M etro AROUND TOWN Leading Lady from page A21 Behind The Scenes With Evelyn Orbach When she's not reviewing scripts, overseeing directors, actors, set, lighting and costume designers or juggling the many other "behind the scenes" jobs being JET'S founding artistic director entails, Orbach is busy in the role of mother to her adult children, Richard, Sharon, Judy and Lila, and grandmother to 10 grandchildren. Here, she gives us more insight into her two decades at the JET. Q: What inspired you to start the JET? Irving and Barbara Nusbaum, right, of Franklin with Rosalind Fink of Northville A: I had been in New York and there were two wonderful theaters, the American Jewish Theatre and the Jewish Repertory Theatre and they were doing won- derful work. I thought, we've never had anything like that here in Michigan; fine professional theater where the material could speak to and for and from the Jewish community. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about who I am as a Jew. I'm very interested in the fact that Jews have people like the Prophets who talk about the issues in our society and explore them and hopefully have some impact so people do something about those issues. And I wanted to be part of such a thing. "I've always wanted to offer not only shows in the schools, but I'd also like to have a children's theater where kids can come every weekend or during the week and act in plays of Jewish value." - Evelyn Orbach Melba Winer of West Bloomfield and Bluma Siegal of Farmington Hills grants and donations. Major contributors include MASCO Corporation, Chrysler, Kresge and the Dorfman and Grand family funds. The Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs designated JET an anchor organization based on its impact beyond its target audience. It joins in that designation just two other Oakland County jewels: Cranbrook and the Detroit Zoo. But, the theater has still had to endure hefty state budget cuts. "This was the first summer in four years that we didn't temporarily lay every- one off to save money:' Orbach said. "We're currently getting about $16,000 from the state; about a 30-percent funding cut." Then, there's Michigan's struggling economy. Orbach is waiting anxiously to see what kind of impact it will have on box office sales. "We have no idea what's going to hap- pen this year:' she said. "Audiences are not as predictable because families are hurt- ing. Some have lost jobs, some are facing A22 September 25 • 2008 314 foreclosures!' Still, JET has rolled out a 20th anni- versary season featuring something for everyone including Neil Simon's autobio- graphical play Chapter Two which wraps up in a few days, followed by the mystery, Sleuth (Oct. 28-Nov. 23); the musical comedy, Two by Two (Dec. 9-Jan. 4, 2009); Collected Stories (Feb. 17-Mar. 15, 2009); and Halpern and Johnson (Apr. 21-May. 17, 2009). "The season includes shows that will thrill, invite a smile, a chuckle or even some hearty laughs:' Orbach says. "We're going to have a wonderful time celebrating our 20th birthday. We might just have our cake and eat it too!" ❑ - For more information about JET productions, ticket prices and per- formance schedules, call (248) 788- 2900 or go to www.jettheatre.org . Q: What are some of JET's proudest moments? A: Plays that have had an enor- mous impact like our production of Romeo and Juliet with Arabs and Jews which we started producing one week after the 9-11 attacks in 2001. It was a shocking time, and it was an enormous production and very gratifying. That same year, we did The Laramie Project [about how the people of Laramie, Wyo., deal with the hate-crime killing of a young gay man in their town.] Those two shows just became an outstanding landmark for me and for the theater. Of course, we also have our annual traveling pro- duction of The Diary of Anne Frank which has been seen by more than 50,000 students, including those in non-Jewish communities who may not be familiar the Holocaust. Q: What has been your biggest challenge? A: Funding is always a challenge, but I think if you have something you're pas- sionate about and you know it can work and you believe in it and you're rational about it at the same time, people will support it because they believe in you. This is a challenging year because of the economy. Our budget keeps rising and things like sending our companies out to all the schools will cost much more because of the high gasoline prices. But, we're lucky to have secured grants from sponsors like MASCO Corporation, which gave us an extra $10,000 this year just because it's our 20th anniversary. We're thankful to all of our patrons and donors who've helped make the last two decades such a success. Q: 20 years is a tough act to follow, what's next for JET? A: I've always wanted to offer not only shows in the schools, but I'd also like to have a children's theater where kids can come every weekend or during the week and act in plays of Jewish value. We'd do a full production so they can get all the benefits of theatrical art that really ignites the imagination. I want to have children thinking about things that have some worth. I don't have enough money this year to start a whole new production but I'm going to do it one day. I have more dreams - I'm not finished yet!