[NEohioPAL] Reviews of A SHAYNA MAIDEL, playing @ JCC / Tri C thru 11/4

[Fred Sternfeld]

 *

for more excerpts and/or full reviews and a few new pictures, click
here<http://www.fredsternfeld.com/ashaynamaidelcleveland.htm>

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Excerpts from the Chagrin Valley Times review
by Bob Abelman
"a perfect production"

"Director Fred Sternfeld transforms this story into riveting, engaging
and heart-wrenching
theatre" "amazing sensitivity, grace and artistry"   "This is masterful
work"

"... a truly exceptional set by Ben Needham, extraordinary lighting and
sound by Cassandra Goldbach and Stan Kozak, and superb costuming by Aimee
Kluiber"

"…an astounding cast.  Lara Mielcarek … a captivating performance full of
complexity and nuance.   Bernadette Clemens … is equally brilliant … a
master class in acting."

"Mitchell Fields finds the perfect balance in his depiction of the family
patriarch … a survivor bearing incredible guilt despite his controlling and
stoic facade"

"Ron Cuirle … Natalie Green  … Jeanne Task … solid performances in each of
these roles are pivotal, for anything less would allow this play to lapse
into excesses of sentimentality or melodrama.   Each actor makes all the
right choices.   They are wonderful."
"It is rare indeed for a play to be so compelling, a production to be so
extraordinary, and performances to be so thoroughly engaging to be
considered perfect.   A Shayna Maidel on the Tri-C stage is that uncommon
commodity.  Perfection is fleeting.  This play only runs until November 4 in
nearby Highland Hills."


Excerpts from the Cleveland Scene review

By Christine Howey



"a fine play, executed with tender skill"


"Director Fred Sternfeld wisely allows this wrenching story to play out
deliberately and quietly, finding acute moments of pain — particularly when
the father calls out the names of family members, and Lusia, reading from a
list she has kept, ticks off their often horrendous fates"

Excerpts from the Plain Dealer review
by Tony Brown

"right-hearted"

"Sternfeld and his six actors find humor and pathos in this story of two
Polish-Jewish sisters reunited in New York just after World War II" "Both
actresses perform small miracles"

"A substantial Mitchell Fields carps and commands as the stoic, aging
patriarch who can do little but live with his decision to leave Europe when
he could, without his wife and first-born"

"Ron Cuirle, Natalie Green and Jeanne Task make affecting appearances as the
younger daughter's fever-dream ghosts"

"Ben Needham's detailed set transforms the performing arts center at the
Eastern Campus of Cuyahoga Community College into a cozy New York apartment"

"... brings soul-cleansing tears to all eyes"
*
**
*A SHAYNA MAIDEL
by Barbara Lebow
continues for two more weekends
  *
Literally translated as "a pretty girl," *A Shayna Maidel* conveys the
aftermath of the Holocaust through a poignant, imaginatively conceived
examination of one divided family's experience.  Two sisters separated in
childhood—one raised in America, the other in Poland—are reunited in New
York City in 1946 in the wake of World War II and the Holocaust.  After a
15-year separation and the loss of most family members, they are nearly
strangers and struggle to reconnect. *A Shayna Maidel* by Barbara Lebow was
the first winner of The Mandel Jewish Community Center's Dorothy Silver
Playwriting Competition.

*WHEN*:  October 18-November 4
Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 2 pm, and Friday,
November 2 at 10:30 am.

*WHERE*:  CCC Eastern Campus Performing Arts Center (4250 Richmond Road in
Highland Hills 44122).

*HOW MUCH*:  $24 - October 25, 27, 28, November 1, 2, 3, 4.  Discount
tickets are available for JCC members ($21), seniors ($22) and students
($12).  On sale at The Mandel JCC (26001 South Woodland, Beachwood 44122),
http://www.clevejcc.org, http://www.tickets.com or 800-766-6048.

*THE CAST*:
Bernadette Clemens*:  Rose Weiss
Mitchell B. Fields*:  Mordechai Weiss
Lara Mielcarek: Lusia Weiss Pechenik
Ron Cuirle: Duvid Pechenik
Natalie Green: Hanna
Jeanne Task: Mama
*Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the Union
of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.


*THE ARTISTIC STAFF:
*Directed by Fred Sternfeld
Set design by Ben Needham
Lighting design by Cassandra Goldbach
Costume design by Aimee Kluiber
Sound design by Stan Kozak
Dialect coaching by Beth McGee
Stage managed by Darcy J. Lindner
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