0 • Gift Baskets • Sweet Trays • Muffins • Soups • Cookies H E Everything; Made Fresh Daily Surreal Script An early screenplay by forrner Detroiter and TV writer Craig Silverstein gets staged as part of U-M Festival of New Works. SUZANNE CHESSLER Special to the Jewish News Ann Arbor Voted Best Citallah Bread! q.00 Off Any Bread Order • 1 coupon per order Expires 05/31/04 Not good with any other discount or special offer Not valid on holiday orders 24-hour notice please on Specialty items (some exceptions) 6879 Orchard Lake Rd. in the Boardwalk Plaza 248-626-9110 Em ,orakt ray 840070 ervice-,5 Catering & Banquet Services Since 1988 In association with the eet# A University of Michigan script assignment helped propel Craig Silverstein into a television writing career in Hollywood and now returns him home to see its staged reading. Hungry, a surreal action comedy about a Jewish chef forced into drug smuggling, will be performed as part of the U-M Festival of New Works, which runs May 13-29 and includes two other staged readings. The annual festival, in its sixth year, presents new works by professional writers, directors and actors from across North America and invites audiences to comment on what they have seen. "Hungry got me my first writing job, and I'm very curious to see what it looks like on stage," says Silverstein, 29, whose piece will be workshopped May 20-22. "Although it was never turned into a film, it did get the atten- tion of agents and gave me the chance to work as a [TV] series staff writer." Hungly, directed by James Meade, t01 ' 1 are proud to announce the opening of the new Banquet & Event Center offers some directorial challenges because director. "We use equity actors and students as performers. Staging screen- the piece is adapted from what was plays is unique to this festival." intended to be shown on film. The The screenplays are recommended script, which features an older woman- by U-M screenwriting coordinator Jim younger man romance, has some unusu- Burnstein. al elements, including a stolen stomach, Ultimately, all submitted plays are being readied for an organ transplant. "I wanted to experiment with a dark evaluated in a selection process admin- istered by Neville-Andrews, artistic comedy," Silverstein explains about producer. Usually, the festival includes the origin of his work. "Although my main character is a lapsed Jew, he talks a straightforward play, musical and screenplay, although there is no musi- about Yom Kippur and what it means cal this year. to a guy who loves food." "Plays workshopped in Ann Arbor Pig Farm, written by Urinetown cre- have gone on to full productions," ator Greg Kotis and directed by John Chlipala says. "Summer of '42, with . Neville-Andrews, pits farmers against the Environmental Protection Agency. End of the Universe, written by Kerry Russell and directed by Neville-Andrews, fol- lows an astronomy profes- sor plagued by new scien- tific theories and romantic conflicts. "The Festival of New Works was modeled after a similar program at Carnegie-Mellon University," explains Mary Craig Silverstein: "Television's been very good to me." Lou Chlipala, managing From Premed To Pirate Aaron Lazar takes the stage in MOT's "The Pirates of Penzance." BILL CARROLL Special to the Jewish News Bar and Bat Mitzvahs Wedding Receptions Bridal & Baby Showers Graduations Corporate Events Reservations now being taken through 2005 Mis is et smoke um! Liquor free emit -oilmen, Call for details 248.689.2494 5/14 2004 36 www.Emeraldfood.com S tudying music and premed at Duke University, Aaron Lazar had a tough decision to make: pur- sue a career in the medical field or show busi- ness. He chose the latter. The Jewish baritone is making his operetta debut — in his first appearance with the Michigan Opera Theatre — in The Pirates of Penzance, which continues through Sunday, May 16, at the Detroit Opera House. He plays Samuel, the pirate king's best friend, in the lighthearted tale that ranks with H.M.S. Pinafore as two of the most popular of 13 operettas written by Gilbert and Sullivan. Lazar had no serious interest in performing until high school. Even chanting his bar mitzvah in a Conservative synagogue gave no indication of his musical talent. He started singing to keep busy when he wasn't toss- ing the javelin and discus for his Cherry Hill, N.J., high-school track team. He got immersed in a few of the school's dozen nationally recognized choirs, leading to roles in local musical productions. He attended Duke on a music scholarship but also took premed courses. "My parents always wanted me to become a doctor," he reflected, "and I scored very well on my medical school admission test. But show busi- ness was really my elusive dream." First, though, he obtained a master of fine arts degree at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Since then, Lazar, in his 20s, has had a mixture of Broadway and regional theater roles and understudy parts, such as Curly in Oklahoma and Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera. He also toured nationally as