Keeping The Faith

A new play mixes humor, legend and a message about the power of faith.

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

I

Norman Lessing
at the start of his
career.

f your weekly TV was very long, and when I sold it,
schedule has made I was told it was too complicated
time for the perilous so I cut one act."
This comedy is different from
travels of "The Fugi-
tive," crimes on "The Mr. Lessing's first play with a
Streets of San Fran- Jewish theme. Although it never
cisco," frontier ad- was produced, the drama landed
ventures revived through him in Hollywood, close to where
"Bonanza" or the ro- he now makes his home.
Citizen told the story of Jewish
mance of "Love, Ameri-
can Style," then you help in financing the American
know the work of Nor- Revolution. It was read by a di-
rector who offered the young Mr.
man Lessing.
A writer for televi- Lessing work, first in New York
sion, motion pictures and and later in California.
"I was a very glib kind of
the stage, Mr. Lessing complet-
ed more than 300 scripts. One writer," Mr. Lessing said. "I
will open the 1995-96 season of worked very fast. At one time, I
the Jewish Ensemble Theatre was working on five shows."
Among his favorites were `The
(JET).
36, which runs through Oct. Inspector Vanishes," a made-for-
1 at the Maple-Drake Jewish TV drama starring Walter
Community Center (JCC), has Slezak, and adaptations for
observant Jewish characters and "Shirley Temple's Story Book."
builds on Jewish legend, but the His first feature film, The He-
playwright intended a universal len Morgan Story, also remains
message. special to him.
"I hope audiences will come Sol Frieder, who has acted in
away feeling optimistic with a feature films such as The Music
sense of the importance of faith, Box, returns to the JET stage to
not necessarily the Jewish faith poi tray one of the Chasidim. Be-
but faith in general," said Mr. sides this play, Mr. Frieder has
Lessing, whose play was first pro- a television tie to Mr. Lessing;
duced more than a decade ago by the actor appeared in episodes
the Jewish Repertory Theatre of of "The Naked City," while the
New York. playwright created some of the
"One of the characters, Joe, show's episodes.
For the JET production, Mr.
says, See what a wonderful thing
faith is; not even the truth can Frieder is joined by local actors
Robert Grossman and Daniel
shake it.' "
The idea for the piece came Kahn, who portray Chasidini of
from a friend, a scenic designer two younger generations.
Cynthia Blaise, the only
who had left Poland and found
the playwright a good listener for woman in the cast, recently
moved to Detroit from Philadel-
his stories of Jewish lore.
"The play is based on a talmu- phia, where she completed the
dic legend, which says God spares role she is recreating for JET.
the earth for 36 just men, "No one is ever fully retired
(Lamedvovniks)," explained Mr. from writing," said Mr. Lessing,
Lessing, 84. "If these men die, the who also likes to spend time at
earth dies, too. a game board. An international
"What I did was assume that chess champion who wrote The
35 of these men were victims of World of Chess, he competes reg-
the Nazis, and there was only one ularly and informally with one
left. The one who's left doesn't other international master up
know that he's the last of the to his level of competition and in
Lamedvovniks. his age category.
During his free hours, Mr.
"Three Chasidim invade the
Reform temple in Cincinnati to Lessing watches TV with a crit-
find this man, who then has to ical eye.
"We had high ideals about
plead with the Almighty to spare
television, but they have often
the earth.
"There were many versions of been replaced by commercial in-
this play. The original version terests," said the TV pioneer,

who polished his craft at New
York University.
"I happen to like NYPD Blue.'
I also like the `Seinfeld' show. Ca-
ble channels get good material
because they replay the better
motion pictures."
Mr. Lessing keeps up to speed
on current broadcast issues and
has strong opinions about the de-
vice that would allow parents to
block programs from being aired
on their home sets.
"I think that it's not a bad idea
to eliminate certain shows," as-
serted Mr. Lessing, the father of
three daughters, and the grand-
father of two boys and one girl 18
and under. "They did that in mo-
tion pictures.
"I think that eliminating spe-
cific programs would be very clif-

ficult to do in a home. If I said to
my grandsons or granddaughter
they couldn't watch certain
shows, it would cause an uproar."
Mr. Lessing, who counts
episodes of "Heroes of the Bible"
and "Lanigan's Rabbi" among his
works, hopes to eventually see a
production of his original, full-
length version of 36.
"It's a more serious play, and
it had some interesting stage ef-
fects," he said.

❑

JET's production of 36 runs
through Oct. 1 at the Maple-
Drake JCC. Performance times
are 8 p.m. Wednesdays and
Thursdays, 8:45 p.m. Satur-
days and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays.
For information, call 788-2900.

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A scene from 36: "If these men die, the earth dies, too."

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