Arts & Entertainment

About

Moms On The Ball

Before "hockey moms" took center stage
on the political landscape, there were
soccer moms:' The Village Players of
Birmingham's next production, called
Soccer Moms, explores the lives of three
women who have chosen to devote their
lives to their families and children.
Kathleen Clark's new comedy — not
only for soccer moms but with appeal to
women of all ages — runs Oct. 17-19 and
24-26 at the Village Players Playhouse,
34660 Woodward, in Birmingham, when
all is revealed from the sidelines of a boys-
against-moms soccer game that takes
place off stage during the play.
The three-woman show stars Bloomfield
Township resident Tamara Gries as an
ex-model who aspires to become a profes-
sional photographer but never has time
to develop her pictures; Amanda Marie
Sproule of Royal
Oak as a dedi-
cated PTA member
whose listening
skills as a former
social worker help
111 bring out her fellow
moms; and Royal
Oak's Marni Raitt
as the youngest

((

I

Marni Raitt

mom, a soccer enthu-
siast.
Raitt, who is
Jewish, actually
played soccer in a co-
ed league in 1997.1
broke my jaw during
a game she says,
and "haven't put on
the shin guards or cleats since' Raitt is
assistant director of public relations for
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Her dog
Oliver, rescued in 2007, is a therapy dog at
West Bloomfield Convalescent Center and
is the apple of her eye.
Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and
Saturdays and 2 pm. Sundays. $15. (248)
644-2075 or
www.birminghamvillageplayers.com.

Matisyahu Moment

Grammy-nominated Lubavitch reggae
artist Matisyahu — recently featured
on the PBS series The Jewish Americans
— is now at the beginning of a fall tour
in support of his soon-to-be released
EP Shattered (Epic Records, Oct. 21). He
stops at the Fillmore (formerly the State
Theatre) in Detroit on Thursday, Oct. 23.
His four-song EP, recorded and mixed
in Jamaica, New York, Los Angeles and

Virginia, was produced
by David Kahne (Paul
McCartney, Regina
Spektor) and features
tracks from his new
full-length album, Light,
due out in early 2009.
Matisyahu will guide
fans through songs
from his forthcoming album during listen-
ing parties after each show on the fall tour.
Born Matthew Miller in Westchester, Pa.,
and raised in White
Plains, N.Y., Matisyahu
originally rebelled
against his traditional
Jewish upbringing
before discovering
his passion for both
Chasidic Judaism and
Matisyahu
reggae. His live per-
formances have been
described as "transcendental"
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. $25-$35. (248)
645-6666 or www.ticketmaster.com . Save
25 percent by purchasing a four-pack at
Livenation.com .

a Mockingbird by Christopher Sergel,
adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning
Harper Lee novel, Oct. 17-Nov. 16 at the
Marlene Boll Theatre, located at 1401
Broadway inside the YMCA. As sister and
brother Scout and Jem go on a journey of
discovery about a man called Boo in the
summer of 1938 in a quiet Alabama town,
audience members experience what it
means to be an outsider, the importance
in understanding right from wrong and
the true cost of growing up.
Rotating in the role of Scout is Rebecca
Helman Scherrer, 10, and playing Jem is
Jared Helman Scherrer, also 10. Ethan
Helman Scherrer, 10, plays their friend
Dill. The siblings attend Cranbrook
Schools, live in Farmington Hills and have
been members of Adat Shalom Synagogue.
Show times are 8 pm. Fridays, 4 and 8
p.m. Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays. $10-
$15. (313) 967.0559 or
www.matrixtheatre.org.

Family Affair

Ethan,
Rebecca

Detroit's Matrix Theatre Company
mounts an all-ages production To Kill

and Jared

Heiman
Scherrer

FYI: For Arts related events that you wish to have considered for Out & About, please send the item, with a detailed description of the event, times, dates, place, ticket prices and publishable phone number, to: Gail Zimmerman, JN Out &
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Photos are appreciated but cannot be returned. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change.

Nate Bloom

Special to the Jewish News

Political Notes

Add NBC news correspondent Jenna
Wolfe, 34, and CNN correspondent
Jessica Yellin, 37, to my previ-
ously reported list
of Jewish network
news people. Wolfe,
whose style is
"earthy-spunky,"
is a correspondent
for the Today show
and a co-host of the
weekend edition
Jenna Wolfe
of Today. Yellin, a
magna cum laude Harvard grad, is
a CNN political correspondent. She
previously worked for ABC News and
MSNBC.
CNN political analyst David Gergen
brings an informed, even-handed
approach to his commentary. This

CIO October 16 & 2008

reflects his bipar-
tisan background
as a White House
political adviser to
both Republican and
Democratic presi-
dents.
Gergen is a
Jessica Yellin
Protestant. His
daughter, Dr.
Katherine Gergen Barnett, con-
verted to Judaism in 2003 under
Orthodox auspices and married Mark
Barnett, a Jewish lawyer she met
when they both were Yale students.
David Gergen told the Forward
newspaper that his doubts about
the conversion were resolved when
Katherine told him that she planned
to convert regardless of whether she
married Mark. "That was a power-
ful and positive incentive for me to
embrace her decision," he said.
Former Saturday Night Live

comedian Al Franken, 57, is the
Democratic nominee for the
Minnesota U.S. Sentate seat cur-
rently held by Republican Norm
Coleman, 49. Franken has overtaken
Coleman in the latest polls, after
trailing him all summer. However, a
strong third-party candidate makes
this race still very close. Remarkably,
Minnesota has had this "Jewish
Senate seat" since 1978. Coleman
was preceded in office by Democrat
Paul Wellstone and Republican Rudy

Boschwitz.

Tube Trivia

Rita Rocks, premiering 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 20, on Lifetime, stars
Nicole Sullivan (King of Queens) as
Rita Clements, a wife and mother
in the middle of a full-blown iden-
tity crisis, which includes dealing
with her defiant teenaged daughter,
Hallie, and Hallie's ever-present boy-

friend, Kip.
Actor Raviv Ullman, 22, plays
Kip. Born in Israel, he was billed as
Ricky Ullman when he starred in
the hit Disney Channel series Phil of
the Future. He has
gone back to his
Hebrew birth name.
Regular episodes air
Tuesdays at 8:30
p.m.
Has-been celebri-
ties get another
Raviv Ullman
chance in the spot-
light in Hulk Hogan's
Celebrity Championship Wrestling
on the CMT cable channel. Jews in
the competition are Dustin Diamond
(Saved by the Bell) and former
Playboy playmate Nikki Ziering, who
converted to Judaism when she mar-
ried her now ex-husband, actor Ian
Ziering. The series premieres 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct.18.

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