metro »
Pop-up theater production of What am I Doing Here with Debbie Horowitz, Betsy Heuer, author/narrator Judi Schram, Denise Parr and Andi Sklar
‘What Am I Doing Here?’
Play taps into topics common among boomer women.
Ronelle Grier | Contributing Writer
A
fter decades as a professional
speech therapist and community
volunteer, the last thing Judi
Schram expected to be was an author and
playwright.
“I had no long-term
plans to write or pursue
this path, but it just sort
of happened to me,” said
Schram, whose humorous
play, What Am I Doing
Here?, will have its world
professional premiere
beginning Friday, Aug. 12,
Judi Schram
at Theatre Nova in Ann
Arbor.
The five-woman show, which takes a hilar-
ious look at aging, is performed by actors
perched on a row of stools across the front of
the stage, in the style of other women-orient-
ed plays such as The Vagina Monologues by
Eve Ensler or Love, Loss and What I Wore by
Delia Ephron.
Using humor and heart stemming from
Schram’s own experiences, the play cov-
ers themes universal to female “boomers,”
women in their 50s and above, such as
menopause, belonging to the sandwich gen-
eration, dieting and other body-image issues,
technology challenges and forgetfulness.
AGING WITH HUMOR
Schram, 66, who calls herself an “unwitting
playwright,” said the play exemplifies her
credo: “We are all aging and the best way to
navigate this process successfully is together
and with humor.”
The play, which Schram prefers to call
“a performance piece,” is an outgrowth of
a book of humorous poems Schram wrote
28 August 11 • 2016
and published in 2011, called Lights Out
“She perfectly channeled the sensibility of
in the Attic, a take-off on the title of Shel
the poems,” Schram said.
Silverstein’s popular children’s poetry book
UNIVERSAL APPEAL
The Light in the Attic.
When she wrote the play as a natural
Schram, who lives in Bloomfield Hills
extension of the book, Schram did not
with her husband and childhood sweet-
expect it to evolve into a professional pro-
heart, Bradley Schram, wrote the book at
duction. Using a “pop-up theater” concept,
a time she was experiencing a transition in
she produced it originally as a fundraiser
her own life. After retiring from her career
for Hadassah, using a rented space at a
as a speech therapist specializing in early
local library. Acting as narrator, she enlist-
childhood issues, she spent a decade as a
dynamic volunteer for various organizations. ed a group of friends as cast members. She
went on to produce the show several more
She took on several leadership roles that
times locally and in Florida and Colorado,
included president of the Greater Detroit
using local amateur actresses.
Chapter of Hadassah, chair of the Michigan
“The response has been wonderful;
Region of the Anti-Defamation League and
everyone identifies with every topic,” she
board member for the Jewish Federation of
said.
Metropolitan Detroit.
Deciding to move the produc-
As she and her husband began
tion into the professional arena,
spending more time at their home in
Schram contacted producer
Delray Beach, Fla., Schram found it
Barbie Weisserman, formerly
challenging to keep up with the com-
of the local Two Muses theater
mitments and follow-up her posi-
company. Weisserman saw one of
tions required.
the local productions of Schram’s
“I wasn’t in one place long enough
play and decided it would be
to be an effective volunteer, and
an ideal project for her newly
I realized writing can be done on
Barbie
formed independent production
airplanes, anywhere you have a com- Weisserman
company, PAPA Weeze.
puter,” said Schram, who claims the
“It was very funny and enjoyable,”
poems “just came pouring out” during an
Weisserman said. “Everybody loved it, and
airplane trip between Florida and Michigan.
the ladies enjoyed doing it. Every single
Her original intent was to write a series of
scholarly essays about the issues facing aging thing in there you know you’ve been talk-
ing about with your friends.”
female boomers. Instead, she found herself
Weisserman looked around for a location
writing comical poems about these same
and found the ideal venue: Theatre Nova in
issues.
“I wrote about the things my friends and I Ann Arbor, a 72-seat theater located in the
would sit around and kvetch about,” she said. Yellow Barn in downtown Ann Arbor.
“I knew a smaller, intimate theater would
Once she completed enough poems to
be best, and I knew they [Theatre Nova] do
comprise a book, Schram called upon her
close friend and artist, Ellen Rontal, to do the new works, so it was like a kismet [fate] for
both of us,” Weisserman said. “The direc-
illustrations.
tor [Emily Pierce] is not a boomer. She’s
younger, so she has a different perspective.
Everything is falling into place.”
A team of professional boomer-aged
female actors, including Weisserman, who
will serve as a substitute during certain
performances, will portray the roles previ-
ously filled by Schram and her friends.
Schram is thrilled at the prospect of
seeing her work in its first professional
production. She harbors a fantasy that
includes an “off-off-off Broadway” produc-
tion of her play starring Meryl Streep, Lily
Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Helen Mirren.
“That’s my dream cast,” she said.
She appreciates the support she has
received during this new phase of life from
her adult children, Zachary, Justin and
Alison, and her husband, whom she calls
“remarkable.”
“My children have been so incredibly
supportive during this process, each in
their own way, and my husband has been
there for me in every possible capacity,” she
said.
In addition to playwriting, Schram has
written a series of 20 children’s books that
she hopes to get published in the near
future. She has also begun painting.
“I guess you could say I’ve had this pent-
up creative streak that’s finally coming out,
and I’m having a lot of fun with it,” she
said.
*
What Am I Doing Here? will be performed Aug. 12-28
at Theatre Nova at the Yellow Barn, 410 W. Huron St.,
Ann Arbor. Gala opening is at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug.
12, $30 includes refreshments. Other performances: 8
p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Advanced
tickets, adults, $18, seniors 62-plus and students, $15;
$3 more at the door. Email papaweeze.inc@gmail.com
or call (248) 701-2643.