Finding Forgiveness

U-M stages the world premiere of a play
that looks into the dynamics
of a Jewish family's relationships.

simply

e the best?

N Celebrate!

ebrate, the Detroit Jewish News' pull-
edicated to the best and newest ideas in
DETRon
ZVah S , weddings,
Yes, sweet 16s

. jEwasn NEws

ti

Broken Glass

Playwright Kim Yaged: "Forgiveness is something that is being thrust
upon this family. They are being forced by circumstance into a process
where they must come to terms with each other and themselves."

by Arthur Miller

ic

Directed by Evelyn Orbacb

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

It is 1938 Brooklyn in Arthur Miller's new
play about sexual awakening, the
consequences of denial, and the toll that social
injustice takes on an individual.

Original Music by William Bolcom

,0\sk-1 ENS .

Aaron DeRoy Theatre

Jewish Community Center

6600 W. Maple Road

rn

West Bloomfield

(248) 788-2900

http://comnet.org/jet

Sponsors:

MASCO

Hudson's

TheSkillman

OUNDA TION

WWWWW6i?sW

Pontiac

SOHO in the Suburbs

♦ Art ♦ Dining ♦ Entertainment

3/17
2000

86

•

•

CAR

w

A4

,ta-AA

•wvia74

*S.

im Yaged defines her
Judaism in ethnic terms.
Ambivalent about rules,
she feels uncomfortable
with religious observation.
Yaged, who will have her master's
degree in playwritirig from the
University of Michigan in April,
brings these feelings to her latest
drama, S'lichot, which will be per-
formed March 23-April 2 at the
Trueblood Theatre in Ann Arbor.
Set in a hospital, the play delves
into the emotions — grief, anger, con-
fusion, denial, pain — felt by family
members as the matriarch is being
vanquished by cancer. While they wait
out the course of the illness, the rela
tives examine their relationships.
"The play speaks to various genera-
tions and deals with them dealing
with aging," says Yaged, 28, whose
new work elevated her to finalist in
the National Playwriting Contest.held
at Wichita State University in 1999.
"The mom in this family is the
communicator, and the question is
whether the others can have a relation-
ship without her. Forgiveness is some-
thing that is being thrust upon this

family, but they don't know how to for-
give. The S'lichot motif is about coming
to a place where you can deal with for-
giveness even when there doesn't seem
to be any room in your heart for it."
The U-M production of S'lichot
(Hebrew for forgiveness) represents the
first time in at least 15 years that the
Department of Theatre and Drama
has staged a new work by a graduate
playwright.
The title of the production comes
from the series of penitential prayers
recited before Rosh HaShana.
Spoken by believers seeking forgive-
ness and mercy for sins committed,
the prayers have been telescoped and
are heard from behind the scenes to
frame the stage action.
"It's a Jewish play, but there are
connections for a non-Jewish audience
as well," says the grad student, who
infused the play with Yiddish. "Its
reach is far more universal."
Yaged, who grew up in New Jersey,
always has been interested in writing
and moved from poetry to short stories
to plays. When she was looking for a
college, she visited U-M, felt comfort-
able on the campus and enrolled.
"I was in a creative writing class in
high school when I wrote my first play,
which was about ethnic and racial

