick of his lips and tongue, getting three or four lines of melody and rhythm going at once. It's amazing. (full review)

"A Hip-Hop Tour of the Afterlife" by Loolwa Khazzoom, Forward (12/24/04)
Barsky drew on his life experiences as a street performer, beat boxer (one who engages in vocal percussion), flutist and student of Islamic and Jewish mysticism, creating "The Bright River" — a 21st-century hip hop theater spin-off of Dante's "The Inferno," co-produced by the Everyday Ensemble, Epic Arts and A Traveling Jewish Theatre, all in the San Francisco Bay Area. The production tells the story of a young American Jewish soldier — a mixture of Yemenite and Ashkenazic heritage — killed during battle in Iraq...(full review)

"Get on the bus: Next stop hell" - by Tiffany Maleshefski, SF Examiner (12/10/04)
Get out your Fast Pass out and get ready to go places you've been, never been, should've been, and could've been. "The Bright River," written by Tim Barsky, a genius retelling of Dante's Inferno, is a fantastic bus ride through eternity, where octopi are the drivers and Purgatory is a treacherous transit terminal.

‘The Bright River’ fuses mouth magic and hip-hop shtick - by Jay Schwartz, J Weekly (12/10/04)
It’s not clear which is more impressive, the words that come out of Tim Barsky’s mouth or the sounds that emerge from the throat of his cohort Kid Beyond. This is how you experience “The Bright River,” the theater piece by Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble currently playing in San Francisco. Half the time you’re engrossed in the remarkable story laid out before you; the rest of the time you are utterly transfixed by the virtuosic beatboxing of Barsky and Kid Beyond. (full review)

'River' is playwright's idea of purgatory" by Suzanne LaFetra, Contra Costa Times (1/6/05)
A couple of years ago, with the country embroiled in a war and his own life coming unglued, Barsky mused on the possibilities of a topsy-turvy, looking-glass world. "What if nothing works any better in death that it does in life?" he posits. "I dreamed about the afterlife. I started asking people about their own deaths. I became very unpopular at parties," quips the South Berkeley resident. And voila, it's Barsky's version of purgatory -- a bus station filled with homeless people and refugees -- a mirror version of what the performer sees as contemporary life in America." (full review)

"Rent After Death" - Nextbook.org: Gateway to Jewish Literature, Culture & Ideas (12/9/04)
What if the afterlife were as corrupt as our present reality? This is the brilliant conceit behind Tim Barsky's The Bright River. The play, now at San Francisco's A Traveling Jewish Theater, mixes jazz, hip-hop, storytelling, and klezmer to take us on "a mass transit tour of the afterlife." (full review)


Reviews of Epic Arts' Feb/March 2004 Production
at The Transparent Theater (now The Ashby Stage)

SF Bay Guardian | March 23, 2004

SF Weekly | March 17, 2004

East Bay Express | March 10, 2004

Jewish News Weekly | February 20, 2004

SF Flavorpill | April 5, 2004

   

As If In Sleep

SF Weekly review of As if in Sleep | October 23, 2002

The Jewish Bulletin article on As if in Sleep and The Hub | Jan 24, 2003

The Stage, London
01/12/02
AS IF IN SLEEP - The British Premiere of a performance piece at The Finborough Theatre, by Tim Barsky Direct from the United States of America
"Tim Barskys radical one-man show. Magical, mystical. [He has] an intimate, conversational style with the audience, while highly rhythmic hip hop musical interludes add to the atmosphere. One story, for instance, about a 17 year old HIV-positive girl, whose highly infectious TB denies her the hugs she so desperately craves is particularly poignant and epitomizes the humanity and compassion underlying the show"
Colin Shearman, The Stage

East Bay Express
02/05/03
“The vibrant Bay Area spoken-word-scene just keeps getting hotter. Tonight at the Blackbox, storyteller Tim Barsky- who takes a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish narrative form called the wonder tale and adds touches of hip-hop music and street performance- presents Things aren’t always, his latest rap, a unique blend of 18th century shtetl folklore and east-oakland physical theatre. He’s accompanied by Jess Ivry on cello, Shree Shyam on bass and Indian percussion, and Bryan Neuberg on beatbox. It’s a triumph of cross-culturalism. The 26yr old performer, who holds a degree in medieval Islamic and Judaic thought, reinvents Things aren’t Always every wednesday night at the Blackbox, 1928 Telegraph Ave in Oakland. doors open at 7:30.

   

Other Reviews

Oakland Tribune review of Things Aren't Always | February 7, 2003

East Bay Express review of sound design with Shotgun Players | March 12, 2003

Over 9 Waves from the East Bay Express

The Vowel Movement

Killing My Lobster (composing) from the SF Bay Guardian