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No Shame

Play treats homosexuality with sensitivity and tact.

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W

hen Temple Beth El this
month presented a musi-
cal play for students that
dealt with homosexuality,
it faced a potential minefield.
Instead, the show If Not Now, When?
prompted meaningful discussion among
the nearly 100 students and 50 or so
adults.
Audience members, some as young as
seventh grade, were separated by age into
different rooms to discuss the play with
cast members and facilitators.
Produced by the ECHO (Educating
Our Community About Homosexuality
Through Outreach) Program of the
Southfield-based Michigan Jewish AIDS
Coalition (MJAC), the play is a shorter
version of From the Beginning I Did Not
Speak In Secret, which had its Detroit-
area debut last June.
It was adapted to better fit the needs
and sensitivities of teens and preteens,
said Arlene Sorkin, ECHO program
director. "The two-act play presented a
theater experience that left you thinking
about something, the one-act version is
an educational experience through the-
ater," she said.
In her introduction to this month's
performance at the Bloomfield Township
synagogue, Sorkin said that 2 to 10 per-
cent of any given population is gay. And
adolescence is perhaps the most harrow-
ing time for homosexuals.
According to the national Gay,

Lesbian, Straight Education Network,
nearly 70 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender students report verbal,
sexual or physical harassment. They are
two to three times more likely to commit
suicide than others their age.
If Not Now, When? centers on a group
of gay and lesbian Jews. Feeling rejected
or out-of-place in families and syna-
gogues, they gradually form their own
community. In the process, the charac-
ters' layers of loneliness and self-doubt
are revealed.
They speak about finding their
place in the Jewish community while
revealing their sexual orientation to
family and friends. In the course of
the play, two women establish a mean-
ingful same-sex relationship, including
plans to have a baby.
Instead of shock or disapproval, the
questions asked in the adult discussion
boiled down to "Gay, straight or whatev-
er — how can I help my child make it
through adolescence?"
Audience member Gary Rimer of
Birmingham, who has recognized his
homosexuality since he was 13, encour-
aged contact with MJAC: (248) 594-
6522. All contacts and conversations at
MJAC or its ECHO program remain
strictly confidential, Sorkin said.
Although a group of parents of Beth
El eighth-graders refused to allow their
children to attend, evaluations filled out
by those who did see the play were over-
whelmingly positive, Sorkin said.
"The kids said they'd be more sensi-
tive in the future," she said.

•,.,

DIANA LIEBERMAN

Staff Writer

33080 Northwestern Hwy. • West Bloomfield
(Between Orchard Lake Road & 14 Mile)

248.538-7747 • Fax 248-538 7749

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For your besz- price,
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The Shabbat scene in "If Not Now, When?" with actors Ross Grossman and Alan Ellias,
both of Oak Park; Kirk Schiebold of Ferndale; Linda Hammell of Lathrup Village;
Miriam Menczer and Randy Topper, both of Farmington Hills; and Patty Ceresnie of
West Bloomfield.

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