•• • • I.

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Kathleen Turner its Tallulah
Bankhead: " I wanted to deal
with issues offacing ourselves
somewhere in the middle of life
and so' did Kathleen," says
director Michael Lessac.

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wise without Jewish connections.
Defining his ties to Judaism as cultur-
al, the director thinks an important
Jewish mission is to address stereo-
types and bias.
Early in his career, after performing
as a folk-rock singer who recorded
"Sleep Faster, We Need the Pillow,"
Lessac established the Colonnades
Theatre Lab in New York City to pres-
ent rotating repertory productions.
He recalls directing one play with
Jewish content, The Irish Hebrew
Lesson, which is about an Irish revolu-
tionary who hides in a rabbi's apart-
ment and enters a cross-cultural rela-
tionship, with each protagonist learn-
ing from the other.
Lessac, who plans to reactivate the
company in association with the Rev.
James Parks Morton, wants to create a
new political theater workshop and
production group. The New York cler-
gyman is known for bringing people
of different faiths into discourse.
Other directing experience Lessac
brings to Tallulah occurred after he
moved to California in 1993 to film
his script for House of Cards. He has
taken on episodes for many sitcom
series, including Taxi, Grace Under
Fire, Just Shoot Me and Drew Carey.
As Tallulah progresses on tour, head-
ed for Broadway in the fall, Lessac will
go to South Africa to do research for a
musical he is writing and hopes to
bring to New York.

"We've changed Tallulah significant-
ly on the road," says Lessac, who is
unsure whether he'll make his first
visit to Detroit. "The changes were
not so much in the fine points as mak-
ing the performance stronger and
stronger. I wanted to deal with issues
of facing ourselves somewhere in the
middle of life and so did Kathleen."
Turner, whose sultry voice is very
much like Tallulah's, has performed on
stage in Gemini, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
and the new version of The Graduate.
Film credits include Body Heat, Prizzi's
Honor and War of the Roses. She has
been married to New York realtor Jay
Weiss since 1984; their daughter,
Rachel Ann, was born in 1988. Weiss'
brother is married to fashion designer
Donna Karan.
"Kathleen filtered Tallulah's life
through her own and understood it as
a star and celebrity who's been both on
stage and in the movies for the major
part of her life," Lessac says.

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Tallulah will be performed Feb.
14-March 4 at the Fisher
Theatre. Performance times are 8
p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays, 7:30
p.m. Sundays and 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 15. $25-$47.50.
(313) 872-1000.

CARRY-OUT ONLY

($15 or more)
Carry-Out Phone No.
(248) 538-7080

2/9
2001