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NYPRESS.COM • THE LARGEST PAPER ON THE EAST SIDE • OCTOBER 17, 2013
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Angels Bring Laughter to Local Groups Attorney uses improv comedy to help sick kids and elderly residents By Helaina Hovitz
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The Congregation Versus the Community
Churches and synagogues throughout Manhattan facing economic hardship may find their financial plans thwarted by preservation efforts By Megan Bungeroth
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t’s hard to argue against preserving the city’s historic, soaring monuments to God. Churches and synagogues throughout Manhattan have been targeted by preservation enthusiasts since the city first created the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1965. They have good reason: without landmark status protection, surely many of these places, which
give religious congregations a home and neighborhoods an inimitable character and sense of history, would have been torn down long ago.
The side not often heard above the rallying cries of well-meaning preservationists, however, is that of the actual church or synagogue members. The landmark process, meant to protect and preserve historical assets that theoretically belong to everyone, can sometimes end up displacing the very people who hold the actual deeds to these properties and destroying the community that resides within the building in order to preserve its facade. On the Upper East Side, this battle is playing out over Park Avenue Christian Church, a well-regarded local institution with a popular day school (which has also
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ALSO INSIDE REMEMBERING WINIFRED KAGWA P.10
RESTAURANT HEALTH GRADES P.17
A
t the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, a group of seniors are gathered next to the nurse’s station, many in wheelchairs. Smiling men and women in blue T-shirts that read Cherub Improv are encouraging a man in his 80s to stand in the middle of the circle they’ve formed around him and pretend he’s doing something, anything, then share it with the group. The game they’re playing is called “Hey, Watcha Doin’?” The old man smiles as he pantomimes climbing a wall, and explains what he’s doing to the next group member, who jovially enters the circle, asking, “Hey, what are you doing?”
At that moment, a nurse leans over and whispers to one of the men in the blue t-shirts, “That one, in the middle of the circle, has been non-communicative for over a year. He wouldn’t talk to anyone.” The man she’s whispering to is Jonathan Evan Goldberg, 42, founder of Cherub Improv, and he lives for moments like that one. Several times a week, his group of 80 trained volunteer Cherubs visit youth groups, the elderly, veterans, the homeless, hospital and hospice patients, and adults and children living with cancer, bringing comedy to people in need via free performances and interactive workshops. The name Cherub comes from the Yiddish “Cherubim” which means “Angel.” As a kid, Goldberg always wanted to be an actor, but his parents encouraged him to pursue a legal career instead. In 2007, he decided to attend an improv comedy class, and the rest is history. Now, he lives on the Upper West Side and insists on using his middle name “to distinguish himself from the 50,000 other Jonathan Goldbergs in the tri-state area.”
Volunteer Joyce Purver, left, at a recent workshop at Ronald McDonald house. Goldberg is a partner in the litigation department of Dentons, one of the 25 largest legal service providers in the world. By day, he can be found in his office at Rockefeller Center, dancing to club music at his standing desk, which he bought specifically so he could bust a move while on conference calls. By night, he can be found playing with his chubby cats, Bella and Leo. Before it could officially become a 501(c)3 nonprofit, Goldberg and his friends, Joy Purver and Dr. Steve Van Ooteghem, had to use their own money to get the organization off the ground, continuing to survive and expand through individual donations. Now, they’ve established partnerships with numerous organizations, including Chelton Loft, a Fedcap clubhouse open to adults with a history of mental illness and homelessness. On an unseasonably warm September night, a small group has gathered at the Loft on West 19th Street. The Cherubs are playing games with the residents like “Geographic Freeze Tag,” forming physical positions and creating new scenes every time the audience Continued on page 8