OCTOBER 13 • 2022 | 63
Bremer.
Mainster, who worked with
the late Evelyn Orbach as the
theater productions grew,
remains proud of the mainstage
presentations, Anne Frank
performances and the anti-bul-
lying dramas brought to young
students as a basis for thought
and discussions of this pressing
issue.
Among the many mainstage
dramas and comedies by inter-
nationally known playwrights
presented on the JET stages
have been Ira Levin’s Cantorial,
Diane Samuel’s Kindertransport,
Arthur Miller’s The Price,
Michael Golder’s The Square
Root of Three and Jason Odell
Williams’ Handle With Care.
Musicals have included Fiddler
on the Roof, Side by Side by
Sondheim and Cabaret.
Local playwrights, such as
Kitty Dubin, also had their
works featured by JET as a
platform for young talent. Jaime
Rae Newman, an actress and
producer who won an Oscar,
credits her start in entertain-
ment to the roles she had at JET
while growing up in Michigan.
Although JET performed for
many years in the Aaron DeRoy
Theatre, the company was
advised in 2018 that the lease
would not be renewed, and
they found their next location
in Walled Lake.
“It was a hard pill to swal-
low having to move out of the
Jewish Community Center, and
a lot of our senior patrons were
very unhappy,
” Mainster said.
“We decided we were going to
make the best of it, and we were
on a good path.
“We were very well received
out in Walled Lake, where we
had outdoor programs and
a children’s play. Initially, we
thought we were gaining some
strength as we moved. We had
a younger audience and chil-
dren’s programs.
”
After the company closed
down during COVID isolation,
the troupe has faced obstacles
to restarting the programs for
youngsters, including the Anne
Frank production, which had
been taken to Arizona audi-
ences.
“With no school outreach
programs, no Diary of Anne
Frank commitments and poor
attendance at the theater, we
just felt we could not in good
conscience try to continue the
theater program,
” Mainster said.
Even though JET has closed,
board members and the exec-
utive director are talking about
possible ways to restart. One
direction in discussion is the
reinstatement of The Festival of
New Plays, which seeks audi-
ence comments to the begin-
nings of works presented as
staged readings.
“The happiest times were
always the wonderful responses
that the community has had to
JET,
” Mainster said. “When we
had a production, people would
come and they would say,
‘This is an important Jewish
concern.
’”
JET
ABOVE: The Diary of Anne Frank, produced by the Jewish Ensemble
Theatre (JET), was performed at the Scottsdale Center for the
Performing Arts Jan. 31-Feb. 11, 2022. LEFT: For David Mamet’s
American Buffalo, set designer Elspeth Williams transformed the JET
stage into a resale shop.
PHOTO BY JAN CARTWRIGHT
Attendees enjoy the JET Gala.