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The cast of American Hero, which debuts Oct. 30

thinking a little too small [and agreed]
our city needs us to build an institution,
not just another play. Although there
are lots of different levels of the the-
ater in the city, one missing level is the
off-Broadway level, and I feel that off-
Broadway theater is a gateway to more
experimental [work]:'
Support for the nonprofit project grew
as Winkler and Burkett developed a
business plan and reached out to people
who work in artistic organizations and
those who fund them.
"We were very fortunate to have very
early and important support from a lot
of visionary founding donors [includ-
ing Julie and Peter Cummings, Debbie
and John Erb, Lauren and Phillip Fisher,
Catherine and Nathan Forbes, Lisa A.
Payne, and Julie and Bobby Taubman],"
says Winkler, who was director of devel-
opment at Epic.
"They gave us the foundation to
make the first season happen and have
[helped advance] fundraising by mak-
ing introductions and allowing us to
use their names. We also are very hon-
ored to have received a grant from the
Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural
Affairs:'
Winkler, interested in acting since

first grade, appeared in plays through-
out her school years and while attending
a progressive Reform synagogue. She
earned her bachelor's degree in theater
from Skidmore College in upstate New
York.
Cast in a synagogue production of
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat, she had very different expe-
riences with professional Jewish-themed
dramas in which she appeared, includ-
ing Einstein's Gift in New York and The
Last Seder in New York and Chicago.
Winkler's personal religious practices
include home celebrations of Passover,
attendance with friends at High Holiday
services and yearly participation in a
Sukkot party.
Secular community commitments
are carried out through the DPT with
sponsorship of Shakespeare in Prison
and the establishment of theater arts
programs for Detroit Public Schools,
initially including matinee performanc-
es of Detroit '67 coordinated with social
studies activities.
While DPT audiences will experience
the results of Winkler's administrative
skills this season, they will have to wait
until next season to see her act.
"I played Bodey in A Lovely Sunday

he final script choices for the debut season
of the Detroit Public Theatre were made
around Sarah Winkler's dining-room table.
Joined by Courtney Burkett, Sarah Clare
Corporandy and local actors, Winkler introduced
the newcomers to a limited number of writing
submissions culled from a group recommended
to the theater partners by advisers around the
country.
"We wanted to pick plays relevant to Detroit
and found American Hero a metaphor for the
city,"Winkler explains. "It takes place in a [sand-
wich] franchise shop with three minimum-wage
workers at unfortunate places in their lives. The
owner has disappeared, but they stay open.
"It's a metaphor in that the world looked
away from Detroit, but people stayed on to cre-
ate beautiful things in the city."
Playwright Bess Wohl, a New Yorker making
her first visit to Detroit to watch the production,
employs humor to draw in audiences while pre-
senting material to encourage contemplation
after viewers leave the theater.
"The heart of the play is the characters;' says
Wohl, 40, a prize-winning Harvard (bachelor's
degree) and Yale (master's degree) graduate
whose other plays, such as Touched and In, have
been seen in theaters around the country.
"Sheri struggles to save the store and her
co-workers, and I feel that people across the
country have struggled with the economy while
small business has struggled to stay alive as
they face large corporate structures.
"The play asks a lot of questions: Does man-
agement care about us? What's the place of a
worker in a society that's more controlled by
management? How do we
keep valuing people and
not just products?"
American Hero has been
staged at the Williamstown
Theatre Festival in
Massachusetts and Second
Stage in New York City.
Anyone who sees Wohl
in the audience might think
she looks familiar: She has
had acting appearances in
one-time roles for TV series,
including Law & Order, CSI:
NYand Private Practice.
Although starting out
as an actress, she tried writing and found that
more fulfilling — for stage as well as film and
television. Moving through many projects, Wohl
won the Sam Norkin Drama Desk Award for hav-
ing a breakthrough year in 2014-2015.
With a Jewish paternal grandfather, an obser-
vant husband and two daughters being raised
in their father's faith, Wohl celebrates the High
Holidays and Shabbat although she does not
consider herself Jewish.
"I haven't written a play with specifically
Jewish themes or characters, but questions of
spirituality are more and more interesting to
me," she says."My most recent play, Small Mouth
Sounds, takes place at a spiritual retreat!' *

g

Playwright Bess Wohl

for Creve Couer by Tennessee Williams
at Tipping Point Theatre this past
spring, and I believe that will be my
last acting gig for 12 months:' says
Winkler, whose New York achievements
include being artistic director of the
Separate Star Screenplay Reading Series
and a founder of the Step Up Women's
Network.
"Building the foundation of the DPT
in our inaugural year will not allow
me to do my best work as an actor,
but I will definitely act in a play next
season?' *

October 22 • 2015

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