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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><font color="#cc0000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4">for more excerpts and/or full reviews and a few new pictures, click </font>
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.fredsternfeld.com/ashaynamaidelcleveland.htm" target="_blank"><font size="4">here</font></a><br></font><br><font color="#000000">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</font><br><br><font size="4">Excerpts from the Chagrin Valley Times review <br><font color="#000000" size="2">by Bob Abelman</font><br></font></font>"a perfect production"</font></font></span> </p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"Director Fred Sternfeld transforms this story into riveting, engaging and </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
heart-wrenching </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">theatre" "amazing sensitivity, grace and artistry"<span> </span>"This is masterful work" </span></font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2"><font color="#000000">"... a truly exceptional set by Ben Needham, extraordinary lighting and sound by Cassandra Goldbach and Stan Kozak, and superb costuming by Aimee Kluiber"
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2"><font color="#000000">"…an astounding cast.<span> </span>Lara Mielcarek … a captivating performance full of complexity and nuance.
<span> </span>Bernadette Clemens … is equally brilliant … a master class in acting." </font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2"><font color="#000000">"Mitchell Fields finds the perfect balance <span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">
<font size="2">in his depiction of the family patriarch</font> </span>… a survivor bearing incredible guilt despite his controlling and stoic facade"<span> </span></font></font></span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2"><font color="#000000">"Ron Cuirle … Natalie Green<span> </span>… 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.
<span> </span>Each actor makes all the right choices.<span> </span>They are wonderful."</font></font></span></p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font color="#000000" size="2">"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.
<span> </span><em>A Shayna Maidel</em> on the Tri-C stage is that uncommon commodity.<span> </span>Perfection is fleeting.<span> </span>This play only runs until November 4 in nearby Highland Hills." <br><br>
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<h2 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font color="#cc0000" size="4">Excerpts from the Cleveland Scene review</font></h2>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">By Christine Howey</span></b></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">"a fine play, executed with tender skill"</span></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </span></p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font size="2">"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"
<br><br></font><font face="arial,sans-serif"><font size="2"><font color="#cc0000" size="4"><strong>Excerpts from the Plain Dealer review</strong></font><br></font></font><font size="2"><font face="arial,sans-serif" color="#000000">
by Tony Brown<br><br>"right-hearted"<br><br>"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"
<br><br>"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"<br><br>"Ron Cuirle, Natalie Green and Jeanne Task make affecting appearances as the younger daughter's fever-dream ghosts"
<br><br>"Ben Needham's detailed set transforms the performing arts center at the Eastern Campus of Cuyahoga Community College into a cozy New York apartment"<br><br>"... brings soul-cleansing tears to all eyes"
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<div><span style="FONT-SIZE: 36px"><b><font face="Verdana" color="#0000ff">A SHAYNA MAIDEL<br><font size="4">by Barbara Lebow</font><br><font color="#cc0000" size="4"><em>continues for two more weekends</em></font><br> </font>
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<div><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><font face="Verdana">Literally translated as "a <span name="st">pretty</span> <span name="st">girl</span>," <b><i>A Shayna Maidel</i></b> 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.
<b><i>A Shayna Maidel</i></b> by Barbara Lebow was the first winner of The Mandel Jewish Community Center's Dorothy Silver Playwriting Competition.</font></span></div>
<div><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><font face="Verdana"> <br><b>WHEN</b>: October 18-November 4<br>Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 2 pm, and Friday, November 2 at 10:30 am.<br> <br><b>WHERE</b>: CCC Eastern Campus Performing Arts Center (4250 Richmond Road in Highland Hills 44122).
<br> <br><b>HOW MUCH</b>: $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),
</font><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.clevejcc.org,/" target="_blank"><font face="Verdana">http://www.clevejcc.org,</font></a><font face="Verdana"> </font><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.tickets.com/" target="_blank">
<font face="Verdana">http://www.tickets.com</font></a><font face="Verdana"> or 800-766-6048.<br> <br><b>THE CAST</b>:<br>Bernadette Clemens*: Rose Weiss<br>Mitchell B. Fields*: Mordechai Weiss<br>Lara Mielcarek: Lusia Weiss Pechenik
<br>Ron Cuirle: Duvid Pechenik<br>Natalie Green: Hanna <br>Jeanne Task: Mama<br>*Actor appears through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
<br><br> <br></font><font face="Verdana"><b>THE ARTISTIC STAFF:<br></b>Directed by Fred Sternfeld<br>Set design by Ben Needham<br>Lighting design by Cassandra Goldbach<br>Costume design by Aimee Kluiber<br>Sound design by Stan Kozak
<br>Dialect coaching by Beth McGee<br>Stage managed by Darcy J. Lindner<br> </font></span></div></div>