arts & life

theater

Sandy Rustin

James Harmon Brown

Festival
Of Plays

Holocaust Memorial Center not
only allows JET to present a
theatrical experience to a new
audience base [HMC patrons],
but to our own patrons in a new
environment. It seemed like a
very good fit,” Bremer says.
The three-part series consists
of the following play readings,
all of which take place at the
Holocaust Memorial Center:

Ronelle Grier | Contributing Writer

THE GROYSER
BY JAMES HARMON
BROWN
2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7
In The Groyser (Yiddish for
“the oldest” or “big one”), ten-
sions rise as a family reunites and
old resentments surface. Will love
triumph over the unexpected?

T

STRUCK
BY SANDY RUSTIN
2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14
A fascinating take on the Nazi
art thefts, told through a contem-
porary lens as a young couple is
drawn into intrigue through a
seemingly accidental collision.

Three award-winning plays, each inspired by
the Holocaust, will be read by professional
actors, courtesy of JET and HMC.

hree award-winning
new plays inspired by
the Holocaust will be
presented in a series of profes-
sional readings co-sponsored by
the Jewish Ensemble Theatre and
the Holocaust Memorial Center
this month. The readings, which
are part of the JET’s annual
Seymour J. and Ethel S. Frank
Festival of New Plays, sponsored
by Rona Rones, will take place at
the Holocaust Memorial Center
Zekelman Family Campus in
Farmington Hills.
These plays were chosen from
several hundred works from
all over the country submitted

to JET’s annual Festival of New
Plays, a vehicle for facilitating
the development of new works.
Following the readings, which are
performed by professional actors,
audience members are given the
chance to voice their comments
and suggestions, which often
leads to improvements that can
enhance a play’s marketability.
This year, because so many
of these new play submissions
had Holocaust-related themes, it
made sense to feature the best of
these scripts in a separate event,
according to JET Artistic Director
Christopher Bremer.
“Changing the venue to the

SURVIVORS
BY JEFF STOLZER
2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21
What begins as a simple tale
of a survivor turns into a hair-
raising confrontation when dark
secrets are brought to the surface.

The JET play reading commit-
tee, comprised of Rona Rones,
Steve Showfer, Sue Curtis, Esther
Frank, Janet Moses and Geraldine
Spilman, submits its top choices

Jeff Stolzer

to Bremer after reading the hun-
dreds of scripts that are submit-
ted every year. Each play is read
at least three times. The three
plays chosen for this series had
won multiple awards throughout
the country and had a common
thread.
James Harmon Brown (a
former LA Times reporter and
Emmy Award-winning writer for
soap operas, including Dynasty
and All My Children) is from
Los Angeles; Sandy Rustin (who
is also an actress who recently
appeared on Comedy Central’s
Inside Amy Schumer) and Jeff
Stolzer (the award-winning play-
wright also writes for TV, film
and radio) are from New York.
“These plays stood out from
the rest for the quality of the
writing and for their stories,”
Bremer says. “Each script deals
with contemporary characters
coping with personal issues that
have their generational origin in
the Holocaust. Like many in our
own community, the legacy of
this horrific time in our history
continues to affect our lives.”
The series is designed for
audiences who enjoy profes-
sional theater and also for those
interested in the Holocaust, its
history and legacy. Depending
on the response, Bremer foresees
the program becoming an annual
event.
“We are extremely proud to
be producing this series with the
Holocaust Memorial Center,” he
says. “This partnership allows us
to not only develop new work,

but also to develop new coop-
erative relationships within our
community that we hope to nur-
ture well into the future.”
Stephen M. Goldman, execu-
tive director of the Holocaust
Memorial Center, believes the
center provides the ideal back-
drop for this particular series of
plays.
“This wonderful opportunity
to collaborate with the JET offers
their patrons a chance to visit, or
revisit, the Holocaust Memorial
Center and the center, in turn,
provides context for the themes
of these plays. I look forward to
future opportunities to work with
our professional community the-
ater group,” Goldman says.

*

details

The Holocaust Memorial Center
is located at 28123 Orchard
Lake Road, Farmington Hills.
$8 per reading/$18 for all three
shows; special discounts are
available for JET subscribers
and Holocaust Memorial Center
members. Call JET at (248) 788-
2900 or visit jettheatre.org.
The annual public produc-
tion of another Holocaust-
themed classic play, The Diary
of Anne Frank, part of the JET
Educational Outreach Program,
will be held 3 p.m. Feb. 28 at
the Berman Center for the
Performing Arts at the West
Bloomfield JCC. $16 for adults/
$10 for students. (248) 788-
2900; jettheatre.org.

February 4 • 2016

45

