JANUARY 4 • 2024 | 41
J
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Targan, who has run 17 mara-
thons and is an award-winning 
playwright.
“My comedic writing has 
been favorably compared with 
Neil Simon, which I consider a 
high compliment,
” Targan adds. 
“While I do not try to emulate 
Simon, I think my self-dep-
recating sense of humor is an 
inherently Jewish trait that 
comes through in my writing.
”
While Targan and Sussman 
are fellow actors and play-
wrights, they have never per-
formed onstage together. 
“Steve is kind, compassionate 
and a good Jewish father, which 
are qualities I was seeking 
when I cast him as Jack. Steve 
brings his own chutzpah and 
sense of Jewish tradition to the 
role. I even asked Steve to say 
the Motzi when the Jerome 
family sits down to dinner 
in the play, just to add to the 
authenticity of this Jewish fami-
ly,
” Targan says. 
Pamela Martin, Targan’s stage 
wife in Farmington Players’ 

2018 production of Brighton 
Beach Memoirs, reprises her 
role at St. D’s as matriarch 
Kate Jerome, Jack’s wife. And 
Martin is playing mother to 
her real-life son, James Miller, 
who plays Stanley, Eugene’s 
older brother. Targan was also 
in the Farmington Players’ pro-
duction with Mei-Lin Wong, 
who, at that time, played young 
Laurie and now plays Laurie’s 
older sister, Nora. Kelley Rawls 
plays Aunt Blanche and Arielle 
Olkhovsky plays her daughter 
Laurie. 
“
Audiences should expect 
a hilarious but fairly realistic 
portrayal of Jewish family life,
” 
Targan adds. The more things 
change, the more they remain 
the same when it comes to 
family dynamics: the sibling 
rivalries, how the people we 
admire most can also drive us 
crazy and how those differ-
ences disappear when we must 
band together against outside 
threats.
” 

PHOTOS BY MOLLY DORSET

DETAILS:

Brighton Beach Memoirs will be performed at St. Dunstan’s 
Theatre on Fridays and Saturdays, Jan 12, 13, 19, 20, 26 
and 27 at 8 p.m. and on Sundays, Jan. 14 and 21, at 2 p.m. 
Purchase tickets online at www.stdunstanstheatre.com/tickets 
or at the ticket counter one hour before showtime. Tickets 
are $20-$22 with an additional $3 per ticket when purchased 
online. For more information, visit stdunstanstheatre.com or 
email tickets@stdunstanstheatre.com. St. Dunstan’s Theatre is 
located at 400 Lone Pine, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302.

Toby Gittleman plays 
Eugene Jerome, the 
central character, 
in St. Dunstan’s 
production of 
Brighton Beach 
Memoirs.

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