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.