arts & entertainment
C
0
ormath
Jay Wilkinson (Caleb DeLeon), Andre Braugher
(Simon) and Andre Holland (John) earlier this
year in a scene from the Off-Broadway
production of The Whipping Man
JET's season opener brings to the seder table three Jews: two
newly freed slaves and the soldier whose home they share.
Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer
Theatre Company, whose artistic director,
Gary Anderson, directs the production, Oct.
6-30 at the YMCA Bull Family Theatre in
atthew Lopez stumbled on a
Detroit.
fact that pointed him in the
The cast of three, an injured Confederate
direction of his first play, The
soldier and two former slaves raised in
Whipping Man.
their owner's religion, share the soldier's
Wanting to write about the end of the Civil half-destroyed Richmond, Va., home for a
War and researching that period,
seder offering stolen wine, matzah
Lopez learned that Passover began
(military hardtack) and bitter herbs
the day after Lee surrendered at
(uncooked collard greens).
Appomattox in 1865.
All Jewish, they make the con-
"That fact suggested drama;'
nection between the suffering of
says Lopez, 34, reached by phone
enslaved Jews and the suffering of
at his New York home. "Passover,
African Americans born or sold
more than anything else, means
into slavery. Appearing will be
family to me, and the offstage fam-
Council Cargle as Simon and Scott
Playwrig ht
ily has to do with tradition, ritual
Norman as John, the two slaves, and
Matthew
and questions.
Rusty Mewha as Caleb DeLeon, the
"There's no greater signifier than Lopez
Confederate soldier.
the idea of questions, and these characters
"I was exposed to Judaism and Passover
would have been full of questions. Now, we
as a child': Lopez explains about his connec-
have sort of a platform by which they can
tion to the observances.
ask. That was the genesis — or exodus — of
"My father's brother's wife is Jewish, and
the play"
they raised their kids in the faith while living
The Whipping Man will be staged Sept.
not too far from us. Even though I was raised
7-Oct. 2 by Jewish Ensemble Theatre at
Episcopalian, there always was an awareness
the Jewish Community Center in West
of Judaism."
Bloomfield. It moves to the Plowshares
The subject fits into Lopez's continuing
M
JET Season Schedule
eliefs confront reality and the
results point out diverse con-
tradictions throughout the
2011-2012 Jewish Ensemble Theatre
season.
"Although the plays may not seem
specifically Jewish, they show the
world through principles of Judaism,"
says David Magidson, artistic director,
who also has arranged a public per-
B
formance of a re-imagined version of
The Diary of Anne Frank in April. "The
plays express the kinds of ideas that
draw the community together."
The first production, The Whipping
Man, for example, explores the contra-
dictions in Jewish people, with a heri-
tage of fighting for civil rights, actually
owning slaves.
Imagining Madoff: A Fantasia by
Deborah Margolin, running Oct.19-Nov.
13, compares the thinking of schemer
and victims and questions what may
interest in exploring what happens when
tumultuous segments of time end. In this
case, what is it like psychologically to go from
being enslaved to being free?
"Actually, the questions are asked in the
seder, and the answers can be found in the
Torah': the playwright says.
Lopez, who has a working space near his
apartment and relaxes with video games,
came to writing after studying acting at the
University of South Florida in Tampa.
"When I moved to New York, I realized
that finding work was a lot harder than I
thought it would be he recalls. "Writing
was always something I did for myself, but I
didn't think I would ever share it.
"To make the shift from acting to writing
was opening up to the public what was long
very private. I did have stories I wanted to
tell, and a storyteller without an audience is
about as lonely as it can get.
"Once I understood that it was important
for my stories to be heard, I sought oppor-
tunities. The first place I ever sent my work
was to a theater company in New Jersey. At
the time, The Whipping Man was a 20-min-
ute, two-character play, but they zeroed in
on it'."
Lopez expanded the play over a couple of
have made victims compliant.
The beliefs and realities experienced
while growing up enter into Red Diaper
Baby, a two-performance production
scheduled Dec. 3-4 and featuring Josh
Kornbluth, the only child of New York
communists.
The 2009 Tony winner for Best Play,
God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza,
running Dec. 7-Jan.1, shows what
can happen when two couples try to
resolve issues experienced by their
11-year-old sons.
years with the help of the company. This sea-
son, it is being staged around the country.
His newest play, Somewhere, will be intro-
duced by the Old Globe in San Diego, Calif.,
later this month. The piece is about a family
of Puerto Rican entertainers dreaming of
a life on Broadway while fighting the slated
demolition of their home in the area where
West Side Story is being filmed.
"I tend to write about dispossessed peo-
ple,' says Lopez, who included a part for his
aunt, Priscilla Lopez, a cast member in the
original production of A Chorus Line.
"I write about people who don't have a
lot of power, generally don't get a voice and
normally wouldn't have stories written about
them. I like to give audiences experiences
they might shy away from and hope they
will find a lot more commonality than they
expected:'
Lopez, with Puerto Rican background,
says he has had the sense of not fully belong-
ing, particularly growing up in Panama City,
where he knew of no other Puerto Rican
families. That feeling connected him with the
characters in The Whipping Man.
Another sense of connection came with
knowing that he can now marry his same-
sex partner after more than six years of
being together.
"I was alone in a cab when the law was
signed in New York': Lopez says. "I didn't
anticipate the feeling that for the first time
my existence was validated by the govern-
ment of the state, and I was angry that I
needed that validation.
"While there is a grander, life-changing
freedom granted to the characters in my
play, my own experience also had the feeling
of release and recognition. That was quite
beautiful.
"I started getting phone calls asking when
I was getting married, and I felt like everyone
else."
The Whipping Man runs Sept. 7-Oct.
2 at the Jewish Community Center
in West Bloomfield. Performances
are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7,
and Thursdays; 5 and 8:30 p.m.
Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, Sept.
18-Oct. 2, and Wednesday, Sept. 28;
and 6:30 p.m. Sundays. $36-$43,
with discounts for seniors and stu-
dents. (248) 788-2900;
jettheatre.org .
Trust and betrayals among lawyers
with their own agendas facing a rape
case is at the core of Race by David
Mamet, being performed Jan. 25-Feb.19.
Another two-performance play, My
Brooklyn Hamlet, runs March 3-4 and
questions attitudes toward marriage,
murder and forgiveness.
The season closes May 2-27 with M.
Butterfly, which delves into confound-
ing illusions of sexuality.
For information and tickets, call (248)
477-4395 or go to jettheatre.org .
September 1 <, 2011
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