Arts & Entertainment

Classic Comedy

Shakespeare in the
Park updates the
Bard in fun romp.

Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News

A

search for gold has been
added to a search for fam-
ily with a new version of
William Shakespeare's The Comedy
of Errors.
The Water Works Theatre
Company; in its sixth season of
Shakespeare in the Park, updates
the classic plays to add humor and
surprises. It looks forward to moving
the show from ancient Asia Minor to
1849 San Francisco with the outdoor
production running July 27-Aug. 6 at
Royal Oak's Starr Jaycee Park.
Clifford Katskee, cast as an Italian
barber in his debut performance
with the company, is having a good
time in the version conceived and
directed by Terry Carpenter of the
Meadow Brook Theatre Ensemble.
"This is really a fun role, and
there's always plenty to like with

Shakespeare," says Katskee, a baby
boomer who has appeared in TV
commercials, with local produc-
tions and on game shows broadcast
out of California. "My character
tells everything to everybody as
they move th .rough the action of the
play."
Katskee, who lives in Birmingham
and works in food service in Troy,
moved to the area from Illinois,
where he developed his acting skills
through programs offered by Second
City in Chicago, the Piven Theatre
Workshop in Evanston (founded by
the parents of Emmy-nominated
Entourage actor Jeremy Piven) and
similar training initiatives.
With a bachelor's degree in the-
ater and speech from Northwestern
University and a master's degree in
education from Loyola University,
Katskee has taught in high school-
and college. He has done staged
readings for the Jewish Ensemble
Theatre, appeared in She Loves Me
for the Performance Network in Ann
Arbor and has done a variety. of pro-
ductions for theaters in Illinois and
Indiana.
"I connected with Shakespeare
in the Park by going through some
computer search engines," says

Katskee, who is married and has
one son. "I've been interested in
being on stage since getting laughs
for a joke I told many years ago at
Fidelman's Resort in South Haven."
Although not affiliated with
Jewish organizations in Michigan,„
he and his wife, Patricia, belonged
to an Illinois group of mixed-
religion families exploring their
spirituality. Another Jewish actor
appearing in the comedy is Ann
Arbor's Marty Smith, cast as a mer-
chant.
"I act whenever I can," Katskee
says. "It's always fun for me to be in
a play." II

Performances of The Comedy
of Errors — Gold Rush Style
take place 8 p.m. Thursdays,
Fridays and Saturdays and
7 p.m. Sundays, July 27-30
and Aug. 3-6, at Starr Jaycee
Park, 13 Mile between Main and
Crooks, Royal Oak. Tickets are
$10-$20. Admission is free for
children at matinees 3 p.m.
Saturdays, July 29 and Aug. 5,
with a limit of two children per
paying adult. (248) 399-3727
or www.waterworkstheatre.com .

Clifford Katskee, right, with Jeff Thomakos in Water
Works Theatre Company's The. Comedy of Errors
— Gold Rush Style

ws

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

Hot Pairing

When filmmakers are casting for
actresses between the ages of 20
and 25, their A-list comes down to
three names: Scarlett Johansson,
Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley.
So the producers of The Other
Boleyn must have hit the moon when
Johansson recently
signed on to co-star
with Portman in
this film about Anne
Boleyn, the second
wife of King Henry
VIII and the mother of
Natalie Portman
Queen Elizabeth I.
The other Boleyn
refers to Anne's sister, Mary, who
was Henry's mistress before he was
bewitched by Anne.

44

July 27 • 2006

L..

Portman will play Anne, Johansson
will portray Marc/ and Eric Bana
(Munich) takes the role of Henry. The
Other Boleyn is based on a best-sell-
ing novel, in which the sisters' story
is told through a Jewish soothsayer.

Other Premieres

Little Miss Sunshine, a screwball
comedy with a heart, earned great
reviews at the Sundance Film
Festival. It opened in limited release
nationally on Wednesday, July 26,
and is scheduled to open in Detroit
on Aug.11 at the
Birmingham 8
and Ann Arbor's
Michigan Theater.
A dysfunc-
tional couple (Greg
Kinnear and Toni
Collette) head off
Michael Mann
in a VW bus with

their young daughter (Amy Breslin),
determined to get her into the finals
of a kiddie beauty contest. Along for
the ride are a suicidal uncle (Steve
Carell) and a grandpa who has just
been thrown out of his retirement
home for snorting heroin (veteran
Jewish actor Alan Arkin).
By contrast, the movie version
of Miami Vice has been plagued
with bad advance word-of-mouth,
and reports say Jewish director-
writer Michael Mann has been furi-
ously editing Vice to make it better.
Opening in area theaters on July 28,
it stars Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx.
Mann became famous in the mid-
1980s as the co-creator and director
of the Miami Vice TV series about
two stylish police detectives. The
TV show wasn't great drama, but
it was innovative and fun — bring-
ing the quick-cutting style of music

videos to series TV. Mann has had a
good career as a movie director and
screenwriter; his hits include Last
of the Mohicans and Ali. But he may
have erred in-trying to update a TV
series that was really cool 20 years
ago.
Finally; in Woody Alien's new
movie, Scoop, also opening July 28,
Allen plays a small-time magician
who hooks up with novice journalist
Scarlett Johansson to investigate a
murder.
Playing Joha'nsson's posh British
friend is the very
attractive Brit
actress Romola
Garai, 24. Garai
is best known for
co-starring in Dirty
Dancing 2: Havana
Nights. She also
Romola Garai
has appeared in a