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Taking A Bow
On Stage And Off

Kudos for local performers
in the arts.

•Special to The Jewish News

Mr

hile the recent Michigan
Opera Theatre (MOT)
production of Aida was .
a critical success, it also
was a personal success for individuals
chosen to move the action along as
supernumeraries. Jeffery Kirsch and
Fred Lebowitz were among the 60-
some people cast in these nonspeaking
roles.
Kirsch, who sings at Beit Kodesh
Synagogue, portrayed a member of the
Egyptian Royal Guard. His character
got the opera action started by deliver-
ing a note announcing the imminent
invasion of Egypt by the Ethiopians.
"I've enjoyed opera but never
thought of performing
in it until my son
David began appearing
in MOT productions
and suggested I try
out," said Kirsch, whose
oldest son's stage experi-
ences took off at the
Clarenceville Youth
Theatre.
Dad, a data process-
ing manager and karate
teacher, has appeared in

schools administrator,
used to schedule MOT
programs for youngsters
and then was invited to be
in the operas by one of
the people doing the
scheduling.
"I enjoy music, and I lis-
ten to the three tenors,"
Lebowitz said. "Listening
to the music is even more
enjoyable up close."
The
retiree also enjoys
The Marriage of Figaro
seeing firsthand how an
and Rigoletto. David,
14, has been in Tosca,
Top: Jeffery Kirsch "walks opera is staged.
"Everybody at MOT is
La Boheme and The
like an Egyptian."
extremely supportive and
Marriage of Figaro with
MOT and in communi- Above: Aida supernumer- professional," said
Lebowitz, who also
ary Fred Lebowitz
ty theater productions.
appeared in Rigoletto. "I'm
All three Kirsch
the
smallest
part in the puzzle, but
Michelle,
16,
youngsters, including
they make me feel like a star."
and Jordan, 12, were in the chorus of

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat.
Lebowitz, a retired Southfield

Suzanne Chessler is a Farmington
Hills-based freelance writer.

Chudler's writing talent recently
earned him a full law scholarship.
Selected as one of the top 20 college
students in the nation by USA Today,
he graduated from Michigan State
University (MSU) with high
honors in English.
The law student's recognition
resulted from his work with
Unity, an organization
founded at MSU to encour-
age racial and ethnic toler-
ance. It is based on a short
story he wrote with the same
name.
"Being Jewish, I was raised
with the knowledge of what
* Jonathan Chudler, a
intolerance can do," said
sophomore at the
Sculptor H enry
Chudler,
who will spend six
University of Michigan
Friedman
months
in
London working
Law School and a fiction
at the AIRE Centre, a legal
writer, has received a
organization that defends human
Charles Cinnamon Award for
rights throughout Europe. The experi-
Achievement in the Arts.
ence will be considered an externship
Chudler was granted $500 to defray
and give him college credit. 0
costs of copying, printing and distrib-
uting his novella, Weeds, to agents and
publishers for consideration.
AVM'

Friedman, a Holocaust survivor,
works around Jewish themes. Half of
his sculptures reference the Bible, and
the other half evoke the emotions of
the Holocaust.
I Accuse, an earlier work,
won awards at the 1995
State Fair and in competi-
tion sponsored by
Southfield.
To mark the High Holy
Days, Friedman has his
sculpture Kol Nidre on dis-
play at the Fleischman
Residence.

SUZANNE CHESSLER

* Congratulations to Henry
Friedman, whose metal sculpture
Shofar won a second place award at
the Michigan State Fair Arts
Competition.

W.CTTTN,.,

Jonathan Chudler writes to win.

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