A PARTHENON TRADITION
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continued from page 33
The play examines the intersec-
tion of Jewish and black history in
Detroit by way of three interracial
couples, all loosely or tightly based
on past and present members of
Weinstein’s family. The various
relationships span over a century of
time — from the 1930s to the 1970s
to modern-day Detroit — and the
play’s narrative follows a Friday
night in each of their lives, interwea-
ving threads through history.
Weinstein is a student in the Yale
School of Drama’s directing pro-
gram and has worked on various
projects in and around New York,
including as Fall Festival director for
Shakespeare & Company. Although
she was born in San Francisco,
her family traces its roots back
to Detroit — her grandfather Leo
Litwak still lives here (her great-
grandfather Isaac Litwak founded
the Jewish Laundry Workers union,
later to become Teamsters Local
285).
“I’m really excited to be back. I
love Detroit,” Weinstein says. “I’m
really interested in how Jews view
race as someone raised Jewish. I was
in an interracial relationship, and
the way I understood race was col-
ored by my Jewish heritage and ‘oth-
erness’ in the Jewish community.”
The first couple in the play is
based on a great-aunt who mar-
ried a black man in 1932. Both were
members of the Communist Party.
Although she grew up in an all-black
neighborhood, her family still had
“lots of feelings about the marriage,”
Weinstein says.
Fast forward to the 1970s and the
second couple: Weinstein’s grand-
father is a writer and a founder of
the Teamsters union in Detroit. His
partner of 40 years is diagnosed
with Alzheimer’s. She had always
told him she was Italian, but he
finds out she is black from her fam-
ily and has been passing as white
for 40 years. The story raises ques-
tions of how Jews benefit from white
privilege and how Jews grew apart
from blacks as they acculturated as
immigrants.
The third couple is (loosely) based
on Weinstein’s own life and a rela-
tionship she had. It is the most fic-
tionalized of all three, she says. The
dynamics of a changing city and the
historical baggage that returning to
the city carries with it weigh heavily
here.
The location of the reading, a
former-synagogue-turned-church-
turned-fledging-interfaith-commu-
nity-center, is a fitting backdrop that
mirrors the themes the play con-
fronts. Pastor Aramis D. Hinds, the
owner of the former Temple Beth El,
has made efforts to re-engage Jewish
clergy and lay leaders in the restora-
tion of the building. The reconcili-
ation of long-simmering racial and
religious tensions between Jews and
blacks has been a major focus of his
efforts, in partnership with Rabbi
Ariana Silverman.
This year, Rabbi Silverman made
the decision to bring IADS’s High
Holiday services back into the city
for the first time in 20 years. A grow-
ing number of Jews — and at least
four congregations — celebrated
High Holidays within city limits; and
many are now choosing to live or
work in the city, which is about 83
percent black, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau (July 2015).
Since the play is in late-stage
development, audience feedback
matters, Weinstein says. “The audi-
ences’ own experiences help inform
the show — themes like gentrifica-
tion, red-lining, segregation, even
cultural appropriation as young art-
ists move back into the city.”
Given how timely the themes are,
the audience may quickly become
collaborators and co-creators in the
discussion that unfolds from Come
My Beloved. •
details
Come My Beloved will be presented as a staged reading 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17,
at the Bethel Community Transformation Center, 8801 Woodward Ave. (at Gladstone
Street), Detroit. Tickets are a suggested donation of $10; visit
bit.ly/comemybeloveddet. The reading will be followed by a community discussion.
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JCC Day Camps
A summer of endless possibilities.
Get ready to start your summer!
Open to kids K-17 years old
Registration opening January 1
Learn more at jccdet.org/daycamps
jn
Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit
D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building
Eugene & Marcia Applebaum Jewish
Community Campus
December 14 • 2017
37