DETROIT
Soviet, American Teens
Perform Original Play
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
C
orinne Stavish re-
members exactly
when the American
and Russian teens in her
Jewish theater group
became as one.
"It happened the day I
came for rehearsal and saw
only one Russian teen," Ms.
Stavish said. "I made the
mistake of asking him if he
was the only one there. I
meant among the Russian
performers, but he didn't see
it that way. He saw himself
as part of the group and
pointed out the other kids
already there.
"He taught me a lesson,
and that's when I stopped
grouping the Russians
together," she said.
That's the idea behind the
Jewish Theater Experience,
a class of seven Russian and
American teens who meet
every week at the Agency
For Jewish Education in
Southfield. Last night, they
put on an original produc-
tion at Temple Emanu-El
titled Sparks: A Jewish
Journey.
Sparks, based on Howard
Schwartz's Gathering the
Sparks, is about the search
for friendship, unity, humor,
charity, memory, love and
hope — sparks that
fragmented and became lost
during creation. The show
features skits, personal
stories, poems and songs
reflecting the immigrant ex-
perience in America.
The show is made possible
through a grant for Russian
acculturation programming
from the Deroy Foundation
of Detroit.
"We spent weeks getting
to know each other through
different group theater
games," said Ms. Stavish, a
teacher of humanities at
Lawrence Technological
University.
The Russians in the show,
Ilya Berkovich, 14, Alex
Elkin, 15, and Dennis
Greenberg, 16, all students
at Berkley High School,
share some of their experi-
ences.
The Americans in the
show — Jennifer Weiss, 14,
of Oak Park High School,
Marjorie White, 18, of
Southfield-Lathrup, Adam
Corrine Stavish gives direction to her actors.
Magy, 16, of Birmingham
Groves, and Melissa Brons-
tein, 14, of Southfield's
Birney Middle School — tell
some of their grand- and
great-grandparents' stories.
The Russian students
came to class through
recruitment efforts of Jewish
Experiences For Families,
Ms. Stavish said.
J.E.F.F. has taken the
group to performances at the
Jewish Ensemble Theater
and the Birmingham
Theater.
"It's been a special experi-
ence, learning and perform-
ing together," said Ilya, who
emigrated from the Soviet
Union in 1989.
"We're a lot the same,"
said Dennis, who emigrated
from Kiev in 1988. ID
FIFTY YEARS AGO
Acrtlir
Campaign For Life In 1942 Gets Front Page Attention
This column will be a
weekly feature during The
Jewish News' anniversary
year, looking at The Jew-
ish News of today's date
50 years ago.
PHIL JACOBS
Managing Editor
In 1992, the Jewish Fed-
eration is planning a
critical "Days of Decision"
fund-raising effort.
Though it wasn't called
Days of Decision 50 years
ago, the front page of The
Jewish News was also a
call to urgency and deci-
sion as the Allied Jewish
Campaign worked to raise
some $985,000 (the 1991
Campaign raised about
$26 million). The 1942
Campaign was referred to
as "A Campaign For
Life."
There was also a printed
list of where each dollar
would be spent from the
Campaign. Where in 1992
constituent agencies are
budgeted sometimes in
six and seven figures, the
numbers in 1942 were
much gentler. Jewish
Home for Aged had a
budget of $32,000. The
Jewish Community
Council budget was
$12,000. The Jewish
Community Center
budget was $11,856. Ten-
tative allocation for the
United Jewish Appeal
was $500,000.
Allied Jewish Cam-
paign chairman Fred M.
Butzel wrote a front-page
letter to the editor em-
phasizing the need and
using the word "victory"
in his plea. In this case,
victory meant the literal
support of an Eastern Eu-
ropean Jewry that was
facing annihilation.
On the inside of the
newspaper, a story noted
that internationally
known German Jewish
leader Dr. Julius
Seligsohn died in a con-
centration camp. Dr.
Seligsohn was imprisoned
in 1940 for having pro-
claimed a fast day for the
Jews of Germany on the
occasion of the expulsion
of all Jews from Baden.
An editorial told
readers that "the anti-
Semites are on the run.
From all quarters come
revelations of activities
by pro-Axis groups which
horrify the imagination
For Mother's Day,
Goody Shops
were offering a
three-pound box
of chocolates for
$1.69.
and expose the Jew-
baiters as the enemies of
democracy and of the
most sacred American
principles."
Schmidt's Beer placed
an ad this week under the
headlines, "Bombers and
Beer." The ad said that
3800 U.S. bombers could
be bought with the taxes
that U.S. beer companies
paid to the government.
Fok Mother's Day, Goody
Shops were offering a
three-pound box of
chocolates for $1.69.
Several Shaarey Zedek
members were elected
delegates to the War
Emergency Session of the
American Jewish Con-
gress in Chicago. They in-
cluded William Hordes,
Leon Kay, Dr. Clarissa
Fineman, Dr. M. Goldof-
tas, D. Sheraga, Ben
Rosenthal, Morris
Mendelson and Morris
Mohr.
Abraham Epstein of
New York, known as the
"father of social
security", died of
pneumonia at age 50.
Emily Mutter Adams, a
well-known Detroit vio-
linist and the only woman
in the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra's violin section,
was to play at a JCC
musicale.
Cele Karch married
Michael Weiss, and Flora
Gross married Gerald
Blumenthal. Edythe
Wisotsky was engaged to
Arthur Lee, and Evelyn
Pearlman was engaged to
Jack Schreier. Births in-
cluded: Lewis Joel
Kleinsmith, Sharon
Judith Schulman and
Roxanne Stromer.
We close this issue with
a line or two from the
fashion column, a line
that wouldn't pass by
today's standards. The
line read, "Fundamental-
ly, women are all vain.
Now aren't you? And isn't
it fun to know you look
lovely? That your
silhouette is easy on the
eyes? That your colors are
so harmoniously chosen?
Well, thank your lucky
stars or rather your Uncle
Sam that this is the
summer that you ac-
complish all of this with
half the effort . . . "