ENTERTAINMENT

I

GOING PLACES I

WEEK OF
SEPT.22-28

SPECIAL EVENTS

JEWISH .COMMUNITY
CENTER Washtenaw
County, 2935 Birch
Hollow Drive, Ann Arbor,,
Apples and Honey, 1 p.m.
Sunday, free, 971-0990.
PALACE 3777 La.peer
Road, Auburn Hills,
WWF Superstars of Wres-
tling, Hulk Hogan vs.
"Macho Man" Randy
Savage, and more, 8 p.m.
Saturday, admission, 377-
8200.
WEST BLOOMFIELD
LIBRARY 4600 Walnut
Lake Road, "China: Its
art and its culture," slide
show, 7:30 p.m. Monday,
free, 682-2120.
SOMERSET MALL
2801 W. Big Beaver Road,
Troy, Toy and Doll Collec-
tibles Fair, through Sun-
day, free, 643-6360.

Above, Yolanda Fleischer; top right, David Fox; right, Shirley Benyas.

Booked
Theater

COMEDY

This weekend will mark the third season
and a new chapter for Readers Theater.

VICTORIA BELYEU DIAZ

Special to The Jewish News

he Jewish Com-
munity Center's
Readers Theater is
getting set to kick
off its third season
4 p.m. Sunday. Jack Pulaski's
"Religious Instruction,"
Shmarya Levin's `."I Go To
Heder," and Ida Fink's "The
Table," will be read by Shirley
Benyas, Cap -Blood, David
Fox, Henrietta Hermelin and
Rube Weiss.
Staging its productions in
the DeRoy Theater since its
inception in May 1987, the
group is patterned after
"Selected Shorts;' a New
York-based ensemble of pro-
fessional actors who read
short stories to audiences at
a small theater space in
Manhattan.
Back in 1986, former JCC
Executive Director, Irwin
Shaw, caught a performance
of the New York group and
believed something like it
could be translated into a suc-
cessful project through the

JCC's Institute for Retired
Professionals.
Readers Theater, unlike
"Selected Shorts," focuses ex-
clusively on material either
written by a Jewish author or
with a Jewish focus.
"Irwin brought me the con-
cept," says Miriam Sand-
weiss, JCC senior adult
department director. "And I
thought it was an extremely
exciting do-able idea. I believ-
ed that focusing on Jewish
authors and interests would
meet a need for Jewish pro-
gramming in our community
that, at the time, was not be-
ing met.' Apparently, Sand-
weiss was right in believing
an eager audience existed for
that brand of entertainment.
When radio-TV performer
and Wayne State University
professor, Paul Winter, step-
ped up to the microphone to
read Sholom Aleichem's "The
Guest" — the first story in the
first Readers Theater produc-
tion — he faced a standing-
room-only audience.
Since that first production
which featured area per-

formers Evelyn Orbach, Liz
and Rube Weiss and Harry
Goldstein, the Readers
Theater, sponsored by the Ir-
win and Sadie Cohn Fund,
has presented more than 50
short stories to audiences at
the DeRoy, with six different
Sunday afternoon programs
per season — three in the fall,
plus another three in the
spring. Just about every per-
formance means a full house,
according to Sandwiess.
Such noted stories as
Delmore Schwartz's "In
Dream Begin Respon-
sibilities:' Philip Roth's "The
Conversion of the Jews," and
E.L. Doctorow's "The Writer
in the Family," have been
read, along with a number of
lesser-known works, in-
cluding some by local authors.
Last season's final produc-
tion, planned around a theme
of mothers and grand-
mothers, featured Liz Weiss
reading one of her own works,
"Ma." Paul Winter has also
read from his own work and,
next year, the Theater may
conduct a community-wide

.

FOX AND HOUNDS
1560 Woodward, Bloom-
field Hills, The Ron Coden
Show, 8:30 p.m Fridays
and Saturdays, through
September, free, 644
4800.

Glenn Triest

short fiction writing contest,
says Theater co-ordinator,
Janet Berman, with' a show
devoted entirely to the
presentation of the winning
stories.
"The scope of Jewish
literature is so great," says
Yolanda Fleischer, a , faculty
member at University of
Detroit and Wayne State
University, who joined the
group as artistic director two
years ago. "The range is
everything from fantastical-
mythological to ultra-realistic
mood pieces and everything
in between. In the years that
I've been artistic director, I've
probably read 300-400 short
stories, and I've • not scratch-
ed the surface of what's out
there.
"My approach to story
selection for the programs is
sort of eclectic," Fleischer con-
tinues. "Some of our stories
are suggested by the ensem-
ble. Many times, someone will
just find a story they would
like to do. They sent it on to
me,' and I give them a feed-
back on -it. Saul Weinman

THEATER . 1

_

JEWISH COMMUNITY
CENTER DeRoy The-
ater, 6600 W. Maple
Road, West Bloomfield,
Readers Theater, 4 p.m.
Sunday, admission, 967-
4030.
FISHER THEATER
3011 W. Grand Blvd., De-
troit, Les Miserables,
through Nov. 26, admis-
sion, 872-1000.'
FOX THEATER Detroit,
Fiddler on the Roof,
through Sunday, admis-
.-..
sion, 567-7314.
PERFORMANCE
NETWORK 408 W.
Washington, Ann Arbor,
Trane Beyond the Blues,
Thursday through Oct.
1.5, adinission, 663-0681. _

—

MUSIC

ORCHESTRA HALL .
Detroit Symphony Or-
chestra, 8 p.m. today, 8:30
p.m. Saturday, admission;
5 p.m. Sunday, free, 567-
.
9000.

Continued on Page 83

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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