Iris Bahr’s Stories From the Brink comes to Chutzpah! Plus Spring Edition, March 19
One-woman solo show follows the creator’s own near-death experiences, from her childhood in the Bronx to travels in Israel, Asia, and South America

Iris Bahr, Stories From the Brink: My Festive Near-Death Adventures. Photo by Allison Michael Orenstein
As part of the Chutzpah! Plus Spring Edition, the Chutzpah! Festival presents Iris Bahr’s Stories From the Brink: My Festive Near-Death Adventures—one woman’s true tales of near death, unfiltered and in snackable form—at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre on March 19 at 7 pm.
From award-winning performer and Chutzpah! Festival favourite Bahr comes this wild, touching, and hilariously poignant journey through her own adventures, including (but not limited to) war zones, elder caregiving, a white-water disaster, incompetent Scottish physicians, and a childhood in the Bronx that involved a Yeshiva by day and bacon and the Guggenheim by night.
The story traces several stages of Bahr’s life, from her fragmented Bronx upbringing to time spent in Israel, Asia, South America. Life comes full circle when she returns to Tel Aviv, now taking care of her mother with dementia. As always, Bahr masterfully combines humour, pathos, and storytelling to take the audience on a journey that is funny, heartbreaking, and life-affirming all at once. Stories From the Brink is a true tale of adventure, escape, thrills, terrors, and evolution through perpetual movement.
Bahr is an award-winning actor, writer, and director. With over 50 TV and film credits to her name, she is best known for her recurring role on Curb your Enthusiasm as Rachel Heineman, for starring in the award-winning series Hacks as Perla, and for her series Svetlana, executive produced by Mark Cuban. Stories From the Brink won a Frankie Award at the Montreal Fringe Festival.
Her debut solo show DAI (enough) won the Lortel Award, garnering nominations for two Drama Desk Awards and a U.K. Stage Award along the way. DAI ran off Broadway, and had a world tour which included sold-out runs in London, Edinburgh, and across Latin America in Spanish. Bahr’s most recent solo show, See You Tomorrow, was just nominated for a Helen Hayes Award and has been touring across the U.S. and Canada.
The Chutzpah! Plus Spring Edition is on from March 19 to 23, and welcomes performers from across the globe. Tickets to see Stories From the Brink and more details are available online.
Post sponsored by Chutzpah! Festival.
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