By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
West Sound Academy’s upcoming production of “A Shayna Maidel” is a powerful drama with appeal to audiences of all ages and religions, as well as the Jewish community. The upcoming production will feature a cast of actors ages 15-17, in grades 10-12, who are not Jewish.
“This is not a religious play,” said director Michael Payne.
Barbara Lebow’s drama, “A Shayna Maidel” (yiddish for “A Pretty Girl”) tells the story of two sisters separated at childhood by the Holocaust and reunited 20 years later. Set in 1946, the action transpires in the aftermath of World War II. Younger sister Rose has spent most of her life in New York with her father Mordechai, and remembers little about her sister or her family’s native Poland. She is reunited with her long-lost older sister Lusia, who contracted scarlet fever on the eve of Rose and Mordechai’s flight to America and remained in Poland with her mother.
A survivor of the camps, Lusia has lost everything – her mother, her husband, her best friend, even her infant daughter. When she arrives in America to live with Rose, it is a clash of painfully opposite worlds.
“It’s definitely an experience that would haunt you for the rest of your life,” said Martha van Galder, who plays Mama.
The drama program at West Sound Academy presents one major play a year. The academy is a college-preparatory school, grades 6-12, integrating academics and the arts. Since opening in the fall of 1998 with 18 students and a staff of 10, the school has grown to 69 students and a staff of 23.
Payne chose to produce “A Shayna Maidel” after reading a over a dozen plays this summer. He will incorporate music and dance, including a choir performing a Yiddish lullaby, in this production. In the past, West Sound Academy has presented productions of Elmer Rice’s “The Adding Machine,” Neil Simon’s “The Good Doctor” and Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap.”
“A Shayna Maidel” is much more intense and real,” said Tasia Halady, who plays Hanna, Lusia’s childhood friend. “They’re just more in-depth people.”
“The character development is really amazing,” agreed Brandon Rain, who plays Duvid.
“It’s so much more intense than the last play I was in,” said Christine Miglino, who plays Lusia.
During rehearsals, the cast has learned about Yiddish accents and concentration camps from Eileen Herschberg, a relative of a Holocaust survivor and native Yiddish speaker.
“She’s invaluable,” said Payne.
Payne has also done his own research in preparation of the play, reading The Jewish Book of Why. He has visited Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall in the past. “It’s a learning experience,” said Payne. “It makes it very interesting.”
With the play comes its own set of challenges, including juggling the schedules of the high school students, keeping the play authentic and not having access to the actual theater until opening night. In addition, some of the actors find it challenging at times to perform in a play with so many emotional highs and lows.
“I think it hits on the major emotions very well,” said Miglino.
“I’ve seen it and I still tear up,” agreed Payne.
Whether or not any of these kids go on to a life of theater, “they will still remember this show,” he said.
“A Shayna Maidel” will be performed on Nov. 23 and 24 at North Kitsap Community Auditorium in Poulsbo.