30 minute read
Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities
LETTER FROM THEATER J’S MANAGING DIRECTOR
ב״ה
Dear Friends,
Theater J is proud to be considered the nation’s most prominent Jewish theater (American Theatre Magazine). Sitting just ten blocks north of the White House and in the Jewish Community Center of our nation’s capital, the stories that we tell on our stage have the potential to impact our city, our nation, and our world in profound and meaningful ways.
In presenting the groundbreaking documentary play Fires in the Mirror by Anna Deavere Smith, we hope the play’s precise and nuanced depiction of a tragic moment in American history can spark conversations that continue to bend the arc of history towards justice. I am grateful for the tremendous work that January LaVoy and Adam Immerwahr have done in association with our colleagues at Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta to bring this production to our stage.
I hope you will join me in thanking Adam Immerwahr for his incredible seven-year tenure at Theater J. As artistic director, Adam has introduced popular programs like our Classes for Theater Lovers and the Yiddish Theater Lab. He created and spearheaded Theater J’s Expanding the Canon program, which over the next three years will commission seven racially and ethnically diverse Jewish playwrights to write new plays that will change the landscape of Jewish theater on our stage and across the country for years to come.
As we enter the next chapter of Theater J’s history, I hope you will join us as a subscriber. Our 2022-2023 season is full of hope and joy, triumph and resilience. Subscribers enjoy the best seats at the lowest prices and benefits like fee-free ticket exchanges, a pair of guest tickets, and free refills on plays – yes that means if you’re a subscriber you can come back to see a play as many times as you want. Also, if you can support our work with a contribution, I invite you to join us as an angel next season. Angels are invited to special events like opening night performances, artist receptions, and special behind the scenes programs. Feel free to email me david@ theaterj.org if you are interested or would like more information. It’s supporters like you who make the work we do possible.
Thank you all for joining us for this performance, and I hope to see you back at the theater soon.
With warmest wishes, David
David Lloyd Olson, Managing Director
LETTER FROM THEATER J’S ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Dear Friends,Welcome to Fires in the Mirror, written by Anna Deavere Smith.
This play has been on my list for many years. At first glance, it is a documentary drama (based solely on verbatim interview transcriptions) that tells the story of the fateful August in 1991 Crown Heights, Brooklyn—the death of two innocents and the days of riots that followed between the Black and Jewish communities. But the true power of this play is its masterful exploration of identity itself. In fact, you’ll note that the events leading up to the riots are barely mentioned for nearly the first half of the play—Smith sets the scene with a nuanced, diverse, and often poetic study of race, religion, perspective, culture, understanding, and more. She asks us to first understand who we are before we can examine how this happened. The lessons I take from this play are not about the specifics of these riots, but about what Smith teaches us about humanity. Today, we find ourselves in an increasingly divided world, trying ever harder to understand across differences; for me, Fires in the Mirror has only become more resonant and more insightful. As Carl Sagan said: “You have to know the past to understand the present.”
Co-director and star January LaVoy began working with me on this production in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, in the midst of the pandemic. We rehearsed and mounted a version of it at a theater called Theatrical Outfit, where LaVoy performed live for a camera nightly in June of 2021. Our partnership has truly been one for the ages; I have learned so much from our collaborations. I’m so glad to finally be able to share our work with you in person.
This is my last production as Artistic Director of Theater J, although I will be returning next season to direct the side-splitting Two Jews Walk Into a War. I am so grateful to the incredible staff of Theater J and the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center, who have lifted Theater J up to new heights. More than anything, I’m grateful for this audience—this is a remarkable house for an artist to create work in. You have always been the most inquisitive, discerning, and generous group that any Artistic Director could ask for. And you’ve never been shy to share your opinions!! I hope you’ll welcome Theater J’s next Artistic Director with the same warm embrace you offered me; I know that Theater J will continue to grow and make ever more powerful, provocative, and joyous theater. Thank you for creating—through your attendance, your philanthropy, your wisdom, your loyalty—the greatest Jewish theater in the country.
With all my heart,
Adam Immerwahr, Theater J’s 4th Artistic Director
THEATER J
Adam Immerwahr Artistic Director
David Lloyd Olson Managing Director
THE TRISH VRADENBURG STAGE • AARON & CECILE GOLDMAN THEATER MORRIS CAFRITZ CENTER FOR THE ARTS
FIRES IN THE MIRROR: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other Identities
JUNE 9 - JULY 3, 2022
Produced in association with Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, Georgia Artistic Director Matt Torney, Managing Director Gretchen Butler
Cast Performer...................................................................................................January LaVoy*
Artistic & Production Team Directors...........................Adam Immerwahr^ & January LaVoy
Set Design......................................................Nephelie Andonyadis+
Costume Design..................................................................Pamela Rodríguez-Montero
Lighting Design..........................................................................................Max Doolittle+
Sound Design.............................................................................................Tosin Olufolabi
Projection Design..............................................................................Bradley S. Bergeron
Associate Projection Design...............................................................Zavier A. L. Taylor
Props Design.........................................................................................Nicholas Battaglia
Production Stage Manager........................................................................Lauren Pekel*
Assistant Stage Manager..........................................................................Ileana Blustein
Assistant Stage Manager........................................................................Lücién Reubens
Assistant Stage Manager..........................................................Allison Poms-Strickland
+Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829
*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
^The Director is a Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
Photography, video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited.
FIRES IN THE MIRROR: CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN AND OTHER IDENTITIES is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.
Original New York Production by New York Shakespeare Festival.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
January LaVoy (Performer and Co-Director) (she/her) is an Atlanta-based actress, best known for her role as Noelle Ortiz- Stubbs on the long-running ABC daytime drama One Life to Live, and her work as a voice actor. She has appeared on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters across the country, and guest starred on several prime-time network series, including Elementary, Blue Bloods, and N0S4A2. An Audiofile Magazine “Golden Voice” since May 2019, January has an extensive body of work in both narration and commercial voiceover. She has hundreds of audiobook titles to her credit, and her voice has been heard in national campaigns for dozens of products. She shares a 2020 Grammy nomination with Meryl Streep and the cast of the Charlotte’s Web audiobook, in which she plays the title role of Charlotte. She dedicates this production in celebration of the life of Jennifer Leaming Lyons.
Anna Deavere Smith (Conceiver, Writer, and Original Performer) is an actor, teacher, playwright, and creator of unique one-woman plays based on interviews. Anna Deavere Smith has won two Obie Awards, two Tony nominations for Twilight: Los Angeles, and a MacArthur Fellowship. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play Fires In The Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn And Other Identities. Ms. Smith is founder and director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at New York University. As an actress she has appeared in many films and on the television series The West Wing. Her book Letters to a Young Artist is published by Anchor Books. www.annadeaveresmithworks.org.
Adam Immerwahr (Co-Director) See page 10.
Nephelie Andonyadis (Set Designer) is a scenic and costume designer, based mostly in Washington DC. Designs this season include Compulsion or The House Behind at Theater J, The Most Beautiful Home…Maybe (digital version and IRL premiere) at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, and The Rivers Don’t Know at City Theatre in Pittsburgh. Other recent projects include Seize the King (Alliance Theatre), Topdog/Underdog (WSC Avant Bard, 2020 Helen Hayes Award for scenic design), Occupant (Theater J), As You Like It & The Odyssey (Public Works/Seattle Rep), The Tempest (Pittsburgh Public Theater), The Children (Studio Theatre), Lost in the Stars (SITI Company), Pilgrims Musa and Sheri… (Mosaic Theater) and The Juliet Letters (UrbanArias). With Cornerstone Theater Company, where she is an ensemble member, Nephelie has worked in collaboration with communities across California and beyond on A Jordan Downs Illumination, The Cardinal, Magic Fruit, Jason in Eureka, Los Illegals, and Café Vida among others. Regionally, her designs have been seen at South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Center Theater Group, and many others. Nephelie has been a professor at the University of Michigan and the University of Redlands. BS from Cornell University’s School of Architecture. MFA from Yale School of Drama. NEA/TCG Design Fellowship. MS in Aging and Health from Georgetown University.
Pamela Rodríguez-Montero (Costume Designer) (she/her/ella) is a scenographer, educator, and visual artist from Costa Rica. She earned her BFA degree in Arts and Visual Communications from the National University of Costa Rica and received her MFA in Scenography from The University of Kansas (2017). She was recently named Assistant Professor of Costume Design at The University of California, Santa Cruz. Previously she served as the Assistant Professor of Costume Design at Kennesaw State University. She has also worked as a guest scenographer for Washburn University and guest scenographer and cultural awareness mentor at The University of Central Missouri. Pamela combines her motherwork with her labor as an educator and artist. Pamela has designed for dance, theater and devised work in Costa Rica and the United States. Her work has been presented at The National Theatre for the Dance in Costa Rica, Costa Rica National Theatre, Kansas City Rep Theatre, The Alliance Theatre, and La MaMa, among others. She is honored and delighted to make her Theater J debut with this production! For more information, please visit her website: www.pamelarodriguezmontero.com
Max Doolittle (Lighting Designer) Regional theatre credits include: Ford’s Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Folger Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Mosaic Theater, Imagination Stage, Santa Fe Playhouse, Kitchen Theatre Company, Fulton Theatre, Theater Alliance, Rep Stage, The Kennedy Center, The Second City Chicago, Forum Theatre, Adventure Theatre MTC, Constellation Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Academy for Classical Acting, Pointless Theatre Co, NextStop Theatre Co. NYC includes Ars Nova, The Juilliard School, New Ohio Theatre, New World Stages. Lighting direction for television includes Anderson Cooper 360, Erin Burnett OutFront. Aboard Cruise Ships: Wine Lovers, The Musical. Max teaches Lighting Design and Computer Drafting at The University of Mary Washington. MFA: University of Maryland. Member: USA-829
Tosin Olufolabi (Sound Designer) (she/her) is a sound designer, deviser & performer. After graduating from the University of Richmond, she interned at Berkshire Theatre Group, Barrington Stage Company, and Olney Theatre Center. Her most notable sound designs include There's Always The Hudson (Woolly Mammoth Theatre); it's not a trip it's a journey (Round House Theatre); The Great Khan (San Diego Rep); A Wind in the Door (Kennedy Center TYA); The Thanksgiving Play (Olney Theatre Center); Ghost/Writer (Rep Stage); Distance Frequencies (Rorschach Theatre); Hi, Are You Single? (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company); Loveday Brooke in the Mystery of the Drawn Daggers (We Happy Few); Head Over Heels (Monumental Theatre Co.); School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Round House Theatre); Gloria (Woolly Mammoth Theatre); Peepshow (dog & pony dc); and Lela & Co. (Factory 449).
Bradley S. Bergeron (Projection Designer) is an Atlanta based production artist and designer. He is currently the Director of Strategy & Innovation at Thrive, an Atlanta based creative consultancy. Bradley holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Theater from Georgia College & State University. Bradley serves as Technical Advisor and Production Designer for Broadway Dreams, and is a proud member of IATSE Local 479. He was the video & lighting designer for the 2021 Theatrical Outfit production of Fires in the Mirror. His next project will be Fannie: The Music & Life of Fannie Lou Hamer to be co-produced at Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and City Theatre in Pittsburgh.
Zavier Augustus Lee Taylor (Associate Projection Designer) is a multimedia artist and designer with a focus on interactive and impactful video design for live performance. He has a passion for being hands-on in the creation of new work. Zavier spends his time experimenting with motion graphics, visual art, video editing, and sound design. Zavier also operates a multimedia production company known as ZALT Productions. ZALT Productions is a creative entity that enables people and businesses to fully realize their potential through design. He has worked with a number of venues such as Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Geva Theatre Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Studio Theatre, Adventure Theatre MTC and more. Zavier is eager to connect with and build a network of creatives locally in the DMV, nationally and abroad. Learn more about Zavier and his previous work by searching #ZALTproductions. Website: https://zavier.myportfolio.com/
Lauren Pekel (Stage Manager) (she/her) returns to Theater J after stage managing the first look reading of Leah and Her Dybbuk. Her DC theater credits include events and productions with The Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Theater Alliance, and Imagination Stage. Regionally, she has worked with the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and Skylight Music Theater in Milwaukee, among others. Lauren is an alumna of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Theater Program, with a BFA in Stage Management; and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.
ABOUT THEATRICAL OUTFIT
Theatrical Outfit is proud to be Atlanta's second-oldest professional theatre, pursuing a mission to produce world-class theatre that starts the conversations that matter and helps create a community grounded in justice, equity and dignity. We believe in authentic storytelling that creates a place to have conversations about topics that are relevant to our lives; produces unforgettable artistic experiences; and strives to reconcile the complex past of the South with an equitable future. We invest in Atlanta by telling the unique stories of our city; respecting its rich history while laying the foundation for its future; and contributing to an inclusive and strong community. We live our values by affording equity and dignity to each person in our community; honoring the legacy of our city, our space and our art form; and serving and supporting those in need.
THEATER J LEADERSHIP
Adam Immerwahr (Theater J Artistic Director) has served as the Artistic Director of Theater J since 2015. He is the former Associate Artistic Director at McCarter Theatre Center, a Tony Award-winning theater in Princeton, NJ, where his directing credits include Sleuth, The Understudy, The Mousetrap, and a now-annual production of A Christmas Carol, and his producing credits include world premieres by Edward Albee, John Guare, Will Power, Christopher Durang, Marina Carr, Danai Gurira, and many more. He was the Resident Director at Passage Theater in Trenton, NJ, and the Artistic Director of OnStage, a company of New Jersey senior citizens who collected and performed the stories of their community. Adam has directed at some of the top theaters in the country, including The Public and Theater Row (both for Summer Play Festival), Ensemble Studio Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, McCarter Theater Center, Cleveland Play House, Theater J, Passage Theater, Luna Stage, Hangar Theater, Bristol Riverside, and many others. Internationally, he directed the African premiere of The Convert (nominated for Zimbabwe’s National Arts Medal). He was the recipient of 2010 NJ Theatre Alliance “Applause Award” and 2014 Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award presented by Fairleigh Dickinson University. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of the Alliance for Jewish Theater, and is an inaugural member of the Drama League Director's Council. Adam is a graduate of Brown University, where he studied both Theater and Renaissance/Early Modern Studies.
David Lloyd Olson (Theater J Managing Director) has spent over a decade managing nonprofit theaters, most recently serving as managing director of Quintessence Theatre Group in Philadelphia where he oversaw the organization’s largest ever fundraising campaign and the doubling of their annual foundation support. He was manager of the executive office and board engagement at the Shakespeare Theatre Company where he supported the transition of the theater’s artistic directorship from Michael Kahn to Simon Godwin. He was a founding company member of Pointless Theatre in Washington, DC, where he served for ten years as managing director, during which time the company was awarded the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company at the Helen Hayes Awards. He was an Allen Lee Hughes management fellow at Arena Stage and served as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Valmiera, Latvia. He has twice been the recipient of a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities fellowship program grant and was on the host committee of the 2016 Theatre Communications Group national conference. He attended the University of Maryland where he received a B.A. in theater from the College of Arts and Humanities and a B.A. in government and politics from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. He is a member of Adas Israel Congregation.
Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) was founded in 1913 as the first of the American actor unions. Equity’s mission is to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Today, Equity represents more than 40,000 actors, singers, dancers and stage managers working in hundreds of theatres across the United States. Equity members are dedicated to working in the theatre as a profession, upholding the highest artistic standards. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits including health and pension plans for its members. Through its agreement with Equity, this theatre has committed to the fair treatment of the actors and stage managers employed in this production. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. For more information, visit actorsequity.org.
ABOUT THEATER J
Theater J is a nationally-renowned, professional theater that celebrates, explores, and struggles with the complexities and nuances of both the Jewish experience and the universal human condition. Our work illuminates and examines ethical questions of our time, intercultural experiences that parallel our own, and the changing landscape of Jewish identities.
As the nation’s largest and most prominent Jewish theater, we aim to preserve and expand a rich Jewish theatrical tradition and to create community and commonality through theatergoing experiences.
The Edlavitch DCJCC embraces inclusion in all its programs and activities. We welcome and encourage the participation of all people, regardless of their background, sexual orientation, abilities, or religion, including interfaith couples and families.
BEYOND THE STAGE
Theater J is dedicated to taking its dialogues beyond the stage, offering public discussion forums which explore the theatrical, cultural, and social elements of our art throughout the year. Below are the events planned during the run of Fires in the Mirror. Guests and times subject to change. All events are free and open to everyone.
Sunday June 19 following the 2:00 PM performance
CREATIVE CONVERSATION: An insider’s reflection on the creative process. Artists answer questions and offer insight about design, inspiration, rehearsal, and collaboration.
Wednesday June 22 following the 7:30 PM performance
CAST TALKBACK: Join January LaVoy to ask your burning questions about her artistic practice and the production.
Sunday June 26 following the 2:00 PM performance
SUNDAY SYMPOSIUM: We will delve deeper into the history and context of the Crown Heights Riots and how they changed the landscape of the neighborhoods where they occurred. Our Sunday Symposium will be moderated by Sonya Weisburd, the EDCJCC’s Director of the Center for Social Responsibility. We are honored to welcome Associate Professor Terrence L. Johnson and Professor, Center for Jewish Civilization Jacques D. Berlinerblau, both from Georgetown University.
UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD OF THE PLAY: Crown Heights, Brooklyn
CROWN HEIGHTS is an ethnically diverse neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York with large West Indian, Black, and Orthodox Jewish communities. It is the worldwide capital of a branch of Hasidic Judaism known as Chabad-Lubavitch.
Starting in the 1920s, Crown Heights was a diverse middle-class neighborhood. The opening of the “A” subway line in 1932 connected Harlem and Crown Heights, which became the largest Black community in Brooklyn. After post-War white flight, Black migration increased, alongside a racially-motivated divestment of services and resources on the city’s part. New immigrants from English-speaking Caribbean countries—such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana—began purchasing homes, primarily north of Eastern Parkway, the symbolic divide of Black and Jewish Crown Heights. Diverse in culture, cuisine, and traditions, Afro-Caribbean immigrants and their descendants were often viewed as homogeneously Black.
CHABAD-LUBAVITCH is a sect of Judaism founded in the late 1700s that falls under the umbrella of Hasidism, itself a branch of Orthodox spiritual revivalism. It is sometimes interchangeably referred to as Lubavitch, Chabad, or Chabad- Lubavitch. The use of the “Lubavitch” name comes from the town in Russia in which the now-dominant line of Chabad leaders lived in the 1910s. Chabad is the largest and best-known group of Hasidim (Hasidim being the plural form of Hasid, meaning a member of the Hasidic group), largely because of Chabad’s emphasis on outreach. Hasid derives from the Hebrew word ֶח ֶסד (chesed), meaning kindness and the outward expression of love (loving kindness) for G-d and other people.
In 1991, the religious leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch community was Rabbi Menachem Mandel Schneerson, often referred to as The Rebbe and considered by many of his followers to be the Jewish Messiah.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
AUGUST 19, 1991 Rabbi Schneerson is being escorted in a threecar motorcade led by an unmarked police car. Rabbi Schneerson’s bodyguard, Yosef Lifsh, is at the end of the motorcade and runs a red light. Lifsh’s car collides with an oncoming car and veers onto the sidewalk, pinning two children. Seven-year-old Gavin Cato is killed and his cousin, Angela Cato, also 7, is severely injured.
Three hours later, Yankel Rosenbaum, 29, a visiting rabbinical scholar from Australia, is attacked and stabbed several times at the corner of President Street and Brooklyn Avenue by a group of young Black men in apparent retaliation for Gavin’s death. This is the first of five nights of rioting that will occur in the neighborhood.
AUGUST 20, 1991 New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins consoles Mr. Rosenbaum at Kings County Hospital. Doctors say Mr. Rosenbaum will recover, but hours later he bleeds to death from a wound that went undetected in the emergency room.
AUGUST 20-23, 1991 Violence between groups of Blacks and Jews continues, with many arrests and numerous injuries, as long-smoldering tensions flare. Businesses are looted and properties are damaged. A state investigation will conclude months later that a series of miscalculations – officials underestimated the seriousness of the tensions and were slow to respond – aggravated the situation.
AUGUST 27, 1991 Lemrick Nelson Jr., a 16- year-old Black teenager, is charged with murder in the death of Mr. Rosenbaum. The police say they found a knife on him, and that Mr. Rosenbaum had identified it as the weapon used to stab him. As the indictment is announced, some 2,000 mourners attend Gavin Cato’s funeral.
SEPTEMBER 5, 1991 A Brooklyn grand jury concludes that there is no basis to bring criminal charges against Mr. Lifsh, the driver of the car that killed Gavin Cato, prompting an outcry from the Black community.
OCTOBER 29, 1992 Mr. Nelson is acquitted in a state court, prompting an outcry from the Hasidic Jewish community.
JULY 20, 1993 A report by Richard H. Girgenti, the state’s Criminal Justice Director, criticizes the police as "uncoordinated and ineffective" during the August 1991 rioting. The report clears Mayor Dinkins of assertions that he held back the police, but it said he did not act quickly enough.
FIRES IN THE MIRROR STAFF
Head Electrician: Garth Dolan Scenic Charge Artist: Carolyn Hampton Set Construction: Matty Griffiths Light Board Programmer: Mikayla French Light Board Operator: Ryan Salomon Sound Board Operator: Jonathan Medley Technical Assistant: Megan Holden Costume Manager: Andrew Landon Cutler
Load-in Crew: Josh Adams, Justin Metcalf-Burton, Danny Debner, David Higgins, Stephen Indrisano, Megan Holden
Electricians: Logan Duvall, Rex Hsu, Jonathan Medley Special Thanks To: Amy Stoller
EDLAVITCH DCJCC LEADERSHIP & THEATER J STAFF
EDLAVITCH DCJCC Chief Executive Officer: Dava Schub Chief Financial Officer: Craig Mintz Chief Operating Officer: Bini W. Silver
THEATER J STAFF Artistic Director: Adam Immerwahr Managing Director: David Lloyd Olson Associate Producer: Kevin Place Associate Artistic Director: Johanna Gruenhut Resident Casting Director: Jenna Place “Expanding the Canon” Rosh Beit: Sabrina Sojourner Commissioned Writers: Lila Rose Kaplan, Caraid O’Brien, and Aaron Posner
Teaching Artists: Dr. Debra Caplan, José Carrasquillo, Evan Casey, Felicia Curry, Jenna Duncan, Hadar Galron, Kimberly Gilbert, Tyler Herman, Eric Hissom, Naomi Jacobson, Caleen Sinnette Jennings, Kate Eastwood Norris, Cody Nickell, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Aaron Posner, Howard Shalwitz, Dani Stoller, Diep Tran, Holly Twyford, Erin Weaver, and Em Whitworth
Education Programs Assistant: Erin Murphy Director of Marketing and Community Engagement: Stephanie Deutchman Director of Patron Experience: Chad Kinsman Creative Director, Edlavitch DCJCC: Molly Winston Ticket Office Manager: Jasmine Jones Development Coordinator: Emily Gardner Press Representative: Kendra Rubinfeld PR Technical Director: Thomas Howley Production Coordinator: Danny Debner Resident Production Stage Manager: Anthony O. Bullock Resident Props Designer: Pamela Weiner
House Managers and Ticket Office Associates: Mitchell Adams, Charlie Aube, Kaiya Lyons, KJ Moran Velz, Hadiya Rice, Sam Rollin, Robert Reeg, Jill Roos, Nitsan Scharf, and Mary-Margaret Walsh
Founding Artistic Director: Martin Blank
Tradition! Looking at a play through Judaism's lens
LISTENING WITH AN OPEN HEART
By Theater J Associate Artistic Director, Johanna Gruenhut
How can a society survive strife? When hatred has been professed and animated, how can people return to living intertwined in what we call society? The wisdom of today answers with truth and reconciliation. This is also Jewish wisdom.
In Ethics of the Fathers, Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel {the Rashabg} famously teaches that “on three things does the world stand: On justice, on truth, and on peace.” There is a procession here: first justice, then truth, and then peace.
Commentaries explain that while justice needs to be immediate, it is never complete. Therefore, the search for truth starts by acknowledging imperfection. To explain how truth works, the commentaries point to the ideal style of Jewish learning, the ‘chevruta,’ partnered learning. Dialogue, arguing, considering different perspectives is the key to learning, the key to finding truth. Consider that most of the Talmud (the central text of Rabbinic law and philosophy) comprises conversations, often disagreements, or “machloket” in the Aramaic jargon. Truth, in other words, is something you work to find, and it requires an interlocutor who sees things differently.
If disagreement predicates the process, should we expect agreement as a condition for peace? The sages understand from King Solomon’s example that the Jewish notion of peace does not mean resolution, but something closer to compromise, reconciliation.
As you consider the many voices in Fires In The Mirror, it may prove useful to keep in mind that arguments in the Talmud rarely resolve. One party’s conclusion always becomes the dominant custom—lighting Chanukah candles from left to right, for example (Hillel’s opinion, challenged by Shamai)—but the other party need not concede. Instead, conclusions in the Talmud are more-often-than-not a coming to peace with uncertainty, a sort of reconciliation to the fact that in the end we need to live and do, one way or another. So, we listen to each other, we argue, we disagree, and finally we accept that we need to pick a direction for lighting candles, and that does not mean that we are right or wrong, or righteous, or even that we know the truth. It just means that we put in the work, we heard each other, and we recognized our shared humanity. We therefore strive for a lev shomea, a listening heart, like King Solomon. Truth and reconciliation.
TAKE A DIP: AQUATICS AT THE EDLAVITCH DCJCC
Sitting inside the theater, one might be surprised to learn that a 20 yard, three-lane lap pool is housed just two floors below. The EDCJCC— with its neoclassical façade—may at first seem an odd place for swimming, but there has been a pool inside since the original opening in 1926. Aquatics for safety and recreation were an integral part of many Jewish Community Centers, Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Associations, and other Jewish communal spaces. And they still are today! In fact, the EDCJCC aquatics program has seen the most robust growth of any program at the Center in recent years.
Leading this growth has been the popularity of group swim classes. Many focus on teaching children swimming basics and improving technique, but others give the opportunity for the families of children six months to three years to get in the water too. In “Little Flippers” and “Polliwogs” courses, a family member learns how to help a child adjust to the water and eventually becomes the child’s own swim instructor.
It’s an approach for which Aquatics Program Coordinator Brittany Jeffries is uniquely qualified. Her parents developed the method used in “Polliwogs”—and brought her into a pool to demonstrate it starting when she was 4 months old.
Jeffries finds great connection in teaching young and old alike in the pool. Fear is the primary issue she encounters: “When someone realizes they can be in control in the water, it brings such an amazing light to their eyes. It inspires me to be less afraid of the things in life that scare me.”
Once students have conquered their fears—with lots of positive reinforcement from Jeffries and other instructors—their abilities advance rapidly. Jeffries delights in seeing them return for advanced courses or private lessons. In some cases, the adults she teaches even become regular lap swimmers or join for senior aqua fitness classes.
Aqua fitness classes, lap swimming appointments, and private or semiprivate swimming lessons are available year-round. Registration for group swim classes in the summer session (July 9-August 21) begins June 8.
COMING NEXT AT THEATER J
How is each play or musical in Theater J’s 2022-2023 season vital for our time? And what messages will linger after you’ve seen the show? We asked some of our artists for next season these questions:
Christian Barry, director and co-conceiver OLD STOCK: A REFUGEE LOVE STORY
OLD STOCK: A REFUGEE LOVE STORY takes the personal and makes it universal. How?
In 2015, as the Syrian refugee crisis was at its peak, Ben Caplan and I started working on a show. We didn’t know what story we were going to tell. We were writing songs, and jamming on ideas, when by happenstance, my wife visited Pier 21, an immigration museum at a famous pier in Halifax, Nova Scotia. My wife found the immigration records of her great grandparents (Chaim Moscovitch and Chaya Yankovitch) there. She came home and told me their struggle; when we heard stories about their lives, we were able to see ourselves in them. We were able to see them not just as refugees, but as parents, as lovers, as friends, as people experiencing challenges and trauma, making their way through life. I then realized that was the story that Ben and I were looking for. We were hoping to put a human face on the refugee experience.
Paige Hernandez, director INTIMATE APPAREL
What do you love most about INTIMATE APPAREL? How does it speak to you?
Themes of culture and identity weave so beautifully in this play about friendship, love and companionship. You get to watch worlds collide. Playwright Lynn Nottage's use of language is – magically and simultaneously – poetic, succinct, visceral, emotional and.... flows like fabric.
I come from a lineage of Black seamstresses. My prom dress, wedding dress, and so many other wearables were altered or created by my late Aunt Claudia. I saw, firsthand, her mastery at work: her love of fabric, pattern, design, build, tailoring. I felt so special and unique when I wore her craftsmanship. Claudia would have loved this play. I wish she could see her craft presented in this thoughtful, theatrical way.
Seth Rozin, playwright TWO JEWS WALK INTO A WAR
Where did the idea for TWO JEWS WALK INTO A WAR come from?
I was in rehearsal for a show in 2006 when an actor brought in a newspaper article with the headline something like “The Last Two Jews of Afghanistan,” suggesting I might find this to be fodder for a play. I found two things quite extraordinary and incredibly wellsuited for a play in the real-life situation: first, that there were now just two Jews remaining in Afghanistan, after a robust community of 30,000+ had thrived there for many decades. And second, that these two remaining Jews, who shared a commitment to rebuilding the Jewish community in Kabul, hated each other. In those two facts, there was so much pathos and humor. It felt like the beginning of a Jewish joke, which is how I ultimately set out to write the play and why the title is what it is. I decided to use the real story as a departure point for a more absurd allegory about community, tradition, belief, and survival.
Holly Twyford, director GLORIA: A LIFE
How is GLORIA: A LIFE necessary for today?
GLORIA not only shines a light on the incredible legacy of Gloria Steinem's tireless advocacy for women's equality, but also shares the story of her as a compassionate, thoughtful human being whose trials and tribulations didn’t stop her. Still, to this day, the challenges she faced (and faces) continue to inspire her to keep searching and fighting for ways to make the world a better place for everyone. "The art of life is not controlling what happens to us but using what happens to us." Once again, Theater J has found a play that is a terrifying and timely reminder that, as Ms. Steinem put it, "Everyone needs a torch," reminding us that our history is constantly informing and impacting our present.
Stephen Laughton, playwright ONE JEWISH BOY
What does ONE JEWISH BOY have to teach us at this moment? Why is it vital for right now?
The thing I most worry about, probably the ultimate gesture of this play – is how all the ‘isms’ and ‘phobias’ in our society – that toxicity can ultimately poison our sense of allyship. Jesse (an Ashkenazi Jewish man) and Alex (a biracial woman), the play’s characters, should be natural allies. Given the communities they come from, they should absolutely be natural allies. But more often than not, especially when on a defensive keel, we can often fail to find the common ground, and we forget about solidarity.
