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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px;margin:5.05pt 0in 2.5pt"><b><i><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:red">My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wedding</span></i></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#666666">Posted: Wednesday,
December 12, 2012 3:57 pm | <i>Updated: 5:33 pm, Wed Dec 12, 2012.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#666666"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#666666">Fran Heller </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">I didn’t know what to
expect with a title like “My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">What I discovered was a
warm and wonderful true story based on the experiences of David Hein, who
co-authored the play with his wife, Irene Carl Sankoff.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">With the Supreme Court
poised to rule on same-sex marriage, this tale of how Hein’s Jewish mother
found true love with another female couldn’t be more timely.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Expertly directed by
Neil Thackaberry, “Wedding” is a sweet, funny and moving gender-bending musical
about sexual and religious identity, tolerance and a celebration of love.
There’s not a weak link in the cast.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">After a messy divorce,
Claire, David’s mother, takes a teaching position at the University of Ottawa,
where her son joins her to attend high school. David discovers that his mother,
a psychology professor, has fallen in love with a therapist named Jane. Claire,
a lapsed Jew, returns to her Jewish faith, while Jane continues her practice of
Wicca.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">The two-hour show, plus
intermission, includes numerous musical numbers and is narrated by the adult
David (the excellent Kevin P. Kern) who strums a mean guitar and has strong
vocal chops.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">The music, mostly soft
rock and pop, is matched by lyrics that are by turns witty and poignant.
Keyboardist J.T. Buck and percussionist Mark Bussinger provide backdrop for
many songs.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">The action shuttles
between Lincoln, Neb.
and Ottawa, Canada. Props are minimal, the
sense of place enhanced by vivid character portrayals and MaryJo Alexander’s
amazing costumes. Kevin Lutan’s dramatic lighting greatly affects each scene,
almost as if it’s another character.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">“Wedding” is a
psychologically oriented, introspective musical that richly mines the emotions
and conflicts of human behavior with a strong dose of gentle humor. The play on
the word “baggage” is one of many instances in which psychology becomes the
butt of jokes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Claire (the lovely
Lindsey Mitchell) meets Jane (the outstanding Dawn Sniadak-Yomokoski) in an
all-female chorus. Claire is instantly attracted to Jane, and before long, the
two fall in love.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Mitchell and
Sniadak-Yomokoski make their relationship completely touching and real; it’s a
joy to watch these two interact.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Claire ran away from her
faith as a young girl when told she could not read from the Torah at her
Orthodox synagogue. Jane describes Wicca as good witchcraft in which the
rituals follow seasonal changes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Pointed insights leaven
the comedic stretches.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Young David’s parents
fight over their son constantly. Sometimes people fight for so long they don’t
know how to stop, notes the adult David as narrator.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Claire is afraid to tell
young David she is a lesbian. David’s reaction is utterly sweet and natural. No
big deal, he says. Dad has a girlfriend, why can’t you?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Watch how Claire’s face
changes upon discovering it’s her mother calling and not her lover. The unseen
mother chides Claire for not going to synagogue. The tragedy of the play is the
death of Claire’s mom, who never accepted Claire as gay.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">The funeral scene,
followed by an angry Claire describing the anti-Semitic assaults of her early
years in Nebraska and her mom’s refusal to attend her wedding in Canada,
brought tears to my eyes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">In the more political
second act, David traces a short history of gay marriage followed by a protest
rally for and against legalizing gay marriage at the Canadian Parliament. Canada was the
fourth nation to ratify same-sex marriage.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">David and Irene’s marriage
as a straight couple beautifully contrasts with the marriage of Claire and
Jane. Claire decides to return to her Jewish faith and learn Hebrew. A brief
vignette draws a page out of “Fiddler” and a few chuckles. The two women are
married under a chuppah with both Jewish and Wicca traditions as part of the
ceremony.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">Prolonged conversations
about birth control, simulated hot lesbian sex and several lyrics bordering on
crude were the few low points.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">The 200-seat theater was
packed at the matinee I attended – for good reason. It’s a terrific show.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">WHAT: “My Mother’s
Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">WHERE: Actors’ Summit, 6th Floor,
Greystone Hall, 103 High St.,
Akron</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">WHEN: Through Sunday,
Dec. 23</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial">TICKETS & INFO:
330-374-7568 or <a href="http://www.actorssummit.org/"><span style="color:#457d9d">www.actorssummit.org</span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p></p></div></div></div></div>