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Taking Center Stage

Camp Season

Groundbreaking is SRO for JCC's new
Mandell and Madeleine Berman Theatre.

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Federation CEO Robert Aronson, with renderings of the theater in the

background.

Elizabeth Applebaum
Special to the Jewish News

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PRESCRIPTIONS

32910 MIDDLEBELT RD.

at 14 Mile • FARMINGTON
(Next to Johnny Pomodoro's)

248-855-1177

A20

June 11 • 2009

,IN

HILLS

1516280

ll it took was a bit of imagina-
tion to see a grand stage with
lush curtains and lights shin-
ing down on a beautiful ballerina — a
ballerina who 15 years earlier had been
in a group of little girls jumping about
on this very spot, their moves a little
lopsided and shy, much like baby birds.
Pointing to the stage, the ballerina, now
a dazzling star with the Joffrey Ballet,
would say: "This is where it all began."
Mark A. Lit, executive director of
the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit, invited guests to
imagine such a scene last Sunday as
the JCC hosted a ceremonial ground
breaking for the new Mandell and
Madeleine Berman Theatre on the
West Bloomfield campus.
Some 100 guests attended the
event held outside the Janice Charach
Gallery where the theater will be built.
Construction will begin in September
on the theater, which is expected to be
completed in the summer of 2010.
The 15,000-square-foot theater will
be a professionally equipped facil-
ity with about 400 seats (expandable
to accommodate more than 600), a
computerized lighting system and
state-of-the-art sound and acoustics.
It will host ongoing JCC programs
including the Stephen Gottlieb Jewish
MusicFest, the Lenore Marwil Jewish
Film Festival events, Book Fair presen-
tations and SAJE (Seminars for Adult
Jewish Enrichment) lectures. It also will
be open for programs hosted by the
general Jewish community, for secular
organizations, for large events such as
orchestral performances and for pro-

Madeleine and Mandell Berman of

Franklin ceremoniously break ground

for the new theater that will bear their

names at the JCC in West Bloomfield.

fessional and amateur theater groups.
The groundbreaking program
began with remarks from JCC
President Todd Sachse, United Jewish
Foundation President Norman Pappas
and Jewish Federation Chief Executive
Officer Robert Aronson.
Wearing yellow hard hats, Mandell
and Madeleine Berman then took shov-
els bearing special plaques to mark the
occasion and began digging. Berman
credited his wife for the initial idea and
the vision to create the theater.
Guests, many of whom were close
friends of the Bermans, enjoyed a
beautiful day with just a quiet breeze.
Drawings on display showed what the
new theater will look like.
In closing, Lit said,"Let the record
show that today's first production of the
new Mandell and Madeleine Berman
Theatre was standing room only!" E

Elizabeth Applebaum is a marketing

specialist at the JCC.

