26 | MARCH 24 • 2022 

OUR COMMUNITY

T

he pandemic placed a hold on staging 
musicals at Frankel Jewish Academy 
for the last two years, but students 
are finally ready to sing and dance as they 
prepare to perform Alice in Wonderland (Prince 
Street Player’s Version) March 30-31 at the 
Berman Center for the Performing Arts in 
West Bloomfield. 
 The show is under the guidance of Mitch 
Master, director of the Performing and Visual 
Arts Department, who has been with FJA 
since the school was founded in 2000. “We’re 
going down a rabbit hole,
” Master said. “It’s 
so exciting to be doing live musical theater 
again.
”
According to Master, the production is a 
classic celebration of freeform for anyone 
who has ever wanted to poke fun at the 
“grown up” world of enlightenment. “We’ve 
done it in the past with 40 actors. For this 
production, we have 10 talented actors, who 
will be playing multiple roles with quick 
costume changes. It’s a fast-moving musical 
with whimsical dance numbers and flashy 

costumes,
” he says.
One of those 10 actors is sophomore Eliyah 
Fradkin of Farmington Hills, who plays five 
roles in the production, including the March 
Hare. Fradkin has plenty of experience on 
stage, appearing in Willy Wonka, Annie and The 
Odd Couple. In Alice in Wonderland, he’ll have 
several solos. 
“I’ve been interested in theater since sixth 
grade,
” says the self-described math and 
engineering guy. “
Acting is one of my favorite 
parts of school. It’s so much fun.
”
Also appearing in Alice in Wonderland is 
junior Katelyn Winkelman of Birmingham, 
who plays only one role, but a big one: the 
White Rabbit. “He’s everywhere during this 
play,
” says Winkelman, who has appeared in 
Peter Pan Junior and The Lion King Junior, among 
others. 
She says the cast has been working hard 
for hours every day after school memorizing 
songs and dances. “Once you get to opening 
night, it’s all worth it,
” she says. “This produc-
tion is amazing, crazy and kooky. It’s really 

fun to watch.
”
The musical unfolds alongside Alice as she 
falls into a rabbit hole and emerges intact, 
but imbalanced. Have a front row seat as 
Alice crosses paths with crazy doors and an 
unstable table, a silly flock of birds, an opin-
ionated French mouse, a grinning Cheshire 
Cat, a chilled Caterpillar, a zany Duchess and 
a Nutty Cook, a dancing Butterfly, the Mad 
Hatter’s unusual Tea Party, an emotional 
Mock Turtle and Gryphon, and a royal family 
of hearts. 
Performances are Wednesday, March 30, 
at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, March 31, at 7:30 
p.m. Tickets are $15 each and can be pur-
chased at The Berman’s Virtual Box Office: 
theberman.org or call/text (248) 248-406-
6677. Masks are required for audience mem-
bers. 

Alice in Wonderland will be staged 
at The Berman March 30-31.

FJA Returns 
to Live Musical Theater

JN STAFF

B’nai Moshe Celebrates Refugee Shabbat

On March 5, Congregation B’nai 
Moshe in West Bloomfield took 
part in a community wide HIAS 
refugee awareness Shabbat. 
Attendees heard the story of 
Jennie Mizrahi Lieberman, who 
as a young girl and a Cuban refu-
gee, was helped by HIAS to settle 
with her family in the US. 
To help the refugee cause, B’nai 
Moshe launched, with the help 
of Jewish Family Services of Ann 
Arbor, a project to fill 55 new 
backpacks with school supplies 
for refugee children being settled 
in Washtenaw County. Through 
a registry set up on Amazon as 
well as monetary donations, the 

entranceway to B’nai Moshe 
began to fill up with over $4,000 
worth of school supplies. 
On Sunday, March 13, vol-
unteers came together to sort 
and pack the backpacks with 
supplies and a few treats. These 
backpacks will be delivered to 
JFS in Ann Arbor where they 
will make their way into the 
hands of refugee children from 
kindergarten to high school.
“While these backpacks can-
not address all the challenges of 
being a refugee, perhaps they will 
lighten someone’s load a little and 
put a smile on the face of a child. 
We also hope this will not be the 

end of our support for refugees 
as we look for more ways to have 
a positive impact,
” said Executive 
Director Steve Fine.
The number of families leaving 
everything familiar behind and 
starting a completely new life 
will only continue to rise for the 

foreseeable future. Settling these 
families and helping them to 
transition takes a village. Reach 
out to HIAS, JFS or any other 
organizations to help those arriv-
ing to a place they hope to call 
home. 

B’nai Moshe 
volunteers 
pack 
backpacks 
for refugee 
children.

Katelyn Winkelman 
and Genny Aronov.

