Emerging
Writer
Village Players stages new work
by "unknown" playwright.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
T
he sole remaining
member of a New
York social and ath-
letic club meets up with the
soul of a departed member in
Joe Feinstein's play The Last
of the Aztecs, which is being
staged Aug. 11-12 by the Village
Players of Birmingham.
. The play, seen for six weeks
at the MET Theatre in Los
Angeles, addresses issues of
grief and mortality while look-
ing back on critical choices with
long-term effects.
"Watching my script take
form as it is produced by
the Village Players has been
wonderful and exciting;' says
Feinstein, 76, a retired teacher
and psychologist whose one-
act theater pieces have been
produced by the Heartlande
Theatre Co. at various Michigan
venues.
West Bloomfield resident Joe Feinstein, left, discusses his play with cast member Benn Perry of
Commerce Township.
ews
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
Ups And Downs
ache Speed
ritish-Jewish comedian Sacha
aron Cohen, who is best known
or his comic persona "Ali G," gets
his first major motion-picture co-
starring role
in Talladega
Nights: The
Ballad of Ricky
Bobby, which
opens Friday,
Aug. 4. The
film is a come-
Sacha Baron Cohen dic spoof of
NASCAR racing
and stars Will Ferrell in the title
role.
Cohen plays Jean. Girard, a flam-
boyant French Formula 1 racer who
challenges the working-class Ricky
44
August 3 • 2006
Bobby for the title of NASCAR
top driver.
iN
The Australian town of Rockdale,
experiencing a problem with
noisy kids hanging out at a local
park, has been using Barry
Manilow's easy-listening music
as a teen repellent.
The city elders decided to blast
Manilow and Doris Day music in
the park from
9 p.m. to mid-
night on week-
ends, driving
out the teens
but causing
park neigh-
bors to "go
Barry Manilow
nuts" listen-
ing to endless
"Mandy" replays.
So, Manilow's music will be
ed by a motion-activated
sprinkler system.
Barry can be cheered, however,
by being tapped to host a special
tribute to his friend American
Bandstand legend Dick Clark at
the next Emmy Awards show, to be
broadcast 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27,
on NBC.
Clark, 76, suffered a stroke in
2004 and still is in very fragile
health.
In 1977, Manilow wrote the lyr-
ics for the Bandstand theme
song, an instrumental that was
first played on the show in 1954.
Barry's version, sung by Barry
himself, was used on the show until
it ended in the late 1980s.
Ties To Israel
Kirk Douglas, who has made a
remarkable recovery from a stroke
he suffered •I •• • • urns 90 in
cember. He recently told colu
nist Army Archerd that he is now
completing a new book of memoirs
and ideas called Let's Face It
Recent events, Archerd says,
Spurred Kirk to mention that he
has made four films in Israel; one
was filmed in Haifa, and another
was made near
the Lebanese
border.
Douglas'
Israel films
include The
Juggler and
Cast a Giant
Kirk Douglas
Shadow, in
which Douglas
played Col. Mickey Marcus, an
American Army war hero who
became a general in the Israeli
army and was killed during the
Israeli War of Independence.