its owv, to arts & entertainment Star Deli slow-cooks tewiptAtiovls" Daymy Zaskiih, wiz TAR DELI Heartwarming Holiday Two Muses Theatre presents interdenominational Greetings! COMPARE OUR LOW PRICES WITH ANY DELICATESSEN IN TOWN! MEAT TRAY SALAD TRAY $8.99 =— $9.99 'gr. DAIRY TRAY $19.99 =son HOURS: MON-SAT 7-9:30 • SUN 7-8 * Potato Latkes * Handcut Lox I SALAD TRAY W/ LOX & CREAM CHEESE $13.49 person On Star's beautiful I already low-priced meat or dairy trays * Our Regular Tuna & Fat-Free Tuna Can't Be Beat! * Vegetarian Chopped Liver *jomemade Potato Salad eColeslaw Expires 12/15/12. One Per Order. Not Good Holidays. 10 Person Minimum. With this coupon. DELIVERY AVAILABLE a 24555 W. 12 MILE ROAD Just west of Telegraph Road • Southfield 248-352-7377 1793080 Fv,ONG Hu4 FINE CHINESE DINING 11111 A wonderful adventure in fine dining" — Danny Raskin 11111111411 1 1 1- ■ N Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner Catering and carryout available Gift certificates 27925 Orchard Lake Rd., North of 12 Mile, Farmington Hills 248-489-2280 www.honghuafinedining.com 1790220 Exquisite Catering Impeccable Service CORPORATE EVENTS BAR & BAT MITZVAHS CEREMONIES & RECEPTIONS TRAY CATERING/SHIVA TRAYS SHOWERS & REHEARSAL DINNERS ON-SITE & OFF-PREMISE CATERING Phone Fax CHOLOV YISROEL KOSHER Jewish Community Center 70 (248) 432-5654 (248) 785-0123 Email milkhoney@theepicureangroup.com www.theepicureangroup.com/kosher November 15 • 2012 Di EPIC KOSHER CATERIN A DIVISION OF MILK & HONEY GLATT KOSHER Adat Shalom Synagogue Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer I n his younger New York years, Tom Dudzick had a Jewish girlfriend who considered herself an atheist, and he reflected on the relationship from his point of view as a comic playwright. What would happen if he brought the young woman home to meet his very Catholic parents in Buffalo, N.Y.? Dudzick, succumbing to practical instincts, kept this romantic interest away from family but put remnants of it on the stage instead. His ideas came together in Greetings!, the next production of Two Muses Theatre. The holiday show — with interdenom- inational themes — runs Nov. 23-Dec. 16 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in West Bloomfield. The comedy starts out with some brawling and ends with some miracles. As I'm watching the play being per- formed, I like to sneak glances at the faces in the audience when 'that moment' in the play occurs:' Dudzick says. "I'm not going to say which moment and spoil the surprise, but it's wonderful. People check their programs to make sure they're in the right theater:' Directed by Barbie Weisserman, Two Muses co-founder, Greetings! features Stephen Blackwell as the suitor, Jan Cartwright as the mother, Richard Payton as the brother, Henry Nelson as the father and Angela Kay Miller as the girlfriend. Weisserman, in a household where Jewish and Christian holidays are observed (her husband is Jewish, she is Christian), feels a special connection to the production. "The values of the Jewish and Christian celebrations are the same although the practices differ," she says. "My husband and I have realized the similarities in the ways we were raised:' Dudzick, a long-ago piano major who had no formal training for a writing career, launched his scripting by working on dinner-theater musical comedies. Greetings!, becoming a holiday favorite around the country, was his first New York play, started as a one-act. Other works include Over the Tavern Trilogy, Hail Mary! and Don't Talk to the Actors. At 62, married and the father of two, Clockwise from bottom: Richard Payton, Jan Cartwright, Angela Kay Miller, Stephen Blackwell and Henry Nelson in Greetings! Dudzick recalls writing Greetings! when he was 35 and explains how he has moved on to later projects while utiliz- ing some early, basic ideas. "My approach to writing is the same: Come up with a story that delights you; then sit down and write it out until it's finished:' says Dudzick. "My outlook toward the subject of Greetings! has changed in that I'm now an even more emphatic believer in the law of attraction precepts. "The philosophy of the character Lucius is one I've adopted for my own — being positive, feeling tolerance for others' differ- ences and accepting reality as created by personal beliefs and emotions:' Dudzick, working on one project based on a book of memoirs and a second that involves a fantasy taking place at the Vatican, explains how that former Jewish girlfriend also came to have a lasting impact beyond stage success. "Up until my arrival in New York, I hardly knew what a Jew was:' says Dudzick, who has been called the "Catholic Neil Simon:' "I knew some of my favorite com- ics were Jewish, and I had seen The Ten Commandments. "My first real experience with Judaism was getting to know that girlfriend of mine and contemplating a future with her. We eventually split up, but years later, she introduced me to the girl I eventu- ally married — a nice Jewish girl from Queens!" ❑ Greetings! will be performed Nov. 23-Dec.16 at the theater inside Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 6800 Orchard Lake Road, in West Bloomfield. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays with a preview at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21. $10-$18. (248) 850-9919; www.twomusestheatre.org .