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.

