r SIM MI= =III MINI 11111= ENJOY CASUAL DINING AT OUR NEW NOVI LOCATION I RIBS • OYSTERS • SEAFOOD • STEAKS I I I 1 I 20% OFF 1 `Blue Light' Shines On Holocaust Deniers MICHAEL ELKIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS ENTIRE BILL WITH THIS AD MAMAY Valid Mondays thru Thursdays Only Coupon Dates 2/3 - 2/9/95 East Grand River, Novi (810) 305-5856J L 41 3317 NEE E.. illmm um. mi. mi. NEE milim r $1 OFF SLAB FOR 2 L $1 OFF B-B-U CHICKEN FOR 2 SPECIALLY-TRIMMED RIBS GOOD 7 DAYS! ALL DINNERS INCLUDE: SALAD OR COLE SLAW, POTATOES AND GARLIC BREAD Expires 2-16-95 JN WITH OR WITHOUT SKIN GOOD 7 DAYS! ALL DINNERS INCLUDE: SALAD OR COLE SLAW, POTATOES & GARLIC BREAD Expires 2-16-95 JN BOTH COUPONS GOOD FOR DINE4N OR CARRY-OUT (gn PRIVATE BANQUET FACILITIES AVAILABLE 4016 SIO4 BOTH COUPONS GOOD ANY HOUR ANY DAY T here is no denying the re- cent resurgence of revi- sionist history when it comes to the Holocaust, note observers of Jewish life. 24234 ORCHARD LAKE RD. AT 10 MILE 476-1377 Now, award-winning novel- ist/essayist Cynthia Ozick has placed the topic center stage, tak- IIIMMI =MI M ■ •I1= Off Any Large1 ing the Holocaust deniers to task in a timely new drama bound for Pizza Or Large Broadway. Antipasto Or Ms. Ozick's Blue Light shines Greek Salad. Est. 1936 a light on those who assert the Not Valid With Holocaust never happened; it is Any Other Offer. a beacon of bravery, the writer armed for the battle with truths Reserve Your Special Event against Holocaust bashers whose high profile in the media has cat- In Buddy's Party Room apulted them to a frightening no- • No Room Charge • Easy ► Fun toriety. • All-You-Can-Eat Party Packages Starting at $5.50 Ms. Ozick harbors no illusions about the impact the deniers Gift Certificates Available have, which is one reason she is focusing on them in Blue Light. Carry Out Only 10 Locations To Serve You, Including ... "Those leaflets they distribute BIRMINGHAM ROYAL OAK FARMINGTON HILLS WATERFORD on college campuses is finding an 645.0300 549.8000J acceptance by kids in terms of 683-3636 855,4604 Elm .1.• free speech," notes a concerned Ms. Ozick, marking her theatri- cal debut with Blue Light. The play is based on Rosa, an Ozick novella published along with a short piece by the author about the Holocaust under the ti- tle of The Shawl. Cynthis Ozick wraps her con- cerns in an intriguing tale of two Jewish women, Rosa Lublin and her niece, Stella, plagued by the horrors of the Holocaust. In deal- ing with the barbarities of the past, they must come to grips with the ugly contemporary truths of deniers. Ms. Ozick understands herself the lure of the lurid, and the dan- ger that putting the spotlight on the deniers might bring more of them out of the darkness rather irCa et, $ off L 4CIVER64, Our c9 .4or greatest Natural waftw cD --,P.,Resource.;Z 90 Playwright Cynthia Ozick and director Sidney Lumet at work on Ozick's Blue Light. 1#0 \ than chase them back into the shadows of shame. "I was afraid to have a denier give his point of view on stage and be exposed," concedes Ms. Ozick. After all, says the writer, she can reluctantly understand the appeal of their tactics no matter how misguided the message. "They use liberal ideas, telling students on campus to use criti- cal inquiry, to always be skepti- cal of what they are told; all these matters are good things that we believe in on the road to intellec- tual honesty." But the deniers set up dan- gerous detours, says Ms. Ozick, using deceit and lies as obstacles along the way. "Deniers use quo- tations out of context," she says of their misuse of legitimate stud- ies about the Holocaust which they twist and turn to their ad- vantage. The playwright realizes she too may be in a novel position to be used by them. With one of her characters es- pousing denial, "I suppose they (Holocaust deniers) could quote arguments from my play and at- tribute these ideas to me," she says. Of course Cynthia Ozick, whose past works include The Messiah of Stockholm, is not try- ing to convert the converted. "As a playwright, I am not trying to target Jewish audiences; this play is not for them. It is for non- Jews." The author of What Henry James Knew and Other Essays on Writers is trying to right what she perceives is a horrible wrong, to deny deniers their impact on unsuspecting minds. "Jews get a kind of sensitivity to danger with our mother's milk," says Ms. Oz- ick. American gentiles, she says, "are relatively untouched. They don't have such an early warning system." Cynthia Ozick warns that Blue Light should not be considered a "Holocaust play," with its notori- ety for Jewish victimization. "Not by any means," she emphasizes. Ms. Ozick means for this dra- ma to be a chilling account of a contemporary horror story. Prominent film director Sidney Lumet, returning to his theatri- cal roots in directing a stellar cast that includes Oscar winners Di- anne Wiest and Mercedes Ruehl, "would also not have done a Holo- caust play." What they have done is given voice to a growing concern among Jews in this country. Ms. Ozick's voice is loud and clear on this theme. "I did write this in the hope that by telling what is bad [about deniers], one can help fight Blue Light, with its focus on Holocaust deniers, targets non-Jewish audiences. it. To ignore what is bad is to al- low it to grow," asserts Ms. Oz- ick. And grow it has. "I long ago had a conversation with Lucy Dawidowicz, author of The War Against the Jews: 1933-1945, when the term revisionism was just coming into use," recalls Ms. Ozick. "I remember her saying that revisionism was a very re- spectable thing to do as a histo- rian, to re-examine history. No, she said, the correct term for those who denied the Holocaust was not revisionist at all. It was a different word that should be used to describe them." And what is that word? "Anti- Semite," says Ms. Ozick. ❑ Second City Holds Workshops The Second City-Detroit Train- ing Center will offer five new improvisational workshops to begin in early February. For information, call (313) 964- 5814.