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June
Comedian Annie Korzen's one-woman
stage show looks at Jewish women.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
27925 Orchard Lake Road, north of 12 Mile • Farmington Hills
40
Shattering
Stereotypes
7 • 2007
CLASSIC CUISINE
1252110
C
ontinuing fans of the
Seinfeld TV series and its
reruns might very well
recognize actress Annie Korzen. She
played the wife of a Florida condo
resident always fighting with the
character appearing as the father of
star Jerry Seinfeld.
And continuing fans of standup
comedy might recognize the char-
acters Korzen portrays in her one-
woman stage show, Yenta Unplugged.
She takes on all the negative stereo-
types ascribed to Jewish women and
offers some opposite views.
Yenta Unplugged will be performed
in a free program 7 p.m. Thursday,
June 14, at Temple Israel.
"I really created this show to be an
antidote to all the negative stereo-
types about Jewish women," Korzen
says. "I take all the old jokes about the
nagging housewives and princesses
and redefine them in funny ways. In
the end, I celebrate Jewish women
and present them positively."
In one segment, she talks about the
Jewish mother cliches — nagging,
overprotective, embarrassing — and
tells how those qualities actually
saved the life of her son when he was
a teenager.
Korzen, who sometimes sits at a
piano and sings out her messages,
wrote the music and the lyrics as well
as the script.
"I started working on this show in
1996:' Korzen recalls. "I was a guest
on Oprah after suggesting a topic
about ethnic men who reject their
own women.
"I was disturbed about all the ugly
jokes about Jewish women told by
Jewish comics. At that time, I thought
I was going to turn my thoughts into
a book, but an agent friend advised
that I forget the book and do it all on
stage. That inspired me.
"I work on the script and change it
all the time. It's taken many years to
polish and refine it."
Korzen did not study acting until
she actually acted. Her husband, film
producer Benni Korzen, launched her
career by casting her in small parts.
"I was a piano teacher when I got
married a month after meeting my
husband on a blind date says Korzen,
celebrating her 43rd anniversary. "I
became a stay-at-home mom until my
son started college, and then I got bit-
ten by the acting bug.
"I took classes while working
as an extra and then doing some
Off-Broadway work. I went on to
improv comedy and realized that I
could write. The writing led to doing
humorous essays on NPR's Morning
Edition."
Korzen, who has appeared on a
soap as well as ER and Judging Amy,
also co-wrote the film Nobody's
Perfect, which starred Gail O'Grady
and Chad Lowe.
"The Yenta show has been a god-
send," says Korzen, who keeps her age
to herself. "The sad fact is that the
older you get in Hollywood, the less
work there is for you. I don't really get
enough TV or commercial work to
keep me busy.
"I've been very lucky in getting
bookings for my own show all over
the world. I've had a great opportu-
nity to visit Jewish communities that
I never would have thought about. We
went to Australia, and there's a huge
Jewish community in Sydney.
"The Australian Jewish women
were absolutely as responsive as any
audience on the Upper West Side of
Manhattan would be. There were
some universals that I touched on,
and they got it. I saw the same in
Copenhagen."
Korzen will have two special guests
in the Temple Israel audience: her
son, Jonathan, and his girlfriend,
Alisa Weberman, who grew up in
Michigan and had her bat mitzvah at
the temple. Weberman, a University of