arts & life

theater

Sarab Kamoo

Michael Brian Ogden

A JET Preview

Ronelle Grier | Contributing Writer

A pair of romantic

comedies mark the

theater’s 26th season.

details

Dancing Lesson runs March
24-April 17; Kalamazoo
runs May 5-29.
Subscriptions are available
for the JET Spring 2016 season,
including discounted ticket prices
for Dancing Lessons, Kalamazoo
and JET’s annual Festival of New
Works, June 6-21. Tickets are also
on sale for the JET Spring Gala
Detroit River Cruise, which takes
place May 22 on the historic
Diamond Queen Riverboat.
This adventure for the whole
family includes a narrated tour
of Detroit’s Jewish connections
and High Tea. (248) 788-2900;
jettheatre.org.

T

he Jewish Ensemble
Theatre, inside the West
Bloomfield JCC, celebrates
spring with two new romantic
comedies, filled with laughter and
heart.
First in the lineup is the
Michigan premiere of Dancing
Lessons, a delightful play by Mark
St. Germain, which opened March
24 and runs through April 17 (see
Review).
Dancing Lessons is the critically
acclaimed play about an injured
dancer named Senga Quinn and
her socially challenged neighbor,
Ever Montgomery, starring award-
winning JET favorites Sarab
Kamoo and Michael Brian Ogden.
“I had been hearing inklings
about this show from JET board
members who had seen [and
loved] it in Florida,” said JET
Executive Director Christopher
Bremer, who directs both plays.
While Dancing Lessons does
not have a specifically Jewish
theme or characters, Bremer says
the Jewish value of tikkun olam
(repairing the world) is reflected
in the story, which involves a
young man with Asperger’s syn-
drome who has dealt with his
social awkwardness by residing in
the world of academia. When he
wins an award that requires him
to attend a dinner-and-dancing
event, he seeks help from his
neighbor, a Broadway dancer who
has become somewhat reclusive
after a serious leg injury derailed
her career. Together, these two

Mary Bremer-Beer and Arthur Beer in Kalamazoo

loners come together for a mutual
education that extends far beyond
dance steps.
St. Germain is a prolific play-
wright and screenwriter who
wrote Becoming Dr. Ruth, a one-
woman show performed on the
JET stage last year.
Sarab Kamoo has most recently
been on the JET stage in God
of Carnage, Sonia Flew and The
Blank Page. She has appeared at
local theaters including Meadow
Brook, Performance Network
Theatre, the Purple Rose Theatre,
the Tipping Point Theatre and the

Williamston Theatre. Her film
credits include Stone, Conviction,
Trust, This Must Be the Place, The
Giant Mechanical Man and Won’t
Back Down.
Actor Michael Brian Ogden
has appeared at the JET in The
Diary of Anne Frank and God of
Isaac. He is a Hilberry Theatre
alumnus, actor and playwright
in residence at Purple Rose
Theatre and has appeared at the
Waterworks Theatre Company.
His film credits include Batman
v Superman, Dawn of Justice,
Last Man Standing and Kill the

REVIEW

Dancing Lessons is a delight from beginning to end. The play is touch-
ing, funny and thought-provoking — often all in the same moment.
Sarab Kamoo and Michael Brian Ogden are outstanding as Senga, the
cynical Broadway dancer, and Ever, a fascinating character who shines
a much-needed light inside the mind of a young man with Asperger’s
syndrome. JET Executive Director Christopher Bremer does an excellent
job directing a play that is incredibly well-acted and beautifully written.
Ninety minutes is not nearly enough time to spend with these fascinat-
ing characters and their poignant story.
— R.G.

Irishman.
The Dancing Lessons set is
designed by the talented (and
Jewish) set designer and native
Detroiter Jennifer Maiseloff.
The second show in the JET
spring season is Kalamazoo, an
engaging comedy by Michelle
Kholos and Kelly Younger, which
runs May 5 through May 29. A
joint production with the Tipping
Point Theatre in Northville, where
it played to rave reviews earlier
this year, Kalamazoo tells the
story of two 70-somethings (real-
life married couple Mary Bremer-
Beer and Arthur Beer) who try
online dating at the urging of their
adult children. Peg is an Irish-
Catholic bird lover, while Irving
is a Jewish metal detector-toting
East Coaster. While their relation-
ship starts out feeling like love at
first click, their zany margarita-
filled first date, complete with
body shots and morning-after
tattoos, shows the couple that they
still have some growing up to do
in order to move forward from the
past and into a future together.
Kalamazoo, which won the Riva
Shriver Comedy Award, marks the
first time Bremer has directed the
talented couple, who, in addition
to being award-winning veterans
of the JET stage and numerous
other venues, are also his mother
and stepfather.
“I was reading plays last year,
and Kalamazoo came across my
desk,” Bremer said, “and I thought,
‘This is perfect.’”

*

March 31 • 2016

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