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