JULY 20 • 2023 | 51
F
or Detroit Jewish News readers who
have wondered about the back-
ground of Yiddish limerick writer
Rachel Kapen, her son Udi is about to
reveal part of that background in an
enhanced and enacted play that aligns
with the development of Israel.
Rachel’s Song, presented in a short
play festival by the Village Players of
Birmingham, can be seen July 28-30, at
the company playhouse on Woodward.
Kapen’s 30-minute drama takes place in
current times with flashbacks into the
woman’s 84 years and her recollections of
Israeli milestones.
Rachel was born in Palestine before
Israel became the nation she got to know
and hold in her thoughts.
“The message is how one person’s life
can move in parallels
to the same trajectory
with the life of a nation
and how one person can
embody the history of a
nation,” Udi said about
his work.
“The play tells the
story of a woman based
on my mother. She’s about to receive
a lifetime achievement award from a
fictional organization called the Israeli
Outreach Society. While she’s preparing
for the ceremony, there are flashbacks
into specific experiences.”
Udi, a pediatrician who has been part
of some 30 community theater produc-
tions, is glad to watch the cast in rehears-
als making interpretations of his words
under the direction of Dale Feldpausch.
“About a year ago, I had the idea to
write something about the story of my
mom’s life,” Udi said. “She’s led a very
interesting life, and she continues to do
the things that have made her life so
impressive, such as teaching and writing.
“I thought it would be a really nice
tribute to her to write a play document-
ing the things that got her to where she
is today and things she is still doing.”
Rachel, whose writings have appeared
in publications besides the Detroit Jewish
News, lives in West Bloomfield and is
affiliated, as is her son, with B’nai Israel
Synagogue. To tell about her life, Udi
introduces eight characters with the part
of a young Rachel played by his daughter
Kayla.
“I’m very proud to tell her story, and
I want to tell her story to people who
wouldn’t know it,” said
Kayla Kapen, an advance-
ment associate for Hillel
Day School working on
fundraising, event plan-
ning and social media. “I
play her in these flash-
backs in two specific
scenes.
“One scene occurs
when she’s serving in the Israel Defense
Forces, and the other scene takes place
two years later when she’s married, has
a child and is getting interviewed by an
American reporter about her take on the
then-current Adolf Eichmann trial.”
Kayla, who was active in community
theater while attending high school,
is glad to be back on stage after more
than eight years, in part while attending
and graduating from the University of
Michigan. She enjoys the opportuni-
ty to experience the sense of “letting
go” brought through the stage and the
chance to bring an interpretation to the
words expressed by a playwright.
Among her earlier credits are appear-
ances in Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof and
The Music Man.
In the upcoming program of short
plays, Udi also directs Existential Crisis
by Jeff Shuster to tell about a relationship
shared by seemingly opposite types of
graduate students. Another play, Heidi
Who, written and directed by Jennifer
Ward, introduces encounters with an
old flame. All the World, written and
directed by Stephen Sussman, has a job
changer facing consequences he did not
anticipate.
“My play is more dramatic than the
others in the festival,” Udi said. “It’s
unique among the four in that it is
biographical. People who have read the
play have told me that it really does serve
to educate the audience about the mod-
ern history of Israel.
“I worked on the original version of
this play for probably about a month. It
was a shorter play lasting for about 10
minutes or so. I presented it to my play-
writing group, and it got good feedback.
Still, there was a consensus that it had
too much story for a 10-minute play. I
expanded it into the one-act.
“My mother is a very modest woman,
and I would love for her to realize that
her life has been fascinating, memorable
and one that has touched many other
lives.”
THEATER
Vivid life of Rachel Kapen
is captured in a one-act play
by the Village Players of
Birmingham.
A Witness
to History
Kayla Kapen
Udi Kapen
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Details
The 2023 One-Act Festival
presented by the Village Players
of Birmingham can be seen
at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, July
28-29, and 2 p.m. Sunday, July
30, at the playhouse, 34660
Woodward. $10. (248) 644-2075.
birminghamvillageplayers.com.
Rachel
Kapen