By Sue Suchyta
Jackie Strez, a Dearborn native and a graduate of the Wayne State University undergraduate theater program, is planning a performance fundraiser Sept. 11 near her Cass corridor home to start a scholarship fund for Detroit high school students planning to study social justice, peace and conflict studies.
For specific details, contact Strez at [email protected].
Strez, an actress and puppeteer with Detroit’s PuppetART Theater, will perform works of literature with Aaron Timlin from 7 to 11:30 p.m. Sept. 11 that they hope will inspire “hope, renewal, and forgiveness.”
The two were attacked by strangers, two men and a woman, near their Midtown home at 2:30 a.m. July 25 near Alexandrine and Second Streets in Detroit. A neighbor used pepper spray to disrupt the attack. Timlin and Strez said after reporting the incident to the Detroit Police Department, they opted to walk three blocks to the Detroit Medical Center. Timlin had been punched and kicked in the head, while Strez was cut from her forehead to chest with a sharp knife.
The fundraiser healing event, “Under the Corridor Moon,” will feature a four-course outdoor vegan soup, salad and spaghetti candlelit dinner in their front yard. Suggested donation is $10, and participants are encouraged to bring their own plates, utensils and beverages.
Reservations for the dinner are encouraged. All are welcome to listen to the subsequent literature performance.
“This night is to understand the source of fear in our community, a step to begin the process of eliminating the anger and hate that fear creates,” Strez said.
Timlin will also perform “It’s a Wonderful World” in his “Armstrong voice.”
JET and PLOWSHARES PRESENT ‘THE WHIPPING MAN’
In remembrance of the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, the Jewish Ensemble Theatre and the Plowshares Theatre Company will present the Sept. 7 Midwest premiere of Matthew Lopez’s Obie Award-winning play “The Whipping Man.”
The show will run through Oct. 2 at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre, 6600 West Maple Road in West Bloomfield.
For show times and more information, call (248) 788-2900 or go to www.jettheatre.org.
Directed by Gary Anderson, the show features Council Cargle of Detroit as Simon, Rusty Mewha of Plymouth as Caleb and Scott Norman of Detroit as John.
Three men are sharing a Seder the first night of Passover in 1865 in a half-destroyed house in Richmond, Virginia. Stolen wine and hardtack for matzo bread are paired with collard greens for the bitter herbs.
The three men are all Jewish: two newly freed slaves and a Confederate soldier to whose family home the three have returned in the aftermath of the Civil War.
“This play is a jewel of the theater,” Artistic director David Magidson said. “Inside an exciting war framework it tackles issues of family, tradition, freedom, slavery, compassion and hate – all without us really being aware of it. This is theatre at its best.”
Anderson said the play was the collaboration that the JET and Plowshares have been seeking.
“It provides a direct connection between the Jewish and African American communities,” Anderson said. “The play brings to light the connection there is between faith and freedom.”
SOUTHGATE TO PRESENT ‘GOD’S FAVORITE’
The Southgate Community Players will present the Neil Simon comedy “God’s Favorite” at 8 p.m. Sept. 16, 17, 23 and 24 the Corner Playhouse at 12671 Dix Toledo Road in Southgate.
In the show, based loosely on the Book of Job, a messenger from God comes to the Benjamin household to tell Joe that, because of his devotion, he is God’s favorite. When the messenger then tries to get Joe to renounce God, he and his family’s faith are tested with a sudden flurry of afflictions.
For more information, call (734) 282-4SCP or go to www.scponstage.com.