A Romantic Comedy/Mystery by Tom Stoppard Stand-Up Midrash March 19- April 13 "Tom Stoppard's richest, most ravishing comedy" New York Times For tickets call Meadow Brook Box Office (810) 377-3300 Ticketmaster (810)645-6666 Hudson's, Harmony House and Blockbuster Music Supported • by the mitingan council arts and cultural a//airy Meadow Brook Theatre SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS W as the Book of Esther re- ally a warning about the dangers of the Holocaust? Israeli actress and writer Gabriella Lev thinks so and wants to convince others through her one-woman theater piece, Write Me Down. Lev, a founder of the Theatre Company Jerusalem, brings her work to Ann Arbor 8:30 p.m. Sat- urday, March 29, in a program sponsored by the University of Michigan Hillel. these different characters through the one character is be- cause of this new form that we - developed, which I call stand-up Midrash. "The characters speak to the audience, and what we are say- • ing is that when there is an im- balance of power in the world, there is the danger of Holocaust. "That is what Esther wrote down 2,000 years before the at- tempted genocide of the people of Israel, which happened just over Oakland University's Professional Theatre 29203 Northwestern. Hwy. • Southfield Need to get away from it all with a great vacation? Israeli actress Gabi Lev brings her one-woman theater piece to Ann Arbor. (810) 356-5454 Before Gabi Lev: Exploring the femalt aspect of how the cosmos should be. After Check out the num419111S144 DIAICTO4t1) in our Classified Section "I play various levels of Es- ther," the feminist performer ex- plained. "I represent Queen Esther, and at the same time, rm an actress playing an immigrant. Also, rm telling my own story as the child of Holocaust survivors. It's real- ly Esther through the ages. 'The reason that I can play all 50 years ago in Germany. The story must be written down so that it is passed on to genera- tions, and that's why the perfor- mance is called Write Me Down." Born in France, raised in Aus- tralia and employed as an actress in England before moving to Is- rael, Lev helped found the The- atre Company Jerusalem in 1973 to find the woman's voice in Jew- ish traditions. The company has developed eight theater pieces about women, basing its works on re- search that includes Talmud and Midrash studies. `There are very strong women in our tradition, but their voices are less heard than the voices of men," said Lev, whose trip to America also will include a pre- sentation in New York and a two- day residency at Harvard, where she will be performing Love Sto- ries From the Talmud. "This is because, I think, women for very many years were prohibited from studying the Tal- mud and the Midrash and were limited to studies considered suit- able for women. "Esther is one of the only books in the history of the literature of the world, not just in Judaism, which was written by a woman. 'We believe that if there is such a book, there's something in par- ticular that [Esther] wants to tell us about the female aspect of how the cosmos should be, and this is what my performance is explor- ing." Lev's husband, Natan, who works as a director of a comput- er firm, composed the music for one of the Theatre Company Jerusalem's productions. "I think my sons (Asher, 20; Barak, 16; Nadav, 15) have a spe- cial appreciation for women be- cause of what I do," Lev said. "But in fact, it's not just what you say, it's what you do that af- fects children, and I think they do look at the world differently because of their parents." Lev will be scheduling a num- ber of performances in the Unit- ed States through the end of the century. Her programs are being coordinated by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. "My theatrical goals are to help develop a distinctive theater tra- dition in Israel reflective of Is- rael's geographical and cultural position," she said. "I see myself as a pioneer along with a lot of other people who establish a lot of wonderful things in Israel." 1- e Write Me Down will be per- formed at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29, at the Mandell L. Berman Center of the Univer- sity of Michigan Hillel, 1429 Hill St., Ann Arbor. For information, call (313) 769-0500.