Hebrew blessing he recites in the play,
"When I was growing up, black
the actor studied phonetic text and a
people in the South were still con-
recording.
cerned about the events that happen
"Yaveni is a Russian immigrant who
in this play," Redwood commented to
spent more than 25 years assimilating
the Philadelphia Theatre Company.
into American culture," says
"I simply create situations with certain
Olszewski, who has been in four earli-
historical events as backdrops for telling
er Detroit Repertory plays as well as
stories, and I have heard stories and read
the Jewish Ensemble Theatre's produc-
history books [related to this subject]."
tion of Another Antigone.
Redwood, who started his career as
"He denied his Jewish heritage until
an actor; began writing because he felt
the crisis of Kristallnacht hit him so
there was a paucity of good roles for
hard that he revealed himself to his
African-Americans. The holder of
wife and brother-in-law.
master's degrees in history
"He opens himself to big-
and religion, Redwood
oted people in an attempt to
brings the disciplines to his
atone for his years of denial
entire collection of theater
of what he was and what he
work.
believed."
Longtime associations
with Jews also give founda-
tion to this play.
Motivated By Love
"My personal experience
As Cleveland introduced his
regarding my relationship
cast of six to the play, he talked
• with Jews has been nothing
Director
about the troubling compro-
but positive," Redwood says. Jerry Cleveland:
"I spent my teenage years
"The title is very mises the characters had to
make. He related some of the
growing up in a predomi-
profane, but the
nantly Jewish neighborhood,
play itself is not." bigotry to encounters he had as
a child in the South and much
and I can say one reason for
later while living in New York.
this great affinity was that my
"Yaveni came to this country and
high school in Brooklyn was about 75
assimilated into this great melting pot,
percent Jewish and the faculty was
but assimilation meant he lost part of
about 90 percent Jewish.
"Because of the similarities in the suf- himself, so that was a huge compro-
mise," Cleveland says.
ferings of African.-Americans and Jews,
"Mattie represents the black women
I find it incredulous that there exists
tension between us. Hopefully, this ten- who have made many compromises to
protect their husbands and children
sion is blown out of proportion.
and hold their families together."
"In the play, I think Mattie (the
Despite all the difficult emotional
African-American matriarch) and Yaveni
issues addressed through the play, seg-
(the Jewish researcher) come to recog-
ments for celebration emerge as well.
nize how anti-Semitism and Jim Crow
"There is still love and joy in the
laws have rained havoc on their lives."
play, and I've told the actors to relish
that because they're fleeting," says
Ethnic Tensions
Cleveland, who has been a director at
the New Federal Theatre in New York,
Gregory Olszewski, as Yaveni
Townsville Center Theatre in Australia
Aaronsohn, draws on his Polish her-
itage to understand the ethnic tensions and the Actors Theatre of Louisville.
"As long as the audience knows that
in the Jewish character he portrays.
these characters are motivated by love,
He is joined on stage by Amber
the play becomes very palatable.
Hemphill as Mattie Cheeks, the black
"We find a wonderful family unit
matriarch; Casaundra Freeman as
and a wonderful bond that Yaveni
Mattie's aunt; Harold Hogan as
makes with the family."
Mattie's husband; and Baseemah
Mustafaa and Stacey Weddle as
Mattie's daughters.
Olszewski, whose family moved
No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs
from a predominantly Polish neigh-
runs Thursdays-Sundays, Jan. 16-
borhood to a mixed neighborhood as
March 23, at Detroit Repertory
he was growing up in Detroit, feels he
Theatre, 13103 Woodrow
lost out on learning the Polish lan-
Wilson. Curtain times are 8:30
guage because of ethnic pressures.
p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 3
Teachers advised his parents to avoid
and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays and 2
speaking Polish at home to advance
and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. $17.
the young actor's facility with English.
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