GOLD STANDARD from page 91

their points of view are understood by
and her mother could not accept that.
the audience. The playwright made his
After they saw the play together, they
characters Jewish because that is what
talked about [that issue] for the first
felt real to him. He had a bar mitzvah,
time. A lot of people were able to see
and his mother's commitment to
the dynamic as true for things besides
Hadassah was important to the family.
the gay issue."
"I think it's interesting when a
Tolins, who grew up on Long Island
group that has been
with a family configuration
oppressed might not recog-
like the one in Twilight of
Carey Cri m and
nize it when they are in the
the Golds, wrote his first play Robert M organ star
position of possibly
when he was a student at
as expecta nt parents
oppressing others," says the
Harvard. His first job after
who react to test-
playwright, whose drama
graduation involved writing
results ab out their
As Memory Serves was pro-
questions for a game show
unborn ch ild.
duced off-Broadway last
produced in California.
year. Elizabeth Ashley
Tolins' early play The
Andrew G laszek and
starred in the work about
Climate served as a theatrical Henrietta Hermelin
repressed memories of
vehicle for his acting. He
Weinberg p ortray
child abuse.
played all the male charac-
mother an d son.
Tolins' current focus is as
ters and a friend played all
a writer and co-producer of
the female characters as the
a new Showtime series, Queer As Folk,
work was performed for eight months
which premieres 10 p.m. Sunday, Dec.
at a small theater in Los Angeles.
3. It's based on a very controversial
Twilight of the Golds was his next
and popular British series about a
project, and it has been done on
bunch of gay characters in a working-
Broadway, at the Kennedy Center in
class setting. The American version
Washington, D.C., in small theaters
takes place in Pittsburgh, and there
around the United States and in ven-
will be 22 hours in the first season.
ues in other countries, including Israel.
"After writing for Queer As Folk, I
"When I wrote this in 1992, a
would be happy to never write another
bunch of things were happening at the
gay character," says Tolins, an opera fan.
same time," explains Tolins, who
"I've just been submerged in them." El
recently visited Michigan to write
local-based quips for Bette Midler as
she toured her concert around the
country.
JET's production of Twilight of
"A scientist came out with the study
the Golds will be performed Dec.
that found a biological difference in
6-31 in the Aaron DeRoy Theatre
the brain's hypothalamus in gay men,
at the West Bloomfield Jewish
and someone very close to me confid-
Community Center. Curtain
ed a family genetic risk for
times are 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays,
Huntington's disease. Finally, I read a
Thursdays and Sundays; 8 p.m.
book about reaching the next stage of
Saturdays; and 2 p.m.
evolution [in which] characters sort of
Wednesdays and Sundays. $15-
decide their fate.
$25, with discounts for seniors
"All this became an interesting
and students. (248) 788-2900.
metaphor in the subject posed by the
MJAC (Michigan Jewish AIDS
plot of the play: Now we really do get
Coalition) hosts an evening at
to decide who is in the world and who
JET 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec.
isn't.''
14; an afterglow follows the per-
Tolins, going through a difficult per-
formance. Tickets are $22; reser-
sonal time as a 10-year relationship is
vation deadline is Dec. 7. Call
breaking up, says he tried to make all
(248) 594-6522.
of his characters sympathetic so that

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