Miss Michigan
Returns Engaged

RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

Pageant, says she feels
lucky to have participated
in the Atlantic City gala,
though she's somewhat
deflated about not being
named one of the 10 final-
ists.
"It's always disappointing
whenever you don't get as
far as you wanted to go,"
she said. "But I was one of
the lucky 50 who was there.
To go is such an honor, real-
ly a privilege."
Ms. Heisler won the
$2,000 Quality of Life
Award for being first run-
ner-up in a pageant compe-
tition that judges level of
community service. The 23-
year-old University of
Michigan graduate attribut-
es this success to her long-
time involvement with the

Miss Michigan

M

iss Michigan Stacey
Heisler, who ap-
peared last week in
the Miss America

! , i t, w , a vaint,f,6

Girl Scouts.
She said she was pleas-
antly surprised when a
Jewish newspaper in
Atlantic City, N.J., pub-
lished a short article about
her. She was asked to
respond to the fact that
pageant week coincided
with Rosh Hashanah.
"(Pageant organizers) can
only do so much as far as
working around the holi-
days," she said.
With so much time
invested in the event, Ms.
Heisler did not want to miss
out. She met her rivals dur-
ing the first week of
September.
"Everybody was a little
nervous and hesistant at
first, but we got to know
each other. They were really

friendly. These are young
ladies that have been
through the same things
I've been through," she said.
Accommodations at
Trump Castle and elegant
dinner excursions made Ms.
Heisler feel like royalty:
"They really roll out the red
carpet." A reception at the
Atlantic City train station,
where the women arrived to
begin rehearsals, "really
made us feel special."
Rehearsals lasted from 8
a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Lunch
breaks were filled with a
flurry of photo shoots and
press interviews.
"It was so much fun for
me because I really enjoy
that kind of work," she said.
But Ms. Heisler now says,
"That's it for pageantry."
She has returned home with
different plans for the
future: "I'll be getting mar-
ried (to Kevin Mason of
Birmingham)."
At home in Livonia, Miss
Michigan will remain busy
juggling wedding prepara-
tions with work and upcom-
ing violin performances
with her band.

CORRECTION

A Sept. 17 feature in-
correctly quoted author
Barry Rudner. His cor-
rect statement was, "I'd
rather be well read
than well known."

In a Sept. 17 article on
a job awareness cam-
paign, Leonard Nagel
was inaccurately identi-
fied as an agent of the
Internal Revenue Ser-
vice. He is licensed as
an enrolled agent who
can represent clients
who have problems
with the IRS.

The caption under the
page 1 photograph
Sept. 17 should have
identified Israeli For-
eign Minister Shimon
Peres signing the peace
agreement.

❑

aple-Drake JCC
th Expanded Selections

RUTH LITT'MANN STAFF WRITER

With a re
and demeanore,
Detroiter Mirjana
read a A Modern Love Story
by Diane Levenberg.
Ms. Urosev was one of four
thespians who participated
in this month's Readers
Theatre performance, held
Sept. 12 in the Maple-Drake
Jewish Community Center's
DeRoy Theatre. It was host-
ed by David Magidson.
The show — a series of
four sometimes funny, some-
times haunting — short sto-
ries, marks the beginning of
Readers Theater's seventh
season.
Readers Theater was
founded in 1987 at the
Jewish Community Center
by former JCC Executive
Director Irwin Shaw and a
number of Jewish actors and
actresses. Since its inception,
the program has grown to
include a total of 36 Jews
and gentiles who have pre-
sented 144 stories, essays,
novellas and poems.
This year, for the first
time, shows will include sto-

four

Mirjana Urosev

A

A

beam of light splin-
tered the auditorium's
darkness, revealing a
barren stage and a
black-haired actress. No
props.
The actress sat poised on a
bar stool. She held copies of a
short story in front of her.

es by gentile authors, like thick Russian accent, the during the late 1980s and
eat by Joyce Carol Oates. next with whiny New York- early 1990s. He also partici-

hit Yolanda Fleischer, artis-
tic director for Readers
Theatre, says all readings
have something in common:
universal themes.
"If its really good writing,
there's a universal applica-
tion of the story, whether its
about a Vietnam vet or a
woman looking back on her

"It's an active
listening process."

childhood,"
said
Ms.
Fleischer, who also teaches
at the University of Detroit-
Mercy and Wayne State
University. "People can see
themselves in the stories and
the stories in themselves."
Individuals who partici-
pate in Readers Theatre are
faced with a tougher chal-
lenge than many who act
from scripts, Ms. Fleischer
said. Readers juggle prose
with dialogue. They punctu-
ate one paragraph with a

ese. They must verbalize the
thoughts, hopes and frustra-
tions of men, women, chil-
dren.
"They have to be every
thing," Ms. Fleischer said
Sitting on the barstool,
bathed in the yellow light,
Mary Bremer, an adult,
recounted the memories of a
little girl, speaking in a little
girl's voice. David Regal and
David Fox changed personas
in a similar manner.
But the effectiveness of
Readers Theatre is not con-
tingent on the artists' talent
or repertoire.
"It requires a personal
investment from the audi-
ence," Ms. Fleischer said.
"It's an active listening
process."
At 3:30 p.m. Oct. 10,
Readers Theatre will present
this season's second show,
dedicated to Jewish actor
Alan Harvey, who died of
AIDS last spring. Mr. Harvey
performed with Wayne
State's Hilberry Company

pated in Readers Theater
and loved its Jewish connec-
tion.
"His Judaism meant a
whole lot to him," said Ms.
Fleischer. "He was a man of
great personal dignity."
During next month's show,
Readers Theatre will present
five stories by gay Jewish
writers, including The Life
You Have by Lev Raphael of
Okemos.
"We all think we know
everything and that we're all
open-minded," Ms. Fleischer
said. "But so many of us sit
here in our private little lives
and we push people out...I
found out (from reading
these stories) that if you're
pushed out of your communi-
ty and family, your Judaism
becomes so central.
"Maybe October's program
will soften people's hearts,
soften or touch them in some
way. The show is really for
Alan, but if it does heighten
awareness, that's a bonus,"
she said. U