JULIE SMITH YOLLES SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Homegrown 
Play

Zimmerman’
s touching comedy is inspired 
by his mom and a former housekeeper.

arts&life

S

tan Zimmerman’
s mom used to 
joke, “Watch what you say around 
Stan because it might end up in 
one of his scripts.
”
And, sure enough, in Zimmerman’
s 
latest play, Yes, Virginia, co-written 
with Christian McLaughlin, the two 
lead characters are inspired by his 
mother, Susanne, and his family’
s long-
time housekeeper, Virginia Campbell. 
Yes, Virginia will make its Michigan 
premiere Aug. 10 and 11 as a staged 
reading at Stagecrafters Baldwin 
Theatre in Royal Oak. 
Thanks to the generosity of Diane 
Orley of Bloomfield 
Hills, a co-producer on 
another Zimmerman 
play, Right Before I Go, 
Zimmerman is flying 
in from Hollywood, 
where his mother also 
lives, to attend both 
shows and host the 
audience talkbacks.
And while Yes, 
Virginia, is set in 
Bloomfield Hills, 
Zimmerman grew 
up in Southfield 
and graduated from 
Southfield High. 
Many of his classmates will attend the 
Saturday night performance and have 
a mini class of ’
77 reunion afterward. 
From there, Zimmerman will head to 
Grand Rapids to hold a talkback at the 
Spectrum Theatre Aug. 15 and watch 
Warm Cheese, the one-woman show 
he directed.
“The world and the gods were 
saying ‘
Come to Michigan,
’
” says 
Zimmerman, who also scripted 
many sitcoms including Golden Girls, 
Roseanne and Gilmore Girls. “The like-
lihood of having two of my projects in 
my home state within a week’
s time is 
too good to be true.
”
Proceeds from Warm Cheese will 
benefit Gilda’
s Club Grand Rapids.

“Gilda Radner was a huge inspira-
tion to me, and it was great she was 
also from Michigan. I later worked 
with Gene Wilder on his NBC series 
and getting to know him got me closer 
to Gilda,
” Zimmerman says.
In June, Zimmerman lost his life-
long friend Julie Silverman Sachse to 
cancer. It was Sachse’
s mother, Shayna 
Silverman, who contacted her friend, 
Vonnie Miller, at Stagecrafters to put 
on Yes, Virginia. The staged reading 
will be directed by Miller and is dedi-
cated to Sachse’
s memory.
“Julie grew up across the street 
from me in Southfield. 
She was really my first 
friend. Shayna had me 
hold her hand as we 
walked through the woods 
to Kennedy Elementary 
School. We were like 
Hansel and Gretel,
” 
Zimmerman says. 
“We both moved to L.A. 
around the same time and 
Julie came to all of my 
plays. Even when she was 
sick, she came to see Yes, 
Virginia when we did it in 
December. In a business 
where you often get no’
s, 
Julie was one of my biggest supporters.
”
Known for his wit and comedy-
writing forte, he has tackled some 
heavy subjects lately including aging, 
suicide, dementia and intolerance. 
He recently mounted and directed a 
production of the Diary of Anne Frank 
with a twist of Hispanic families hiding 
from U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement. The run sold out. 
“I’
m taking what I was taught at 
Temple Beth El — never again for the 
Jewish people — and making it part 
of my new mission statement in life,
” 
Zimmerman says. “I want to combine 
art and advocacy to make a difference 
in the world. I want people to laugh 
and think.
” ■ 

Details
See Yes, Virginia at 8 
p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, 
and at 2 p.m. Sunday, 
Aug. 11, on the 2nd 
Stage at Stagecrafters 
Baldwin Theatre, Royal 
Oak. General admission, 
$10. Stan Zimmerman 
will host a talkback after 
both performances. 
stagecrafters.org. 
(248) 541-6430. 

Stan Zimmerman 

August 8 • 2019 31
jn

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