From Tel Aviv to Ramallah:
A Beatbox Journey
Starring: Yuri Lane
Written and Directed by Rachel Havrelock
An
electric hip-hop play that shuttles back and forth between a day in the
life of a young Israeli dj and Palestinian internet cafe owner.
From Tel Aviv to Ramallah follows a day in the life of Amir, a Tel
Aviv DJ and delivery boy, and Khalid, a Ramallah internet cafe owner.
Human Beatbox and vocal magician Yuri Lane presents a hip-hop
travelogue of peace. Lane weaves a vox-pop tapestry of Palestinian
& Israeli voices into a mosaic of the Middle East against a
backdrop of muezzin calls and Tel Aviv traffic, the lives of Khalid and
Amir progress with a hip-hop beat and intersect at a West Bank
checkpoint.
From Tel Aviv to Ramallah portrays the urban youth cultures of
Israel and Palestine. Audiences visit a Tel Aviv rave, a Ramallah
internet cafe and the bustling marketplaces of both cities and see the
struggle and the humor of life in the midst of conflict. Yuri Lane
brings the Middle East to life through the hip-hop medium of beatbox
combined with acting and dance.
From Tel Aviv to Ramallah has just completed successful runs in San Francisco and Washington D.C.
The critics say:
"Lane's colorful depiction is so real, his characters so well
developed, that you can't help but be moved. His recreation of the
cities' bustling marketplaces and throbbing discos is so vivid that you
can almost smell the smoke wafting from the hookah pipes and feel the
moist heat emanating from the dance floor."
--San Francisco Examiner
"From Tel Aviv to Ramallah is a must-see for those interested in
finding utopian spaces for peaceful coexistence in contemporary hip-hop
culture."
--San Francisco Bay Guardian
"Written with documentary clarity and directed with jittery,
jump-cut flash by Rachel Havrelock, From Tel Aviv to Ramallah would be
remarkable is Amir's singular story were all it told. But as its
title suggests, the show insists on looking at Palestinian-Israeli
conflicts from each side, and on finding the human stories the
ordinary ones and the angry ones on both."
--Washington City Paper
Soundtrack City Chicago
REVIEWS
"Actor, human beatbox, percussive wizard, and funky dancer, Yuri Lane is an undeniably talented dude... thoroughly engaging and very fun...most impressive (and hardest for a humble review to do justice) is how Lane produces every note of music and all sound effects on his own. How does he double track his own voice? How does he keep his vocal beatbox and harmonica solo in check? How does he maintain enough focus to improvise dialogue and sound effects mid-scene? At a certain point, we stopped asking and simply enjoyed the show."
-Chicagoist
"Yuri Lane celebrates the subconscious soundtrack that thrums in our heads...astonishing... The cocky swagger of Lane's hip-hop doesn't let up, leaving his audience vastly entertained."
-Chicago Magazine
"Human beatbox" Yuri Lane plays multiple characters in his "hip-hop comedy" about urban life. There's no denying Lane's mad skills or freakish repertoire of rhythms and sounds. And his best bit--a heavy-beats-and-harmonica blues fusion--is a real barn burner."
-Chicago Reader
"Using vocal percussion, different physicalities and voices and even a well-played harmonica, Lane ensures that the audience gets its money's worth...very well done indeed. The sounds (all produced live) that Lane creates tell a tale of a city both divided and united by race, class, gender, sexuality and religion. As he travels across the city, he weaves together the lives of all his characters in a fashion almost reminiscent of the films "Go!" or "Run, Lola, Run." A series of poor and working class characters are on the verge of being thrown out of their homes by two aggressive (and competitive) developers. Two women are looking for love in interesting places (Miriam's storyline was my personal favorite), while a native of Boystown just wants to do his job and show the apartment, darn it! Along the way we meet slam poets, harmonica players, old school grandmas and taxi drivers, all refracted through the lens of Yuri Lane's vocal percussion and body. Those hungry for a novel theatrical experience are urged to head to the Viaduct post haste."
-Centerstage Chicago
About Yuri Lane
Yuri Lane was born on a small island in Holland, but his parents, a painter and a violinist, soon moved to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district to ride the 70's counter-culture current. Raised in the Haight, Yuri learned rhythm by osmosis and quickly learned to incorporate urban rhythms into his daily life.
In the 80's, Yuri started breakdancing and supporting himself by teaching moves at middle school parties. His true passion was discovered in a sixth grade math class where Yuri made sounds to compensate for his lack of skill in arithmetic. When his teacher ordered him to "turn off the radio," Yuri knew that he was on to something.
Yuri's acting career began at age twelve in a production of Floating Lightbulb in San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater. The rest of his teen years were spent on stage and screen. Theatrical productions include Marco's Millions and Diamond Lil at the American Conservatory Theater, LuLu at Berkeley Repertory Theater.
His closest brush with network fame occurred when he was selected by the New York producers to be Doogie Howser. While Yuri was a prodigy, teen stardom eluded him when the Los Angeles producers chose a blonde actor instead.
Yuri studied classical and musical theater in southern California at the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts where he suffered through his tech requirements but flourished in the role of Louis in Tony Kushner's Millennium Approaches.
After completing his studies, Yuri returned to his native San Francisco to pursue mime, improvisation and alternative theatrical forms. During the dot-com boom, Yuri found himself as "the geek" in several local and national commercials as well as in episodes of Nash Bridges and Party of Five. He counts reading the part of Allen Ginsberg in Roman Copolla's adaptation of On the Road with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon as Neal Cassidy and Jack Kerouac among the most exciting moments of this stage of his career.
As San Francisco's boom went bust, Yuri returned to theater and began developing his one-man human beatbox musical, "Soundtrack City". Yuri created "Soundtrack City" by performing one scene at a time at clubs, bars, coffee shops, and small theaters of San Francisco. The full-length production of "Soundtrack City" debuted at CELLspace in November 2001.
In February 2002, the show began a four-month run at Spanganga, a theater in San Francisco's Mission District. While performing at Spangana, Yuri appeared several times as the musical guest on Tech TV's talk show "Screensavers", at the Webby Awards, an internet awards event, and at Intersection for the Arts. During the summer of 2002, Yuri starred in "Compulsory Breathing", a short film featuring his beatboxing skills.
Currently Yuri lives in Chicago and tours "From Tel Aviv to Ramallah," a hip-hop play that tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while emphasizing the humanity, suffering and joy of both Israelis and Palestinians. "From Tel Aviv to Ramallah" debuted at Theater J in Washington D.C. and was nominated by the Helen Hayes Awards for the Charles MacArthur award for best new play of 2003-04. Since the fall of 03, "From Tel Aviv to Ramallah" has played at theaters in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta and Cleveland as well as on college campuses, at Jewish-Muslim and Israeli-Arab peace events, camps, synagogues and community centers.
Yuri is soaking up the sounds of Chicago for the latest version of "Soundtrack City" that opened at Chicago's Viaduct Theater in September 2005. He also drops beats at Chicago area clubs and is busy recording a beatbox album.
