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Jewish Cleveland live on stage
BY: MARGI HERWALD ZITELLI City Editor
The Mandel JCC takes the bold artistic step of commissioning its own play
There is no dramatic production reflecting the history of Jewish life in Cleveland.
Actually, there was no dramatic production reflecting the history of Jewish life in Cleveland. Soon there will be.
The Mandel Jewish Community Center Arts & Culture project has commissioned a new play to explore Cleveland’s Jewish community. New York-based playwright and actor Keith Reddin has been working since February on the still-untitled script that will become the first play written specifically for the JCC.
“It’s critical for the theater portion (of JCC Arts & Culture) to be viable,” says Anne DesRosiers, JCC Arts & Culture project director. Since the program rebooted four years ago following the closing of the Mayfield JCC, Arts & Culture has produced two plays a season that are “the same kinds of shows that were done on Mayfield Road,” she notes. These appeal to “a finite audience. We’ve got to produce exciting work” to appeal to more theatergoers.
Cleveland audiences will “recognize pieces of themselves” in Reddin’s play, says Seth Gordon, associate artistic director of The Cleveland Play House, who has assisted the JCC with the project. “No other play will be so closely aligned with who they are.”
In Reddin’s hands, the “broad” idea of the history of Jewish life in Cleveland turned into a “snapshot of a Jewish family in mid-20th century Cleveland,” says DesRosiers.
Inspired by the life stories of several real Clevelanders, Jewish playwright Reddin says, “I wanted to take their sagas, their personal stories, and make it more universal.”
Setting the scene
Act one of the untitled play takes place in Cleveland Heights in 1946. As a prominent leader in the Jewish community and the garment industry lies close to death, his wife and three children gather at the family home. Relationships are strained over old family resentments. There is concern over who will run the business once dad is gone and disapproval levied at a son in love with a non-Jewish woman and at a free-spirited daughter resisting the path her family planned for her.
Act two visits the same family in 1976. Cleveland is not the same city, as it faces economic decline that may claim the family business. But a wedding and renewed connections fill the family with hope. Reddin says he wants the first act to feel like Arthur Miller, the second act, like Neil Simon.
Many references to Jewish Cleveland are peppered throughout the play. Characters sing the praises of Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver and Cantor Saul Meisels, reminisce about Camp Wise, plan events at Oakwood Club, and attend Jewish Community Federation missions to the Soviet Union to aid refuseniks.
Reddin’s mission, he says, was to create a story that was highly representative and reflective of Jewish life in Cleveland but to make it accessible enough that it could be performed for secular audiences in any city.
“It’s not a historical play,” he explains, “but it is based on the community’s history.”
Reddin began his process in February, when he visited Cleveland to interview the heads of several established Jewish families. Conducting in-person meetings lasting up to two hours each and additional phone interviews after he returned to New York, Reddin spoke to around 15 subjects. Many interviews led to tears and long-unspoken revelations, Reddin reveals with awe. The subjects’ personal stories and thoughts on local Jewish life helped him devise his plot and shape his characters. He seized on several key themes from his interviews n the importance of tsedakah, the ever-shifting eastward migration of the community, and the ebb and flow of certain key industries in town.
Going into the interviews, “I had no idea what I was going to write,” Reddin confesses. “But the one thing I did ask everyone was, Why Cleveland?’ If your businesses come and go, why stay? People would answer, I’m here because my grandfather settled here, but I stayed because my ancestors are buried here, my family is here, and I have a quality of life here.’”
All of his interview subjects stated that regardless of whatever opportunities might arise, they would never leave Cleveland.
“If you asked me what’s a stereotype of Jewish Cleveland, I’d say a strong sense of community and a sense of giving back,” Reddin says. “No matter what, you haven’t seen the Jewish population (of Cleveland) go away or stop giving. It’s got to be because of strong ties to the community and strong traditions and values.”
The playwright also connected with the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS). Sean Martin, WRHS associate curator of Jewish history, and John Grabowski, director of research, “picked me up and literally drove me around all the neighborhoods and told me how the demographics have changed,” Reddin says appreciatively.
Curtain up
While the story Reddin has written of one family’s trials and joys over three decades isn’t exactly the historical record he, DesRosiers and Gordon originally envisioned, the playwright reasons, “If I had set this story anywhere else, Pittsburgh, even New York, the next generation would never hesitate to leave (their hometown). I feel like (the characters’) actions, the way they live their lives, really reflect Cleveland.”
His mantra when writing: “Sentiment is OK; sentamentality is not. I just don’t want it to be schmaltzy.”
When the first draft of the play was read before an invited audience in June, post-show discussion yielded a mixed response, which Reddin takes in stride, since many of the audience members were his interview subjects.
“I knew people from the community were going to feel ownership,” he says. “There are some people who will see their specific stories or things that came from their backgrounds in it. I felt really good that no one watched it and said, So what?’”
“There was no play about the Cleveland Jewish community, and now there is,” marvels The Play House’s Gordon. “The JCC is responsible for that.”
mherwald@cjn.org
Who is Keith Reddin?
The descendant of French Jews from the Alsace-Lorraine region, playwright Keith Reddin, 50, has spent his whole life in or just outside New York City. But, the past seven months of his life have revolved around Cleveland, as he has been commissioned not only to write the JCC’s play, but also a play for The Cleveland Play House on Cleveland architecht and Nazi-sympathizer Philip Johnson.
Growing up, Reddin’s mother was a member of a women’s theatergoing group; he attended many a matinee by her side. He studied theater at New York University, and then earned a master’s in drama at Yale. Reddin, who is married to actor/director Meg Gibson, began his 20-year theatrical career as an actor (including appearing once at The Play House), but today playwriting is his focus.
After the JCC play, his next project is a semi-autobiographical play based on his father’s experiences teaching in Hong Kong during the Vietnam War.
How to a commission an American play
Anne DesRosiers, project director of The Mandel JCC Arts & Culture, engaged Seth Gordon, associate artistic director of The Cleveland Play House, as a consultant to help “change the face of our theater program,” DesRosiers explains. Gordon offered two suggestions: Produce an Israeli play (“Pangs of the Messiah” by Motti Lerner will be performed this coming season) and commission a new work. The benefit of commissioning a new play is “twofold,” Gordon notes. “You have more control over the story you’re telling, and you’re directly contributing to the American play canon.”
Gordon, who specializes in developing new plays, suggested hiring playwright Keith Reddin, with whom he had worked in New York City. Gordon has “shepherded” the project throughout, DesRosiers says.
DesRosiers contracted Reddin. She included in the season budget both the cost of the commission and the cost of the eventual production of the show. Reddin was paid a percentage of his fee upon signing. He will receive the balance upon delivery of the finished script.
Reddin was set up with interview subjects through the JCC and the Jewish Community Federation. It was a unqiue way to involve the community, says DesRosiers. “How many times in people’s lives do they get a chance to be an active part of the creation of a piece of art?”
Reddin came to Cleveland in May to work on the developing script with other playwrights during The Play House’s FusionFest new works festival.
Throughout the process, Reddin has kept a blog at mjccnewplay.blog spot.com.
The first draft was read before a small, invited audience in late June.
Reddin submitted a short list of directors he thinks would fit the play to DesRosiers, who will vet them and hire one to direct the full production.
Following rewrites, a second draft will be read before an audience on Oct. 30.
Following more rewrites, a final draft of the script (which by then should have a title) will be delivered to the JCC in time to start rehearsals. Reddin’s play will premi่re Feb. 26, 2009, in Cleveland.
After the show closes, it will be available for other theaters across the country to produce. JCC arts programs don’t generally commission new works, Gordon stresses. “This is an example of a JCC really going out of its way to do something special.”
There is no dramatic production reflecting the history of Jewish life in Cleveland.
Actually, there was no dramatic production reflecting the history of Jewish life in Cleveland. Soon there will be.
The Mandel Jewish Community Center Arts & Culture project has commissioned a new play to explore Cleveland’s Jewish community. New York-based playwright and actor Keith Reddin has been working since February on the still-untitled script that will become the first play written specifically for the JCC.
“It’s critical for the theater portion (of JCC Arts & Culture) to be viable,” says Anne DesRosiers, JCC Arts & Culture project director. Since the program rebooted four years ago following the closing of the Mayfield JCC, Arts & Culture has produced two plays a season that are “the same kinds of shows that were done on Mayfield Road,” she notes. These appeal to “a finite audience. We’ve got to produce exciting work” to appeal to more theatergoers.
Cleveland audiences will “recognize pieces of themselves” in Reddin’s play, says Seth Gordon, associate artistic director of The Cleveland Play House, who has assisted the JCC with the project. “No other play will be so closely aligned with who they are.”
In Reddin’s hands, the “broad” idea of the history of Jewish life in Cleveland turned into a “snapshot of a Jewish family in mid-20th century Cleveland,” says DesRosiers.
Inspired by the life stories of several real Clevelanders, Jewish playwright Reddin says, “I wanted to take their sagas, their personal stories, and make it more universal.”
Setting the scene
Act one of the untitled play takes place in Cleveland Heights in 1946. As a prominent leader in the Jewish community and the garment industry lies close to death, his wife and three children gather at the family home. Relationships are strained over old family resentments. There is concern over who will run the business once dad is gone and disapproval levied at a son in love with a non-Jewish woman and at a free-spirited daughter resisting the path her family planned for her.
Act two visits the same family in 1976. Cleveland is not the same city, as it faces economic decline that may claim the family business. But a wedding and renewed connections fill the family with hope. Reddin says he wants the first act to feel like Arthur Miller, the second act, like Neil Simon.
Many references to Jewish Cleveland are peppered throughout the play. Characters sing the praises of Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver and Cantor Saul Meisels, reminisce about Camp Wise, plan events at Oakwood Club, and attend Jewish Community Federation missions to the Soviet Union to aid refuseniks.
Reddin’s mission, he says, was to create a story that was highly representative and reflective of Jewish life in Cleveland but to make it accessible enough that it could be performed for secular audiences in any city.
“It’s not a historical play,” he explains, “but it is based on the community’s history.”
Reddin began his process in February, when he visited Cleveland to interview the heads of several established Jewish families. Conducting in-person meetings lasting up to two hours each and additional phone interviews after he returned to New York, Reddin spoke to around 15 subjects. Many interviews led to tears and long-unspoken revelations, Reddin reveals with awe. The subjects’ personal stories and thoughts on local Jewish life helped him devise his plot and shape his characters. He seized on several key themes from his interviews n the importance of tsedakah, the ever-shifting eastward migration of the community, and the ebb and flow of certain key industries in town.
Going into the interviews, “I had no idea what I was going to write,” Reddin confesses. “But the one thing I did ask everyone was, Why Cleveland?’ If your businesses come and go, why stay? People would answer, I’m here because my grandfather settled here, but I stayed because my ancestors are buried here, my family is here, and I have a quality of life here.’”
All of his interview subjects stated that regardless of whatever opportunities might arise, they would never leave Cleveland.
“If you asked me what’s a stereotype of Jewish Cleveland, I’d say a strong sense of community and a sense of giving back,” Reddin says. “No matter what, you haven’t seen the Jewish population (of Cleveland) go away or stop giving. It’s got to be because of strong ties to the community and strong traditions and values.”
The playwright also connected with the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS). Sean Martin, WRHS associate curator of Jewish history, and John Grabowski, director of research, “picked me up and literally drove me around all the neighborhoods and told me how the demographics have changed,” Reddin says appreciatively.
Curtain up
While the story Reddin has written of one family’s trials and joys over three decades isn’t exactly the historical record he, DesRosiers and Gordon originally envisioned, the playwright reasons, “If I had set this story anywhere else, Pittsburgh, even New York, the next generation would never hesitate to leave (their hometown). I feel like (the characters’) actions, the way they live their lives, really reflect Cleveland.”
His mantra when writing: “Sentiment is OK; sentamentality is not. I just don’t want it to be schmaltzy.”
When the first draft of the play was read before an invited audience in June, post-show discussion yielded a mixed response, which Reddin takes in stride, since many of the audience members were his interview subjects.
“I knew people from the community were going to feel ownership,” he says. “There are some people who will see their specific stories or things that came from their backgrounds in it. I felt really good that no one watched it and said, So what?’”
“There was no play about the Cleveland Jewish community, and now there is,” marvels The Play House’s Gordon. “The JCC is responsible for that.”
mherwald@cjn.org
Who is Keith Reddin?
The descendant of French Jews from the Alsace-Lorraine region, playwright Keith Reddin, 50, has spent his whole life in or just outside New York City. But, the past seven months of his life have revolved around Cleveland, as he has been commissioned not only to write the JCC’s play, but also a play for The Cleveland Play House on Cleveland architecht and Nazi-sympathizer Philip Johnson.
Growing up, Reddin’s mother was a member of a women’s theatergoing group; he attended many a matinee by her side. He studied theater at New York University, and then earned a master’s in drama at Yale. Reddin, who is married to actor/director Meg Gibson, began his 20-year theatrical career as an actor (including appearing once at The Play House), but today playwriting is his focus.
After the JCC play, his next project is a semi-autobiographical play based on his father’s experiences teaching in Hong Kong during the Vietnam War.
How to a commission an American play
Anne DesRosiers, project director of The Mandel JCC Arts & Culture, engaged Seth Gordon, associate artistic director of The Cleveland Play House, as a consultant to help “change the face of our theater program,” DesRosiers explains. Gordon offered two suggestions: Produce an Israeli play (“Pangs of the Messiah” by Motti Lerner will be performed this coming season) and commission a new work. The benefit of commissioning a new play is “twofold,” Gordon notes. “You have more control over the story you’re telling, and you’re directly contributing to the American play canon.”
Gordon, who specializes in developing new plays, suggested hiring playwright Keith Reddin, with whom he had worked in New York City. Gordon has “shepherded” the project throughout, DesRosiers says.
DesRosiers contracted Reddin. She included in the season budget both the cost of the commission and the cost of the eventual production of the show. Reddin was paid a percentage of his fee upon signing. He will receive the balance upon delivery of the finished script.
Reddin was set up with interview subjects through the JCC and the Jewish Community Federation. It was a unqiue way to involve the community, says DesRosiers. “How many times in people’s lives do they get a chance to be an active part of the creation of a piece of art?”
Reddin came to Cleveland in May to work on the developing script with other playwrights during The Play House’s FusionFest new works festival.
Throughout the process, Reddin has kept a blog at mjccnewplay.blog spot.com.
The first draft was read before a small, invited audience in late June.
Reddin submitted a short list of directors he thinks would fit the play to DesRosiers, who will vet them and hire one to direct the full production.
Following rewrites, a second draft will be read before an audience on Oct. 30.
Following more rewrites, a final draft of the script (which by then should have a title) will be delivered to the JCC in time to start rehearsals. Reddin’s play will premi่re Feb. 26, 2009, in Cleveland.
After the show closes, it will be available for other theaters across the country to produce. JCC arts programs don’t generally commission new works, Gordon stresses. “This is an example of a JCC really going out of its way to do something special.”
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| Mandel JCC announces 2008-09 arts season |
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