arts & entertainment

Kicking Off JET's Season

Jeffrey Sweet's play on family, friendship
and the blacklist sizzles with wit.

Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer

effrey Sweet describes his
upbringing with a Jewish
mother and a Christian father
as a sound foundation for becoming a
playwright. It has to do with his sense
of being an outsider
among any group dom-
1
inated by people of one
faith or another.
* I
"It is useful because
it gives me critical
distance" Sweet says in
a phone call from his
New York apartment.
Playwright
The playwright
Jeffrey Sweet
brought those sensitivi-
ties into two father-daughter plays.
Porch, which explores a Christian dad-
daughter relationship, just finished a run
in Washington, D.C. The Value of Names,
which captures a Jewish dad-daughter
relationship, will open JET's 2014-2015
season.
"Outsider" is an important term for
Sweet's perspective toward the dad-
daughter mystique. Married to writer,
actress and producer Kristine Niven, he
has a grown son from a previous mar-
riage.
The Value of Names, running Sept.
3-Oct. 12 at the Jewish Community

Center in West Bloomfield, has to do
with long-term repercussions from the
1950s hearings held by the late Sen. Joe
McCarthy (R-Wis.), whose accusations
of Communist leanings resulted in the
blacklisting of many entertainers.
Taking place decades after the hear-
ings, the play examines tensions expe-
rienced by a blacklisted actor as his
daughter accepts a role directed by a
man instrumental in that blacklisting.
Yolanda Fleischer is directing a
real father-daughter acting team as
Thomas Mahard takes the role of Benny
Silverman and Kathryn Mahard portrays
Norma Silverman. Phil Powers has been
cast as director Leo Greshen.
"I've always been interested in history
and the after-effects of historical events"
says Sweet, 64, whose play Bluff has
been staged at the BoarsHead Theater in
Lansing.
"That wasn't on my mind when I
started writing because I never start
with a theme in mind. I always start out
with people in what I consider to be an
interesting situation. I trust that if I write
honestly, the themes will emerge organi-
cally without my having to jam them in."
The play was imagined after Sweet
learned about a friend's father who had
been blacklisted.
"She had been cast in a play, and I
asked about her being torn between her

own ambitions and what she thought she
owed her father" he recalls.
"Ever looking for stories to make my
real friends' imaginary lives complicated,
I asked what her father would say if the
person directing the play was somebody
who had named names. That is where
the story came from"
The aftermath of historical events
comes through profoundly with his latest
play, Kunstler, being staged this month
at the New York International Fringe
Festival. It captures events in the life of
controversial attorney William Kunstler.
"I want audiences to get entirely
caught up in people and what they do
when they're pushed out of their comfort
zones" Sweet says.
The playwright, who earned a degree
in film from New York University and
is teaching improvisation and dramatic
criticism at Wagner College on Staten
Island, N.Y., was captivated by improvi-
sation before moving on to longer staged
works, television projects and books.
"I started thinking about playwriting
as something that helps actors be inter-
esting on stage, not as a literary activity"
he says. "It's as if the actors are improvis-
ing in my head, and I'm racing as fast as
I can to transcribe what they're saying."
Sweet has established groups that meet
regularly to improvise situations based
on one another's ideas. Members have
included Dan Castellaneta, the voice
of Homer Simpson; playwright Donald
Margulies; the comedy team of Stiller
and Meara: and Wicked playwright
Winnie Holzman.
Sweet's The Dramatist's Toolkit has

become a standard text that is being
joined on bookshelves this year by The
O'Neill, a history of the Eugene O'Neill
Theater Center in Connecticut. Michael
Douglas and Meryl Streep, who per-
formed there, wrote the forewords.
"The Second City (the sketch comedy
and improv enterprise originally formed
in Chicago) was a huge influence on
my writing" says Sweet, who grew up
in Illinois and brings comedy into The
Value of Names, his most-produced play.
"I do a solo show, You Only Shoot the
Ones You Love, which is a quote from a
Second City director.
"I have a theory that when
McCarthyism came along, the blacklist
was fueled by anti-Semitism. I think a lot
of Jewish comedy and satire have roots
in reaction to the anti-Semitism of the
McCarthy era"

for instance, and we've become close to
them. We've brought in Irish politicians
and Irish labor leaders for an event to
show them [about Israeli interest in their
culture] and what Israel is.

from the 1967 war and the occupation,
but people need to know how it all actu-
ally started and evolved.

The Value of Names runs Sept.
3-Oct. 12 in the Aaron DeRoy
Theatre at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield. Show
times: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Sept.
3 and Oct. 8, and Thursdays, Sept.
4-18 and Oct. 9; 5 and 8:30 p.m.
Saturdays, Sept. 6-20 and Oct.11;
2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, and
Sundays, Sept. 7-21 and Oct.12.
There also will be a 7 p.m. perfor-
mance on Sunday, Sept.14. $41-
$48, with discounts for seniors,
students and groups. (248) 788-
2900; jettheatre.org .

Ambassador from page 58

Right after we got back to Israel, he
signed a contract with CNN to be a
Middle East analyst, but it became a con-
flict of interest.
CNN, instead of using him as a com-
mentator, was using him in an adversari-
al role. Recently, they released him from
his contract. Although he'll appear with
CNN, he won't appear there exclusively.
He's writing a book and established a
chair at Interdisciplinary Center (IDC)
Herzliya (a private institution of higher
learning in Israel). He's doing a lot of
media and writing, including op-eds on
Zionism.

JN: How did you introduce Israeli
culture to diverse people in the United
States?
SO: We were involved in many events.
I most enjoyed entertaining small groups
of people at our residence, where we
would have a combination of people —
government representatives, labor lead-

60

August 21 • 2014

Ora Miriam Katz of the Consulate
General of Israel, Sally Oren and then-
Ambassador Michael Oren during a visit
to the U.S. Naval Academy in January
2012

ers, actors — in a very intimate setting
so we could really get to know them.
Michael had an idea of doing outreach
to different communities that were not
traditionally involved with Israel and
decided to do this through music.
We had several Israeli Irish bands,

JN: What were your experiences with
the Taglit-Birthright Israel program?
SO: I worked for Birthright before
Michael became ambassador. It's about
Jewish identity and making Israel part of
that identity. That's something I would
like to see across the board in the Jewish
community. I'd like people to see the rel-
evance of Israel.

JN: What can American Jews do to
serve as informal ambassadors for
Israel?
SO: They have to be educated because
advocates must know the facts. There's
less interest in the idea of Zionism, and
I find that personally devastating. A lot
of people, particularly the young, simply
don't know the history. Most will start

❑

The Greater Detroit Chapter of
Hadassah will hold its opening meet-
ing Tuesday, Sept. 9, at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, 27375 Bell Road,
in Southfield. More than 30 bou-
tiques will be open 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.;
and raffle tickets (three for $25),
for almost 30 prizes, will be avail-
able for purchase until 12:30 p.m.
Registration is 10 a.m.-11:45 p.m.,
with lunch set for noon and the
speaker at 1 p.m.
Ticket prices are $36 for the
speaker only and $65 members/$75
nonmembers for the speaker and
lunch. Other sponsorship levels are
available. RSVPs are requested by
Aug. 29. (248) 683-5030; www.
hadassah.org/detroit.