Look Who’s Coming to Dinner

ARTS&LIFE

THEATER

Look Who’s Coming to Dinner

New play examines what might happen if Elijah really came to the seder.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Last year at Passover, Udi Kapen was thinking about ideas for a script to be submitted in participation with a playwriting group he had joined. As the holiday also was on his mind, Kapen imagined a seder plotline.

The sometime writer came up with a seriocomedy based on Elijah and what it would be like if Elijah introduced himself at the family’s front door. Beyond the group, he shared his idea with members of B’nai Israel Synagogue in West Bloomfield, and they decided to host a Zoom presentation with Kapen as producer/director.

Kapen, a pediatrician by vocation and a community theater participant by avocation, brings considerable performance experience to Elijah’s Cup, which will be debuted at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 30.

“It’s a short play about a family sitting down to a seder,” Kapen said. “The teenage son is moody and not into it at all. His mother and grandfather are going off on tangents.

“It’s not going the way the father wants it. It’s his favorite holiday, and he wants to do everything by the book, the Haggadah, and the action takes off after the father opens the door because there is Elijah.”

Appearing in the cast are Kapen as the father, Stacy Gittleman as the mother, Toby Gittleman as the son, Lou Severinsky as the grandfather, Mechelle Bernard as Officer Martin and Mark Robbins as Elijah.

“Most of the cast I’ve worked with before in community theater productions,” Kapen, 52, said. “I knew they had some background in theater, and I knew what they could do. I made an email blast to the congregation saying that this was coming up, and anybody interested should contact me.”

The cast of Elijah’s Cup rehearses over Zoom. ACTING BACKGROUND

Kapen, interested in theater since school days in West Virginia and later Andover High School here, put theater on hold during medical studies at the University of Michigan and his residency. While raising two daughters, he won parts with the Bloomfield Players and the Village Players of Birmingham.

Leading roles placed him in The Music Man, Oklahoma and Oliver! among some 30 productions. While he never had singing lessons, many directors felt comfortable choosing him for parts that featured him in song.

During the pandemic, Kapen has immersed himself in the Zoom platform with playwriting experiences, auditions and rehearsals.

“I belong to Playwrights@ Work through the Village Players,” Kapen said. “Playwriting has really filled a void for me during this time that I haven’t been able to act on stage. It’s a wonderful creative outlet, allowing me to express thoughts, feelings, even opinions.

“I’ve gotten to write semi-autobiographical plays and plays about things I love, like country music and Star Trek. It’s an incredibly fulfilling feeling to hear my words spoken and performed by others.

“Elijah’s Cup lends itself to the Zoom format because the whole thing takes place in one scene around a dinner table.”

While offstage, Kapen still is a bit of a performer. To ease the tensions of his young patients, he juggles three small rubber balls kept in his lab coat pocket.

“The Passover play is a comedy, so I want people to be entertained,” he said. “But there is a message in the show that I hope comes through. It’s about the importance of family and realizing the things in life that are important can be right there in front of us but may not be recognized unless we know to take a beat and look for them.”

Details

Elijah’s Cup can be seen at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, by going to bnaiisraelwb.org.

“THERE IS A MESSAGE IN THE SHOW THAT I HOPE COMES THROUGH.”

— UDI KAPEN

Soul Scholarship

Created in Memory of Laela Miller Saulson

Eli Saulson never met his biological mother, Laela Miller Saulson, who passed away shortly after his birth at the age of 28. She possessed a caring nature and compassion for children facing challenges — and had an affinity for art. To honor her memory, Saulson has funded a Soul Scholarship, enabling an artist to develop their creative talents in perpetuity at Friendship Circle’s Soul Studio program.

Laela was born in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 1939 and grew up in a proud Jewish home in Crystal Falls. Voted most likely to succeed in high school, she achieved Statewide recognition in debate while also playing saxophone in the band and writing for the school newspaper. Furthermore, she was a prolific artist and loved outdoor adventures.

After graduating from the University of Michigan, she became a teacher in the Royal Oak School System, specializing in helping children with learning disabilities. The people in her life spoke highly of her fun-loving personality, humanity and capacity for friendship. For all of these reasons, Saulson found no better way to honor her memory than to make a contribution to Friendship Circle’s Forever Friendship legacy campaign.

Giving to Friendship Circle’s legacy campaign allows donors to invest in the nonprofit’s mission by providing “forever friendship” for future generations. The Soul Scholarship will help support an artist in the Soul Studio program, a supported art studio program with an open studio space and gallery for adults, 18 years or older with special needs. The program provides participants the opportunity to reveal their hidden talents to the community and be recognized as included, contributing members of society.

Dresner Foundation Soul Studio Artists enjoy the open studio space at Friendship Circle Farber Center and a wide variety of materials to work with.

Saulson has long been involved with the Detroit Jewish Community and has been privileged to sit on the board of the William Davidson Foundation, who funded the scholarship through his discretionary fund. The impact of the Chabad Lubavitch movement and the message of the Lubavitcher Rebbe resonated with Saulson, motivating him to become more involved with Friendship Circle’s Soul Studio.

“I found it interesting that the Rebbe would speak of people with developmental disabilities as exceptional,” says Saulson. “And the art at Soul Studio is truly exceptional.”

Saulson is inspired by the way Friendship Circle has changed both the local community and the world’s view of kids, teens and adults with special needs.

“When I was growing up in the 1970’s, special needs kids were separated from the rest of us and not always treated kindly by their peers. Now through Friendship Circle, there is a waiting list for kids who want to be friends with them.”

The legacy of his mother’s generosity and great capacity for friendship moved Saulson to give the gift of eternal friendship to an individual with special needs in her honor. Now, he hopes others will follow his example.

“I’m hopeful that in giving this [scholarship] and in telling this story that I can inspire others to do the same thing.”

To contribute to the Leala Miller Saulson Fund or to start a fund in memory or honor of a loved one, please contact:

Rabbi Levi Shemtov levi@friendshipcircle.org 248-702-1020

Dresner Foundation Soul Studio Artist paints in the open studio space at Friendship Circle Farber Center. Laela Miller Saulson, of blessed memory.

Your gift to Friendship Circle’s Forever Friendship Legacy Campaign is an investment in the future. One that makes an incredible difference in the lives of individuals with special needs, their families, and those struggling with isolation. Your gift will ensure Friendship Circle is able to serve the community today and in the future.

FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE

6892 West Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 248-788-7878