Linked
Through
Laughter

A homegrown comedian

performs in memory of

an aspiring one.

I

Hope has "long been fascinated by the
origins of music."

not until about eight years
ago that I discovered the
detailed history and roots of
it:' he explains. "It goes back
to the 15th or 16th century.
"My mother's relatives
were rabbis in Germany
and Potsdam. Like many
Germans in the late 19th cen-
tury, they converted as a kind
of social act in the same way
Mendelssohn did.
"When the 20th century
arrived, they became assimi-
lated into German society
and considered themselves
to be extremely patriotic. My
great-grandfather fought for
the Germans in World War I."
As his family history
search revealed horrific treat-
ment experienced at the
hands of Nazis, who did not
accept conversions, Hope
became inspired as an activ-
ist. He made the award-win-
ning documentary Refuge in
Music and the album Terezin/

Theresienstadt, both showcas-
ing works by composers mur-
dered during the Holocaust.
"There were ... proj-
ects to commemorate the
so-called Kristallnacht,"
says Hope, author of three
books including his mem-
oir, Familienstucke (Family

Pieces).
"I put on concerts in Berlin
to remember Kristallnacht
on the 70th and the 75th
anniversaries. I felt it needed
to be remembered and docu-
mented?'
Although feeling a tie to
Judaism, he does not practice
it or any other faith.
"My biggest commitment
[outside of family] is to
dedicate myself to the great-
est works of music:' says the
violinist, living in Vienna
with his wife, painter Silvana
Hope, and 16-month-old son.
"My other commitment is to
never stop learning?'

❑

Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer

o Feldman and Emily Stillman did not
know each other as they were growing
up in Oakland County, but they shared
the same career goal — comedian.
They also shared the same inspirational role
model, Gilda Radner, the late humorist who was
raised in Detroit and gained fame through Second
City in Chicago and Saturday Night Live. While
Feldman followed in Radner's stage footsteps,
Stillman aimed for TV.
The outlooks of the two young jokesters come
together April 14 with an evening of humor at the
Berman Center for the Performing Arts in West
Bloomfield.
Feldman will be appearing with the Second City
Touring Company in "For a Night of Laughs?' The
show benefits the Emily Stillman Foundation,
launched to support vaccination services and
organ transplants.
Alicia and Michael Stillman planned the foun-
dation and benefit in honor of their daughter,
whose organs gave life to others after she suc-
cumbed to meningitis in 2013 at age 19. The
couple's outreach builds on both the comedy and
community commitments of Radner, who estab-
lished Gilda's Clubs to support cancer patients.
"I'm excited to be coming home to perform for
a wonderful cause?' says Feldman, 28, who will be
joined by five other comedians and a pianist. "I
believe in being a part of a community and mak-
ing sure to do good things with that community.
"I think to be a good performer you have to be
pretty empathetic. I try to think about what we
do in terms of how it will affect the people in the
audience and make them happy?"
Feldman, who enjoys doing improv as well as
writing her own scenes, is touring with The Best of
Second City and brings an abbreviated version to
the Berman.
"We'll have a bunch of scenes from our 55-year
archives?' she says. "Some of the material is writ-
ten by people the audience might know, like
Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell. There also will
be some improv and original material that [the
cast] has written.
"The material that we all do as performers is
specific to what we're good at as performers. A
lot of my stuff includes things that are more emo-
tional and closer to the heart. I do fewer wacky
characters and more people familiar to anyone?'
Feldman, who attended Hillel Day School and
Berkley High School, went to Hebrew University in
Jerusalem before transferring to Columbia College
in Chicago. After an internship at Second City, sup-
plemented by assisting in the box office and selling

Jo Feldman will perform with

Second City in "For a Night of

Laughs."

merchandise, she was hired into the company.
Her own routines communicate her
Conservative Jewish orientation, learned through
parents Marcy and Michael Feldman and clergy at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield.
"I try to write from a Jewish voice because it's
my voice she says. "Earlier this year, we did a
month-long run of holiday shows in California,
and there was a lot of Christmas material.
"I made sure to write a scene that was from the
viewpoint of the one Jewish kid in school who has
to explain what Chanukah is every year. I know
that kid because I lived that kid in high school. I'm
still that kid in my touring company?'
Feldman, who keeps kosher and is a member of
liberal collective Mishkan Chicago, believes reli-
gion has opened her routines.
"I think that because I'm Jewish, I feel more
comfortable expressing how things are says
Feldman. "I'm not used to bottling things up
inside. I overly communicate?'
The comedic approach of her boyfriend, Andy
Kushnir, is expressed during her appearances on
his Web series Through the Door. She also has
been featured on NPR's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me
and with ImprovAcadia in Maine.
At the Berman, Feldman will be performing in
"Phono-Pal," a scene from the 1960s.
"It's a very sweet scene that I believe was origi-
nally written by Paul Sills, a founding member
of Second City?' she says. "I'm looking to make a
friend and learning how using a record player?'
In the audience will be Feldman's parents and
Stillman's parents. They discovered their connections
when Alicia Stillman happened into the Feldmans'
Birmingham jewelry store, Heartwear Designs, seek-
ing a donation for the fundraiser's silent auction.
"Jo is somebody Emily would have loved to
meet?' Alicia Stillman says. "Emily also loved to
make people laugh, often by using accents and
making faces, and this event will celebrate her life
and legacy?'

❑

"For a Night of Laughs," benefiting the Emily
Stillman Foundation, begins at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14, at the Berman Center for
the Performing Arts in the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield. A strolling dinner
is available at 5:30 p.m. $125 show/$250
show and dinner. Foreveremily.org .

April 2 • 2015

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