By Diana Brement, Jewish Sound Correspondent
“It’s an interesting lens of the 20th century, but through the eyes of one world,” says Laura Ferri, director of “Letters to the Editor,” Book-It Repertory Theatre’s performance that brings our state’s Jewish community to life on the stage — through the pages of this very newspaper.
“‘Letters to the Editor’ came about because ‘In the Land of Rain and Salmon’ happened,” says scriptwriter Rachel Atkins, who also adapted that production for the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, based on the book “Family of Strangers.” For “Letters,” JTNews associate editor Emily K. Alhadeff culled through 90 years of material, which she turned over to Rachel, who turned it into a script. At the Q and A following the first performance at the Stroum Jewish Community Center last month, Rachel admitted the first few drafts had been way too long. Just like the news business, something always has to be cut.
The partnership production, created with funding from King County’s 4Culture arts organization and the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, is a whirlwind tour of our community’s life as seen through our pages (and now our companion website, JewishSound.org). Four actors do a staged reading, taking on various roles of writers, editors, advertisers and — need we say it — complainants.
“You made a mistake,” whines actress Shellie Shulkin, looking over the shoulder of the editor in one such bit. “You said there were 26 people at the reception, when there were 27.” (It still boggles my mind that people would regularly publish such personal details, such as when and where they were vacationing or dates and times of private functions.)
The production is “more of a staged reading, plus,” says Rachel. Four actors, two men and two women, move around the stage and use small props like hats or tallitot to emphasize character changes. Musician Carl Shutoff provides musical embellishments representing eras and cultures.
All three of these women have long-term relationships with Book-It, which specializes in bringing literature to their stage at Seattle Center. They all cut their Jewish theater teeth with Nextbook, when the literary organization was active in Seattle and commissioned dramatizations of Jewish books. (Of the three, Laura was not born Jewish, but has a long-standing interest in Jewish culture going back to childhood.)
Rachel says her experience adapting both these works has been a great way to learn “the incredibly rich and interesting history” of the Jews of our state. Growing up in a fairly secular family in New Jersey, she says this work “has definitely got me thinking about what is my role and how am I a Seattle Jew.” A working playwright, Rachel is also involved in Living Voices, a theater company that brings performances and drama workshops into schools.
As the show’s only native Seattleite, Shellie brought an extra depth to the rehearsals with her knowledge of the local Jewish community. “She knew about all the synagogues,” says Laura.
Shellie, who won a Gregory Award last year for outstanding actress in a lead role as Violet Westin in Balagan Theatre’s “August: Osage County,” grew up at Temple Sinai in Bellevue, where her parents were both active members. She was in high school when Sinai merged with Temple De Hirsch and remembers the change well — an episode of history documented in the play. A history major at the University of Washington, she pledged Alpha Epsilon Phi, a Jewish sorority that had just reopened a house in 1976 when she was a first-year student.
Shellie met Laura through Nextbook and also performed in “Rain and Salmon.” In addition to the trip down memory lane, Shellie says “Letters” gave her an appreciation for her aunt, Doris Sty, editor of Denver’s Intermountain Jewish News for many years. “I never had an idea of what she was going through,” says Shellie, who says she took that paper and our own “Jewish Transcript” for granted.
All three women commented on the more somber parts of 20th-century history that affected Jews locally and internationally.
It was “a very dark century, especially for the Jewish people,” says Laura, who felt it was “important to get the weight” of significant events, but added “the humor to punctuate it.” Much of that comes from dramatizations of Brenner Brothers bakery advertisements, a staple of entertainment and support of the paper for so many years.
Also illuminated is the history of our Sephardic community, one of the three largest in the country, and its members’ struggles to be accepted by the dominant and, frankly, prejudiced Ashkenazic community early in the last century.
Also featured in the cast are David Bestock, Molli Corcoran and Andrew Litsky.
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Short takes: David Lipper, Temple B’nai Torah’s interim rabbi, has completed the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ year-long intensive Keter Torah program. The program involves in-depth study in Jewish text and Judaic studies; counseling and practical rabbinics; worship, spirituality and ritual; congregation dynamics and leadership; education and social action.