30 July 18 • 2019
jn

theater/music
arts&life

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Festival of Plays

Two Jewish playwrights take 
the
stage with their short theater pieces. 

Coming Home

Singer/songwriter Jesse Palter launches new album in Detroit. 

S

tephen Sussman has been seen in 
many community theater roles 
over recent years, and one had 
him in the cast of Swashbucklers, a play 
written by Myron Stein and staged by 
Playwrights@Work, a group within The 
Village Players. 
As Sussman learned his part, he also 
learned about the group, formed by 
scriptwriters holding monthly meetings 
to provide feedback for 
each other’
s projects. 
Twice a year, a selection 
committee chooses works 
to be performed publicly 
as staged readings or full 
productions. 
Sussman, who earns 
his living as an architect, 
decided to try his hand at writing and 
joined the group. This summer, both 
Stein and Sussman will be represented as 
five one-act theater pieces are staged.
Stein’
s play, Mystic Pavilion, has to do 

with a conflict between a park ranger 
and a politician holding conflicting ideas 
about the future of a popular dance 
pavilion. First written as a short story 
published in Green’
s Magazine, the piece 
was transformed into stage material as 
Stein focused his attention on scripts. 
Sussman’
s play, Stavros’
 Chili, is a 
comedy about a retired restaurateur 
interviewed by a local cable reporter who 
experiences unexpected results from try-
ing the chili.
The 2019 Festival of Plays runs Friday-
Sunday, July 26-28, in the Birmingham 
theater of The Village Players.
“I love creating characters and situa-
tions,
” says Stein, 77 of Southfield. “
As 
I’
m working on each play, I think about 
it all the time.
”
A former teacher, Stein’
s entry into 
writing started 16 years ago with chil-
dren’
s books and then moved into play-
writing. His short theater pieces have 
been staged at many festivals around 

the country, including A Fish Market 
on D Street at the Manhattan Repertory 
Theatre in New York 
City, The Haberdasher’
s 
Apprentice at the Valley 
Repertory Company in 
Connecticut and The Pink 
Nude at the Magnolia Arts 
Center in North Carolina.
Active with 
Congregation Beth 
Shalom and the Jewish Community 
Center, Stein has had Jewish subjects 
in some of his work. Louie’
s One and 
Only, for example, is about two men in a 
senior residence, and it was presented at 
Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park. 
For this summer’
s production, Stein 

has chosen Pam Dundas as the director. 
Sussman, who joined Playwrights@
Work in 2010, has been acting since 
2003. He is also directing this summer’
s 
production of his play.
“I took theater classes when I was a 
student at Michigan State,
” says Sussman, 
69, and a resident of Bloomfield 
Township. “It was much later when my 
wife and kids were in a production of 
Fiddler on the Roof, and they needed 
some men for the cast. My wife drafted 
me, and I got started acting once again.
”
Sussman has found special value in 
writing.
“It’
s exciting and exhilarating to hear 
my written words spoken on stage,
” says 
Sussman, formerly active with the B’
nai 

J

ust as Jesse Palter launched her 
singing-composing career in Metro 
Detroit, she is launching public 
performances of songs from her new 
recording back in the same area. 
Palter’
s album, Paper Trail, the first 
with only her original music and lyrics, 
often relates to Michigan experienc-
es. She considers this project special 
because Mack Avenue Records also 
launched in Detroit.
The record release party takes place 
Tuesday, July 23, at the Magic Bag in 
Ferndale, shortly after Paper Trail was 
chosen Album of the Week by LA 
Weekly. 
“It’
s important for this show to be a 
homecoming moment when I can feel 
the energy of my family and friends,
” 
says Palter, now based in Los Angeles, 

but who got her start here at age 5 with 
musical theater, and then jazz band and 
songwriting in high school. “I just can’
t 
wait to see all of my hometown people 
who have been following my career. 
“I’
ll be using a Detroit backing band, 
but I’
ll also be bringing a longtime 
collaborator, Sam Barsh (a Grammy 
Award-winning songwriter, producer 
and keyboardist). 
“Sam and I had a band, which we 
pushed for many years, and it was a big 
part of my story. Although I’
m focusing 
on my solo projects, we still play music 
together and write music together, so it 
was important for me to bring him in 
from California.
”
Palter describes her album as autobi-
ographical.
“I put what I have been living into this 

record from start to 
finish,
” she says. “It’
s 
the story of a Detroit-
born, LA-based gal 
living in a big city 
trying to achieve her 
dreams and the frus-
trations that come 
with that. I put the 
highs and lows into 
this music.
”
Palter explains that the title of the 
album is a metaphor to explain her life, 
and she hopes it leaves a relatable trail 
for listeners. The song with the same 
title holds a very different meaning.
The song is a nostalgic reflection of 
a love that didn’
t work out, but it com-
municates insight into a relationship 
and appreciates it for what it was — a 

moment 
in time with somebody.
“I’
m a very nostalgic person, and 
when I’
m home in Detroit, I go through 
my family videos and photo books,
” she 
says about the background for the song. 
“I came across a photo of myself and an 
old boyfriend. We were so happy in the 
photo, but he’
s somebody who’
s not in 

Myron Stein

Stephen 

Sussman

. 

the title of the 
moment 

The cast of playwright Myron Stein’
s Mystic Pavilion.

