QUICK TAKES - July 25, 2009

A new international theater festival is set to debut in Calabasas next month, featuring performers from Ireland, the United Kingdom and Israel.

The four-day California International Theatre Festival will run Aug. 20 to 23 at various locations throughout Calabasas. The festival is being organized by actress Linda Purl, who last year directed the Rubicon International Theatre Festival in Ventura. When financial cutbacks caused the Ventura festival to be canceled for 2009, Purl approached the city of Calabasas, which agreed to partially fund the new festival.

“We want the festival to speak to the global reality that we’re living in,” said Purl, adding that Calabasas is an ideal place for the festival because of its many theatrical venues, including the city’s civic center, which features a large amphitheater. Additional sponsorship is coming from individuals, corporations and foundations.

The festival will open with “Moby Dick -- Ishmael’s Tale” by Conor Lovett and Judy Hegarty Lovett of Ireland’s Gare St. Lazare Players. The drama is a liberal adaptation of the Herman Melville novel and will play Aug. 20 at the Carlson Family Theatre at Viewpoint School.

The festival’s main event will be “A Tale of a Lonely Man,” a chamber drama from Israel’s Ofer Amram Company that plays Aug. 22 and 23 at the Viewpoint School. The production, which features music and puppetry, tells the story of an amnesiac who invents a female companion for himself in the form of a life-size doll.

Rounding out the festival lineup are London cabaret artist Giselle Wolf and an evening of musical entertainment.

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David Ng