The Art Scene

U-N1's School of Art
and Design presents
Marilyn Zimmerman 7
p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, in its
continuing lecture series,
"Photo-Active Feminist
Artists," in Room 2104 of
the Art and Architecture
Building on North
Campus. Free and open to
the public. (734) 764-
0397.
Paintings for Modern
Chairs features a new
series of abstract paintings
by Chicago-based artist
Michelle Grabner in
response to a selection of
modernist chairs from the
Cranbrook Collection. Design for
Dining celebrates the art of objects for
use on the table. Both exhibits are on
display at the Cranbrook Art Museum
through April 3. (248) 645-3323.
In the current exhibition at the
Toledo Museum of Art, Sandy
Skogland: Reality Under Siege, the
artist plays with her food, makes gold-
fish swim through bedrooms, lets
snakes and rabbits romp through
15,000 eggshells and has Barbie dolls
swimming through french fries. This
exhibition presents the first comprehen-
sive survey of Skogland's career, from
her early performance and conceptual
art to the works for which she is best
known: her room-sized installations and
the photographs based on them.
Through May 2. (419) 255-8000.
Linda Soberman exhibits her
photo-based installation and two-
dimensional work in an "MFA Thesis
Exhibition" at the Community Arts
Gallery at Wayne State University. The
show, also featuring paintings by
Jennifer Rosenfeld and Meekyung
Shim, opens with a reception 5-8 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 26, and continues
through April 2. (313) 577-2423.

Author! Author!
“[It] moved me in intellectual and

spiritual ways,' writes a Washington,
D.C., rabbi about author Warren
Hanson's book The Next Place
(Waldman House Press; $15.95).
"Although its visuals and text compel
the reader from one page to the next,
the conceptions of the 'next place'
clearly made me think and contemplate
my own visions, hopes and fears about
death. I NArould recommend this book

Captain Courageous

Sandy
Skoglu d:
"Revenge
of the
Goldfish,"
at the
Toledo
Museum
ofArt.

for anyone over the age of 10, or even
for those younger than 10 who can
deal with the concept of loss in more
mature ways." Hanson will read from
and sign his book at Barnes & Noble:
5-6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, in Troy (396
John R); 8-9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, in
Northville (17111 Haggerty); and 2-3
p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21, in Rochester
Hills (2800 S. Rochester).

Whatnot

Hot rod heaven comes to Cobo
Center in Detroit when the 47th
annual Detroit Autorama screeches
into town Friday-Sunday, Feb. 19-21.
$12/$5 under age 12. For more infor-
mation, call (248) 650-5560.
The Southfield Pavilion Antiques
Exposition, featuring antiques from
dealers nationwide, visits the
Southfield Civic Center 2-9 p.m.
Friday, 12-8 p.m. Saturday and 12-5
p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26-28. 26000
Evergreen Road at Civic Center Dr.
$6/12 and under free.
In anticipation of the Community
House Antiques Show coming to
Birmingham March 18-20, renowned
interior designer Carlton Varney speaks
7:30-9 p.m. Thursday, March 4, at the
Community House on "Somewhere for
All Time: The Grand Hotel." Varney
has been responsible for the Grand
Hotel's unique style since 1976, when
he first created the look, warmth and
comfort of a summer cottage in every
room. 380 Bates St., Birmingham.
$25/includes lecture, coffee and dessert.
A benefactor reception takes place 6-
7:30 p.m.; $50 tickets include cock-
tails, hors d'oeuvres, lecture, coffee and
dessert. (248) 594-6403.

athan Kaufman looks back to his roots as he prepares to portray the
male lead in The Sound of Music, the next production of the
Plymouth Theatre Guild (PTG). A sabra whose family moved to the
United States from Israel when he was 6, Kaufinan compares
Captain Von Trapp to a "cactus pear," hard and prickly outside and sweet inside.
"This is a great role, and the music is fantastic," says Kaufman, chief of
radiation oncology for the Northwest Region of the Detroit Medical Center.
"Von Trapp is a man of principle, and he's mainly about love, which is direct-
ed toward [his children's governess] Maria, his children and his country."
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, set in 1938 Austria, is the story
of the Von Trapp Family Singers and the romance that grows between the
widower Von Trapp and Maria. It was brought to
the stage in 1959 and introduced the songs
"Climb Every Mountain," "Do Re Mi," "Maria,"
"My Favorite Things" and "Something Good."
Kaufman's winning the role goes along with his
longtime interest in theater.
Growing up in Brooklyn, he participated in high
school and college shows. At the University of
Buffalo, where dramatic arts courses almost became
a second major, Kaufman's acting was recognized by
one of his directors, who also worked off-Broadway
and cast him in the theater piece Naked Lunch.
While practical considerations kept him in the
medical field and moved him to Detroit for stud-
ies at Wayne State University, he took a breather
in 1980 by winning a part in Guys and Dolls with Dr. Nathan Kau an:
the Farmington Players. He put his hobby on
Climbing every mountain.
hold until last summer, when he was picked for
the chorus of a community production planned by Farmington Hills schools.
Between those two musicals, Kaufman returned to New York to do his resi-
dency at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital and then settled back in Michigan
in 1993 to become chairman of radiation oncology at Sinai Hospital.
"Acting offers a wonderful emotional outlet," the doctor says.
Cindy Kaufman, who met her husband at Henry Ford Hospital while he
was doing research and she was working as chief radiation therapist, doesn't
participate in theater but encourages her husband and two of their five sons
— Isaac, 17, and Daniel, 11, also stage enthusiasts.
When Daniel was thinking about auditioning for The Sound of Music,
dad decided to try out.
"Theater allows me to express myself, and if it weren't for the encourage-
ment of my family, I wouldn't be doing it," says Kaufman, who is training
with a voice coach for this role. "I feel fortunate to be working with some
terrific people at the PTG."
Kaufman, a board member of the American Cancer Society and the Israel
Cancer Society, is a member of Temple Israel, where he has joined the
Father-Son Book Club and enjoys the intergenerational discussions about
writings with Jewish themes. Sports fans, the Kaufmans hosted two young
athletes in the last round of the Maccabi Games.
Although all family members do not perform on stage, there is one venue
where they can demonstrate, in unison, any hidden musical talents.
"We sing together as a family every Friday night at the Shabbat table,"
Kaufman says. 7

The Sound of Music will be performed at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays,
Feb. 19-March 6, and 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Watertower Theater
on the campus of the Northville Psychiatric Hospital, 41001 W. Seven
Mile, Northville. $11 Advance/ $ 12 Door/$8 Students. (248) 349-7110.

2/19
1999

Detroit Jewish News

71