Reporter Robin Estrin:  

You may know people who wake up the morning after Thanksgiving — still stuffed — and start hanging Christmas lights. You may even be that person. That’s cool, I don’t judge. I have a similar ritual. November rolls around and I start looking for a Hanukkah story to pitch to my editor.

Last year I wrote about the closure of Diamond Bakery, an Ashkenazi mainstay in the Fairfax district, after 77 years. The year before I talked to Jews from across the diaspora about the foods they fry to honor the Hanukkah miracle that is oil.

This year the story I found didn’t immediately feel like a Hanukkah story. A longtime Jewish theater company called The Braid launched on a permanent stage in Santa Monica, and they planned to open this month with a show called Not That Jewish, written by the comedian Monica Piper.

Piper attempts to answer a pretty serious question: What does it mean to be Jewish? It’s especially poignant given the rise in antisemitism and the feeling of uncertainty and division in the Jewish community. 

But Piper, and The Braid, deliver a production that’s not so heavy, filled instead with Jewish delight, joy, and pride – a show, and a space, where it’s possible to kindle light during dark days. 

Perhaps this is a Hanukkah story after all.

Jewish theater finds a permanent stage in Santa Monica

Ronda Spinak started a nonprofit called the Jewish Women’s Theater in 2008. But it debuted weeks after Bernie Madoff’s multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme came to light. The financier, who was Jewish, had used his professed interest in philanthropy to defraud investors, including major Jewish charities like Hadassah, and the Holocaust survivor, writer, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.

The Jewish community lost so much money, she recalls. Renting a theater was financially out of reach, so she brought the work to people’s living rooms. Soon, she discovered an appetite for all kinds of Jewish stories — including about Mizrahi, Sephardic, Black, and Asian Jews, as well as Jews in the LGBTQ community, and converts. 

She changed the nonprofit’s name to The Braid, evoking the way stories are braided around a theme, or a challah, or a woman’s braided hair. The theater opened in 2014 with Monica Piper’s production of Not That Jewish. It ran in Los Angeles for 16 months before moving to New York. The stage shuttered in 2020 during the pandemic, and for years, performances from The Braid debuted online. 

Now in a new Santa Monica space, The Braid is putting on Not That Jewish until December 29th. In January, a new show will launch called Traveler’s Prayer.

‘Everyone has a little Santa in them’ at annual SantaCon

The annual SantaCon is as much a convention of people dressed like Santa as it is street theater and live-action roleplay. The idea is to show up at bars and parks across LA wearing a Santa costume.

Plus, organizer Heather Vescent emphasizes, “We really want to encourage people to embrace Santa. It’s like Santa’s this collective identity, and he’s represented as this white-bearded dude wearing a red suit. But SantaCon lets you be whatever you want.”

At the HMS Bounty in Koreatown on Saturday, attendees took liberties with the identity. There were punk rock Santas, sexy Mrs.Clauses, elves, clowns, and Christmas trees and their accouterments.

That was only the first stop on one of this year’s SantaCon routes. Enthusiasts had the choice to start their journeys in Koreatown or North Hollywood. Other activities included a karaoke bar, a park filled with snow, and a barcade/bowling alley.

Racers take last spin to Irwindale Speedway finish line

When the Irwindale Speedway opened on March 27th, 1999, some of the biggest names in auto racing showed up to celebrate SoCal’s new $10 million race track. But minutes after the opening, 23-year-old driver Casey Diemert fatally slammed into a wall at 100 mph during a practice session. Through its tenure, the Speedway has managed to keep the bad news from closing the track. 

But auto racing has been in decline for over a decade, and in 2011, NASCAR dropped Irwindale from its schedule. The following year, the Speedway’s owners filed for bankruptcy. 

The city of Irwindale's website shows plans to demolish the Speedway and build an industrial and commercial park on the land. The Speedway will hold its Farewell Extravaganza on Saturday, December 21st.

“They're going to force everyone in the street and it's going to cause big problems. You're talking high horsepower cars, full-blown drag cars being on the street. That's not going to be good,” says driver Justin Lynch. 

Rainn Wilson hopes Godot can make you more empathetic

Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight in The Office, now portrays Vladimir in Samuel Beckett’s classic inquiry into meaninglessness — Waiting for Godot. The play is running now through December 21st at Westwood’s Geffen Playhouse.

One of the production’s most central themes is that people are stuck, repeating the same behaviors and expecting a different outcome, and don’t take action to improve their lives. 

“There's a whole Christian element to the play too. One could say that they're not doing anything to improve their lives because they're waiting for this mythical figure to come and redeem them and save them. And I definitely feel like that is a central pillar of Godot. This is about what happens in the waiting. Humanity despairs. Humanity falls apart in the waiting and in the habituated lack of action,” Wilson says.

Wilson emphasizes that Waiting for Godot could be performed in Gaza, or on a subway platform with unhoused people, or in a city alleyway. That’s because the play reminds audiences of the suffering of individuals who’ve been cast out (such as refugees), are scrambling for food, and sleeping in ditches. “There's a lot of people out there like that, and I hope the play too can increase our overall empathy.”

Sen. Schiff on preemptive pardons, Trump’s cabinet nominees

Adam Schiff officially took office this month as California’s newest U.S. senator. When it comes to the possibility of being investigated and prosecuted for his work on the January 6 committee, he tells KCRW, “That kind of talk by an incoming president, that he's going to seek to jail his political opponents, that is not the talk we hear from U.S. presidents. It's the kind of talk you hear from a would-be dictator. So we should be concerned about it.”

However, he’s opposed preemptive pardons from outgoing President Joe Biden. “I don't like the precedent it would set. I could see that precedent being badly used by President Trump on his departure from his second term, pardoning large categories of people in his administration. … Now Trump may do it anyway. … But nevertheless, I wouldn't want to be the first to set that precedent."

As for the apparent growing support for Trump, Schiff says, “I do worry that we are on the road to turning into some kind of oligarchy, where the wealthy business interests, even to a greater degree than they have before, are going to be running things and rewarded for their loyalty to the president.”