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their backstories, and I would like to think
that having me in the room is helpful to
them. It’s an artistic challenge in the best
possible way. And playwrights always con-
tinue to make changes,” Maisel says.
“The most beautiful part about theater is
the collaboration. And although the words
on the page are mine, a play isn’t a play
until the actors, director, designers and
other members of the creative team have
contributed their expertise and talents —
which is why each production is the same,
yet unique,” she adds. “I want to be part of
the different collaborations that rise with
each production of a play.”
THE LAST SEDER
Eight Nights isn’t the only Jewish-themed
play that Maisel has written. She won
Showtime’s Tony Cox Screenwriting Award
for the screenplay adaptation of her play
The Last Seder, which had its world pre-
miere in Chicago followed by an Off-
Broadway run with Gaby Hoffmann,
Greg Mullavey and Sarah Winkler.
“When we were in Chicago for The
Last Seder, I was pregnant with my
first child and Jennifer was also preg-
nant with her daughter. I played the
pregnant sister in the play, and they
didn’t need to pad me at all,” Winkler
says with a laugh.
Maisel says that while The Last
Seder and Eight Nights are radically
different plays, they both embrace her
love of the Jewish holidays.
“We celebrate primarily with our
family and using our own family rituals,”
says Maisel, pronounced “May-Zelle.”
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel TV series
pronounces it wrong,” laughs the self-pro-
fessed original Ms. Maisel. “I grew up
with people pronouncing it incorrectly a
million different ways. Now, because of the
TV show, everyone — including Siri —
mispronounces it the same way.”
For Jennifer Maisel, all is beshert in love
and TV
. Actress Marin Hinkle, who plays
Miriam’s mom on The Marvelous Mrs.
Maisel, starred with Ed Asner and Cloris
Leachman in an early charity celebrity
reading of Jennifer Maisel’s The Last Seder.
But unlike The Last Seder, Eight Nights
came from a different space according to
Maisel. Like many of her fellow writers and
artists, Maisel found herself “really stuck”
right after the 2016 election.
“That January, someone was tweeting
the manifest of the St. Louis [the ship
America turned back to Germany], track-
ing where each passenger ended up — and
became obsessed with the fact that about a
third of them perished in the camps. They
were so close to freedom, and it was poli-
tics and antisemitism that held them back,”
Maisel says. “
At the same time, I started
reading articles from the 1930s in the NY
Times about ‘the Jewish problem’ while
reading the 2017 articles about the Muslim
refugee problem.
“I saw the ties between these points in
history and the traumas so many groups in
the U.S. have experienced, and Eight Nights
started to come to life for me. Trump took
office, the next day the Muslim ban went
into effect and the day after that, I started
writing the play.”
SPEAKING OUT AGAINST BIGOTRY
At a Jewish retreat that she recently attend-
ed, Winkler asked publicly: “Why do I
feel so compelled to speak up and speak
out against bigotry and hatred when it is
directed at races, religions and ethnicities
that are not my own, but have such a diffi-
cult time doing so when bigotry or hatred
is directed at my own culture and commu-
nity?”
At the same time that Winkler was
asking this important and uncomfortable
question of herself, the opportunity to play
the roles of Rebecca Blum and Rebecca’s
mother, Anna, was right in front of her.
“One of the great gifts of this role — in
addition to working on Jennifer Maisel’s
beautiful script and collaborating with
a spectacular cast and creative team —
is that it provides me the opportunity,
through my work, to fully stand inside my
identity and history, tell this urgent story
and speak up and out against bigotry and
hatred directed at the Jewish community
and so many other communities.”
DPT IN SCHOOLS
All four of DPT’s artistic leaders are moth-
ers and teaching artists who are committed
to ensuring students have access to these
stories. Since DPT’s first season, DPT
has had an excellent partnership with
the Detroit Public Schools Community
District (DPSCD).
“DPT is committed to ensuring the sto-
ries we tell are impactful, accessible to our
community and that they catalyze dialogue
and empathy,” Winkler says.
Since 2015, DPT has shared DPT
Executive Artistic Producer Dominique
Morisseau’s play Detroit ’67 with thou-
sands of DPSCD students, both at the
theater and through a touring production
and education program generously sup-
ported by PNC. DPT developed a curric-
ulum in collaboration with ninth grade
history teachers to connect the play
to students’ studies of the Civil Rights
Movement.
This year, DPT received gen-
erous funding from the Max M.
and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation
and the Vera and Joseph Dresner
Foundation to expand the program.
Because of this funding, hundreds of
Detroit Public High School students
will also be exploring Eight Nights in
their American History classrooms.
Following work at school, the students
will come to the theater for dedicated
student matinees and engage in facil-
itated post-show discussions to process
what they’ve seen and learned.
Eight Nights runs approximately 90
minutes with no intermission. Facilitated
post-show talkbacks will follow every
Saturday and Sunday matinee for the
general public. Following Thursday and
Friday evening performances, Eight Nights
cast and DPT’s producing artistic directors
will discuss themes of the show with the
audience.
“While there is surely profound grief
in the play, there is also profound joy,
celebration and catharsis,” Winkler says.
“I hope that audiences will leave the
theater each night filled with curiosity to
learn more about cultures and histories
not their own, with heightened empathy
and commitment to community and with
a desire to actively combat hatred and
bigotry wherever they encounter it.”
Sarah Winkler stars
in Jennifer Maisel’s
award-winning play
Eight Nights.
PHOTO BY CHUK NOWAK