the MASCO Corporation Foundation, the Anti-Defamation League. the Ravit: Program tcr Confronting Anti-Semitiant & DIE energy Underwritten by The Jewish Ensemble eatre in cooperatio wit Wayne State Univensity'a Hillberry Repertory Theatre reae to Palmer Park ay by Joanna McClelland Glass Ronelle Grier Special to the Jewish News y ou didn't have to live in Palmer Park to know its leg- end. After the 1967 Detroit riots spurred a flurry of "white flight" from the city to the suburbs, the neigh- borhood known for its large stately homes, lush lawns and safe streets lined with leafy elms became a temporarily idyllic pocket of racial integration. Palmer Park, written by Joanna McClelland Glass and currently play- ing at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre in West Bloomfield before it moves to the Hilberry Theatre in Detroit, tells a cautionary and still timely tale about family, friendship and prejudice. The story centers around two Palmer Park families — one black, the other white — who find themselves living next door to one another. Jason Echols plays Fletch Hazelton, a black pediatrician, light-skinned and impeccably tailored, who lives with his well-dressed wife, Linda (Casaundra Freeman), their daughter and pedigreed Irish setter. Their new neighbors are transplants from Iowa: Martin Townsend (Patrick Moltane), who has come to Detroit to teach phys- ics at Wayne State University, his wife, Kate (Inga R. Wilson), their daughter and a "Heinz-57 variety" mutt. Their first meeting is unanimously uncomfortable, but the couples and their daughters soon become fast friends. The Hazeltons introduce the Townsends to several other neighbors, who are as much representative of the population of the time as they are real characters. There are Ron and Alice Marshall, a black lawyer and his stay- at-home wife (Connell Brown Jr. and Toni Walker-White); Phil Lamont (Phil Powers), the white guy who owns the local furniture store, and his wife, Gretta (Linda Ramsay); and Jewish real estate agent Sol Rifkin and his wife, Harriet, played by JET veterans Greg Trzaskoma and Milica Govich. Director Yolanda Fleischer meets the challenge of a large cast on a small stage, with the capable help of Christopher Otwell (scenic designer) and Curtis Green (technical director and lighting designer). The flavor of the era is captured by the creative use of a digital window frame with contin- ually changing views. Sound Designer Patrick Field uses background music Inge R. Wilson as Kate Townsend and Casaundra Freeman as Linda Hazelton in Palmer Park encompassing time-related artists and subject matter. Mary Copenhagen's costumes enhance the characters and the story, especially in the poignant scene where the Hazeltons and the Townsends are preparing to leave on their respective vacations. Both families are travel- ing by car, and the Townsends, who are dressed casually and comfortably, are surprised to see their neighbors wearing clothing more suited to a party than a long car ride. The reason is stunning and saddening, both to the Townsends and the audience. The drama centers on the proposed moving of students from overcrowded, working-class, mostly black Bagley Elementary School to Hampton, the school attended by children of the carefully integrated upper-middle- class families of Palmer Park. There are no easy answers to this Solomon- like dilemma; and Glass does not try to create a one-color-fits-all solution with a collective happy ending. The play, which is as much docu- mentary as theater, presents the per- sonal and political issues surrounding integration in a realistic way that presents all points of view: black and white, professional and working-class. The local references make Palmer Park a special treat for native Detroiters, but any native of the human race will appreciate the play for its sensitive and objective por- trayal of universal themes. El Palmer Park explores an upper-mit/die-class Detroit neighborhood and its hishtv rated Hampton School in the years follo•ins the 1967 racial disturbances. Two families. one black and one white, rally their neighbors. desperately hopins to maintain the prcbile off: their racially integrated community and school. EN% _ 24S.7SS.29cc • wtru...jetTheatre.crs JET — -6) REV IEW 1apte Road • Wes t Bi.ccrntietti. MI 66oc We MONDAY AND TUESDAYS... FREE APPETIZER FOR EVERY TABLE WEDNESDAYS... 20% OFF FOR SENIOR CITIZENS THURSDAY... " ALL YOU CAN EAT PASTA STATION" 5:30-8:00 $9.95 ADULTS $ 5.95 KIDS 5-10 KIDS UNDER 5 ARE FREE EVERY SUNDAY JOIN US FOR BRUNCH.. 10A.M.- 2P.M. SALMON, CHICKEN, OMELET'S MADE TO ORDER AND ALL THE MON'S Ilfai9 1111E Ensemble Theatre in West Bloomfield through May 9, (248) 788-2900 or jettheatre.org ; and at the Hilberry Theatre in Detroit, May 21-28, (313) 577- 2972 or hilberry.com . -f=f- Sunday thru Thursday Buy one get 2nd Dinner of equal or lesser value FREE! With purchase of 2 beverages ' A minimum of 15% gratuity will be added to original bill. Offer not valid on Holidays, with any other promotions and subject to Rules of Use. Offer expires 5116/10. Must present coupon to receive discount 110 Palmer Park runs at the Jewish 33080 Northwestern Highway West Bloomfield, MI Phone: 248-539-8300 Fax: 248-539-8303 Hours: Mon-Fri 10-9 • Sat & Sun 9-9 www.georgeshoneytree.com IAN GRILL Since 1920...The tradition continues Check Out Our NEW Menu and Lower Prices Banquet Facility and Outside Catering Available Sunday thru Thursday Buy one • Open 4 pm-10 pm • Lounge open till 1 am get 2nd Dinner of equal or lesser value FREE! With purchase of 2 beverages A minimum of 15% gratuity will be added to • Thursday thru Saturday• Visit us online at: www.larcositalian.com original bill, Offer not valid on Holidays, with any other promotions and subject to Rules of Use. Offer valid 5/7/10 thin 5120/10 Must present coupon to receive discount West Bloomfield 6480 Orchard Lake Rd. I 248-626-6969 0 aN April 22 • 2010 49