Sylvia Kauders
will travel to act,
and JET doesn't
mind at all.

JET Setter

SUZANNE CHESSLER

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

ylvia Kauders retired from
one job to pursue another
that represented a lifelong
dream — acting.
The former special
events director for the City
of Philadelphia always
wanted to be a full-time
actress but believed it was
important to have a secure
financial base first.
While she was building
pension benefits as a gov-
ernment employee, she
used her free hours to per-
form with professional the-
ater groups in her home-
town. Once vested in a
retirement plan, she felt
she could try her luck in
New York.
"The biggest surprise
was getting a part in a
Broadway show so quick-
ly," said Ms. Kauders, who
was selected to play Mrs.
Beckoff in Torch Song
Trilogy. It was only her

second stage audition after
moving.
Other important parts
followed, including that of
the grandmother in Cross-
ing Delancey, which was
produced off-Broadway.
Two years ago — after
many stage, film and TV
appearances — she re-cre-
ated the character for the
Jewish Ensemble Theatre
(JET).
Her success with that
play led to a second JET
casting. She currently is
starring as Rita Atlas in
The Square Root of Three,
which runs through June
27.
"I think you always find
a little bit of yourself in
almost any character, but
if not of yourself, then
your mother or your aunt,"
said Ms. Kauders, who
just completed filming a
dramatic motion picture,

My Life, written
and directed by for-
mer Detroiter
Bruce Joel Rubin.
"Normally I play
these older charac-
ter roles, frequently
with accents. But
Rita Atlas is a
woman who is 75
years old, wins a lot
of money at bingo,
goes off to Florida
and nabs herself a
husband.
"She wears pretty
clothes, and I like
that. I don't get
that opportunity
often."
Morton Zieve,
director of the JET
comedy, worked
with Ms. Kauders
the last time she
was in Michigan.
"We had such a
fine experience, and he
asked if I would come back
to do another show," said
the actress who appeared
in school, college and com-
munity theater produc-
tions before joining profes-
sional troupes.
"I had done The Square
Root of Three in New York,
and I got him a copy of the
script. JET's play-teading
committee read it, and
apparently everybody
thought it was very amus-
ing. They decided they
would like to do it."
Ms. Kauders gets a lot of
career encouragement
from her husband, a
retired electrical engineer
who travels with her as
she takes on new roles. He
shares in her work by
helping her memorize
lines.
The couple has estab-
lished home bases in
Pennsylvania, New York,
New Jersey and California
so they can be comfortable
when she accepts or seeks
out long-term assign-
ments.
"Give me 24 hours'
notice, and if my hair is
done, I'm on my way," she

joked. "I'm like a tomato
picker; I go where the
work is."
Ms. Kauders also has
taken the initiative to cre-
ate work. While she was in
Philadelphia year-round,
she was producer and host
of "Under Billy Penn's
Hat," a public television
program that aired for 10
years.
"It was a talk show, and
we discussed topics of
interest that had some rel-
evancy to government,"
she explained. "And inas-
much as government
touches almost everything,
we could really go pretty
far afield.
"That program made me
feel very comfortable on
television. It wasn't acting
in the same sense as I do
now, but it was still get-
ting used to the cameras,
the lights and the timing."
After her career took off,
she had many national
television credits including
roles in "Tribeca," "Mr.
Belvedere," "The Jay Leno
Special" and "The Equal-
izer." Movie roles have
placed her in Witness,
Philadelphia, Crimes and
Misdemeanors and Mis-
placed.
"We have no children,
which makes all these
things possible," Ms.
Kauders said. "When you
have children, you have a
different kind of responsi-
bility, and you can't really
just take off and do what-
ever you want to do."
One of her disappoint-
ments was not being cast
in the movie version of
Crossing Delancey.
"One of the nice things
that has happened to me
in recent times is that
apparently Woody Allen co
o,
likes me," she said. "Don't CY)
ask me why; I do not 7
know. I did his last movie, .7_
and they just called and
asked if I was available.
He likes to use the same
people because he feels

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