The First Jew In Canada: A Trans Tale

This Trans Day of Visibility, LGBTQ+ at the J and the Ontario Jewish Archives present The First Jew in Canada: A Trans Tale, written and performed by S. Bear Bergman.

About The First Jew in Canada: A Trans Tale

In 1738, a young transgender man named Jacques LaFargue set off from France to what is now Quebec City, determined to make for himself a new life. The First Jew In Canada: A Trans Tale is his largely untold story, embroidered onto the bones of nine verifiable facts about his life and existence, and interwoven with the modern experience of a trans and Jewish immigrant to Canada three hundred years later. A thrilling and illuminating tale, The First Jew In Canada takes its audience on a stubbornly Jewish journey of optimism, faith, and joy – including the joy and affirmation of finding an ancestor you never knew you had.

About S. Bear Bergman:

S. Bear Bergman is the author of ten books, a storyteller, educator and the founder and publisher of children’s book press Flamingo Rampant, which makes feminist, culturally-diverse children’s picture books celebrating LGBT2Q+ kids and families. He writes creative non-fiction for grown ups, fiction for children, the advice column Asking Bear, and was the co-editor (along with Kate Bornstein) of Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation. These days he spends most of his time making trans cultural competency interventions any way he can and trying to avoid stepping on Lego. His forthcoming book is SPECIAL TOPICS IN BEING A PARENT, from Arsenal Pulp in the summer of 2024.

This performance is geared towards audiences 12+. Run time of 55 minutes, with no intermission. Tickets are $18. If you identify as somebody who is trans, nonbinary, and/or gender expansive and cannot afford the full ticket price, you can select a reduced ticket price to increase access. If you have the funds to sponsor an additional ticket, you may choose to add $18 to your total to help us continue to use accessible pricing models.

The MNjcc is a wheelchair accessible building with all-gender, accessible washrooms on the main floor. This performance will be a mask mandatory space and we will have masks available for patrons that do not have their own. The performance will have ASL interpretation; please let us know if you require a seat at the front in order to best see the interpreters. The play is also accessible to those who are blind or low-vision, as it has minimal visual components. We are committed to ensuring our programming is accessible to anybody who wishes to attend.

Please email emunahw@mnjcc.org with any accessibility questions or requests and we will work together to find ways for you to join us.