Root Entry MatOST MatOST Microsoft Works MSWorksWPDoc MatadorObject0 MatadorObject0 CompObj CompObj CASTING NOTICE PLAY: LILAC MINYAN by Debora Seidman. One act, 45-50 minutes An elderly gentleman, Holocaust survivor, meets a young Jewish woman in the hospital. His wife has just died; her companion has just died. Through monologues, dialogue, and simple actions, their histories are revealed. Together, they learn to accept their grief, their Jewish heritage, and their belief in G-d. CHARACTERS: (playwright descriptions) SAMUEL: 70s, Jewish, born in Poland, has lived in Brooklyn almost 40 years and his voice should bear witness to that fact, although it still carries traces of his Eastern European origins. His clothes are simple, but well kept. He is tired, a bit haggard around the edges, but carries himself with dignity. ALLISON: late 20s, early 30s. Jewish, but sheís never paid it much attention. Her arms are wrapped in bandages. Tall & lean (not necessary), her clothes are shapeless, intended to cover and hide, never to beautify. LOCATION: Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Park Slope Brooklyn. FEE: $100.00 DATE: Performances Friday June 9 and Saturday June 10. Tech/Dress June 6,7,9 REHEARSALS: In Park Slope Brooklyn, maximum 40 hours. Dates to be arranged to fit in with actor/director/playwright schedules. This play is part of the New Works Festival AUDITIONS: April 29, 11:30 - 1:30 at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Please call MARCY ARLIN at (718) 237-4545 to schedule an audition or for more information. Can also email at: mzitp@aol.com CONTRACT April 18, 2000 This contract constitutes an agreement between: The Director: Marcy Arlin and Playwright Debora Seidman. Marcy Arlin agrees to direct the play LILAC MINYAN by the playwright at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Brooklyn NY, on Friday, June 9 and Saturday, June 10, 2000 as well as attend all Rehearsals, Tech and Dress Rehearsals on Days to be announced. The Director will be paid a fee of $250.00 for the direction of the play, to be paid on Opening Night of the show. Marcy Arlin is not responsible for any expenses incurred during the production. If any monies are spent for props, costumes, etc., she will be reimbursed upon presentation of receipts to either the playwright or the Brooklyn Arts Exchange, whichever is appropriate. The Director will - with the approval of the Playwright, will supervise casting of the play. If the Playwright is not available, the Director will make all final casting decisions. - be present at all rehearsals - not make any changes in the script without the approval of the playwright - supervise all design elements for the production - be present for Opening Night The Directorís name will appear in all publicity and promotional materials. If there is substantial, unresolvable disagreement with the Playwright, Brookyn Arts Exchange or any other participant during the rehearsal period, the Director reserves the right to withdraw from this project. However, the Director will make every effort to resolve any difficultites that may arise during the rehearsal process. Signed _______________________________ _________________ Marcy Arlin, Director Date ________________________________ __________________ Debora Seidman, Playwright Date TO ACTORS Please take a copy of the sides to review before the audition. Take your time. We will ask you to read a portion of the monologues: For Samuel: Choose about two pages to read from For Allison: String together the various speeches into one monologue. Then I (Marcy, the director) will give you a few ìadjustmentsî or directions. The playwright (Debora) and/or I will ask you a couple of questions about your thoughts about the play. This is an Equity Workshop. There is a fee of $100.00, more if funding comes through. ***************************************************************************** REHEARSALS Most will be at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange (here) or at their Annex on 3rd St. & 3rd Ave. We can always meet here and then I can drive you over to the space. Itís only a few blocks away. Some of the rehearsals at the end of May will be at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 97 Orchard St., in Manhattan. We would like to rehearse on Saturdays and Sundays, and perhaps two weekdays, depending on peopleís schedules. PLEASE: WRITE DOWN THE DAYS AND TIMES YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT AVAILABLE. NAME_________________________________________________ DAY EVENING Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday LILAC MINYAN REHEARSAL SCHEDULE Tuesday, May 9 6 - 9 Charas Wednesday, May 10 6-9 BAX, Theatre Sunday, May 14 12-3 BAX, Theatre Tuesday, May 16 6 - 9 Tenement Theatre Wednesday, May 17 6 - 9 BAX, Annex Sunday, May 21 2:30 - 5:30 BAX, Annex Tuesday, May 23 6 - 9 BAX, Annex Wednesday, May 24 6 - 9 Tenement Theatre Sunday, May 28 2:30 - 5:30 Tenement Theatre Tuesday, May 30 6 - 9 BAX, Annex Wednesday, May 31 No rehearsal Thurday, June 1 7:30 Call Reading, Tenement Theatre Sunday, June 4 2:30 - 5:30 BAX, Annex Tueday, June 6 6 - 9 BAX, Theatre Wednesday, June 7 6 - ? Tech Run-Through, BAX, Theatre Thursday, June 8 TBA Dress Rehearsal, BAX, Theatre Friday, June 9 7:00 Call Performance, BAX, Theatre Saturday, June 10 7:00 Call Performance, BAX, Theatre Locations: BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange) 421 Fifth Ave., Bklyn, (718) 832-0018 Theatre BAX, Annex 230 Third St. (& Third Ave.) Bklyn. Tenement Theatre, in basement 97 Orchard St. (So. of Delancey) of Lower East Side Tenement Museum Theatre #: (212) 334-2278 Museum #: (212) 431-0233 Charas Studios 605 E. 9th St. (& Ave. B) (212) 982-0627 LILAC MINYAN CONTACT SHEET Debora Seidman, Playwright (413) 367-0127 dseidman@aol.com Marcy Arlin, Director (718) 237-4545 (h) (718) 482-5690 (w) only T,Th AM mzitp@aol.com Jerry Koenig, SAMUEL (212) 749-3156 (h) (212) 889-8200 x1426 (w) Yelena Shmulenson, ALLISON (917) [SAMUEL reaches a bench where he can sit down to rest for a few minutes. It is winter, and cold out, and he wraps a scarf more tightly around his neck. Lights up on ALLISON, who is at the tabel in her room. She places a white candle in a simple holder and lights it. She then begins going through boxes of clothes and photos.] ALLISON I didnít want her to die in the hospital. [pause] Shit, I didnít want her to die at all, but if she had to die, at least let it be at home. I could deal with it there. I could rub her back and hold her, without all those steel bars from the hospital bed between us. I could be there al night. If the pain got too bad and she started to scream, I could sit with her, take her hand. We worked so hard to keep her home. She ended up in the hospital anyway. I couldnít be with her there. These nurses there, all the time, it wasnít just us. [ pause ] It was just anothe hospital room. Like the room where my mother died. Leah looked just like.....I hate those rooms. The only good thing that ever happened in a hospital was meeting Samuel. He said heíd come help me pack her clothes. [picks up miniskirt] She used to wear this hot pink mini-skirt with tights that glittered and a pair of white cowboy boots. When we went dancing. It all happened so quickly. One day weíre fighting over whether to go out dancing or to the movies and then...Iím fighting with the nurses, begging her to give Leah more morphine... SAMUEL And another thing, that Joseph, with his coat of many colors..How do You think he knew you were going to bring his brothers to him in Egypt one day? Dreams! Ah hah! You gave him dreams. My dreams you have taken away. ALLISON It was after one of those fights that I met Samuel [THEY look at each other] for the first time. Weíd seen ech other a lot in the coffee shop. I liked seeing him around the hospital. He always smiled when we passed each other; his eyes were so kind and so say. The one day...... When I got to the room, I didnít just see Leah. She was so thin...almost no hair left. My mother, before she died, looked just like Leah. No hair, face all drawn and thin, clothes falling off and eyes that wouldnít look at you, couldnít take you in..when I saw Leah--a restless, hovering cocoon, bone upon bone, trying to be simply bone--I saw all those hospital beds of intensive care, beds of psych wards, beds of shock treatments, beds of... When I got to the room, I didnít just see Leah. She was so thin...almost no hair left. My mother, before she died, looked just like Leah. No hair, face all drawn and thin, clothes falling off and eyes that wouldnít look at you, couldnít take you in..when I saw Leah--a restless, hovering cocoon, bone upon bone, trying to be simply bone--I saw all those hospital beds of intensive care, beds of psych wards, beds of shock treatments, beds of... When I got to the room, I didnít just see Leah. She was so thin...almost no hair left. My mother, before she died, looked just like Leah. No hair, face all drawn and thin, clothes falling off and eyes that wouldnít look at you, couldnít take you in..when I saw Leah--a restless, hovering cocoon, bone upon bone, trying to be simply bone--I saw all those hospital beds of intensive care, beds of psych wards, beds of shock treatments, beds of... When I got to the room, I didnít just see Leah. She was so thin...almost no hair left. My mother, before she died, looked just like Leah. No hair, face all drawn and thin, clothes falling off and eyes that wouldnít look at you, couldnít take you in..when I saw Leah--a restless, hovering cocoon, bone upon bone, trying to be simply bone--I saw all those hospital beds of intensive care, beds of psych wards, beds of shock treatments, beds of... page 31 SAMUEL (contíd) [HE bends down, picking up things among the graves] A branch has fallen here. A tree without its leaves. Some pebbles somebody left. Come closer, my friend. Do you see what I see? Grass that could grow. Leaves that could fall. [walking furiously now, through the cemetery, from grave to grave] Here. She could have a grave and a plot. We could bring them all here, carry the bones that are left, fly the ashes over the ocean and spread them across all the cemeteries in America. Until they cover every stone we see. ALLISON [dim, diffuse light comes up. She puts glass down] We used to go to the beach at dusk, after the crowds were gone--just a few stars, the water, and all that sand, still hot from the day. Leah burned really easy. Sheíd lie in the sun covered in long sleeves and a towel--so weíd go later, if we could--summer nights when it stagyed light so long-- weíd like still, listen to the waves rolling in-- Leah was the one who was always supposed to be there...The one who got me through my motherís death. The one who could always pull me back from the edge. I wanted us to have years together. I wanted..to be able to say good-bye. But when she started to look like my mom, and she ended up in the hospital... [She picks up the glass again and plays with it nervously] All those months sitting with my mother in intensive care, watching her become page 32 someone I couldnít recognize, while the machines monitored her life..... --it wasnít that she was dying, it was that sheíd been dying my whole life. Maybe it was all those years of attempted suicide that finally gave her cancer. How the hello am I supposed to know. She sure tried like hell to kill herself. She has taken too many pills...taken too many pills.... [She takes the glass and makes motions to play with it in a rhythm that matches the next lines, touching each finger, but she doesnít actually cut herself] This little piggy went to market and this little piggy went home. This little piggy took a knife to its wrist, slit it until it hit bone. This little piggy ate sleeping pills, this little piggy ate none. This little piggy turned on the gas in the car when nobody else was home. [She throws the glass to the floor] LEAH, WHERE ARE YOU? SAMUEL Can we do this? Can You help me do this thing? I want You to make another miracle. Part the earth like you once parted the sea and let her come up TO: ALIZA PHILLIPS, THE FORWARD (212) 447-6406 FROM: Marcy Arlin, Artistic Director SUBJECT: Performances of LILAC MINYAN PAGES: 1 LILAC MINYAN is written by Debora Seidman, directed by Marcy Arlin, starring Jerry Koenig, as SAMUEL, a Holocaust survivor and Yelena Shmulenson, as ALLISON, a young American woman Samuelís wife is dying in the same hospital as Allisonís companion. They have abandoned Judaism and hope because of their pasts. Together they find a reason for living in the healing power of the Mournerís Kaddish. This new play is being presented at two venues: 1) June 1, 2000 at 8:00 PM. Admission is $5.00 As a Staged Reading at the Tenement Theatre, 97 Orchard Street, between Delancey & Broome in thebasement of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Call (212) 431-0233 x 440 for reservations and (718) 237-4545 for information 2) June 9 & 10 at 8:00 PM A Full Production Admission is $12.00/$6.00 Low-income. TDF Vouchers accepted Brooklyn Arts Exchange 421 5th Avenue (corner of 8th St.) Brooklyn, NY Call (718) 832-0018 for information and reservations Bunting Fellowship Fellowship recommendation Form 2001-02: Debora Seidman I met Deborah Seidman in the Spring of 1998 when she asked me to direct her play Lilac Minyan at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange. We met through a colleague, John Belluso, whose plays about people with disabilities have been produced at Trinity Rep, Mark Taper Forum and the Arena Stage in DC. Because Debora lives in Massachusetts and has Environmental Illness that precludes extensive travel, our collaboration was conducted over the phone and electronic mail; we met once for the actor casting and for one weekend of rehearsal in Brooklyn. Deboraís play is an exquisitely personal story about the encounter between a Holocaust survivor, Samuel, and a young gay woman, Allison. Both have recently lost their partners as well as their belief in a just God. They regain a sort of faith through their growing friendship, which is based on the ritual recitation of the Jewish Mournerís Prayer. Stylistically, the story of Samuel and Allison unfolds in a series of parallel scenes that, through the connected poetry of the monologues, bring the characters together emotionally in time and space. In inspired fragments of painful memory, we learn the reasons for the charactersí anger and grief--at God, at society, at family, at the helplessness we all feel in the face of evil and illness. I had not known Debora before 1998, though she has an extensive performance history doing one-woman shows and teaching creative writing. She has Environment Illness, and I was awed by the courage it took for her to travel to Brooklyn for rehearsals and performances. Yet even with these problems, Debora was remarkable, approaching textual problems with a clarity and professionalism that bespoke an experienced writer. Her desire to ìmake the play workî was all that mattered. Within the time constraints of the rehearsal period, Debora made small re-writes to the play that improved the production enormously. The actors found the play a joy to perform; the audience was always left deeply moved, often in tears. Since that show, Debora and I have been in negotiation for a production of Lilac Minyan at a university in Massachusetts. She is refining Lilac Minyan to strengthen the character of Allison, who is loosely based on her own experience of losing a dear friend to cancer. The foundation of Deboraís strength and talent as a playwright is her intense, painful self-examination of her life and its transformation into a poetic, beautiful work of art. In this sense she follows in the tradition of playwrights like Tennessee Williams and Eugene OíNeill, who put their own painful lives under the artistic microscope. Debora also has social agendas: she has a deep religious sense, identifies strongly with her cultural heritage, and is involved with womenís issues. Yet her play was never preachy or didactic--it told a simple story about grief and love, while the themes of discrimination and racism sound deeper tones underneath. The play Debora hopes to write through this fellowship follows the journey of people afflicted with Environmental Illness, only now being recognized as a real disease. The challenge for the playwright will be to speak of this issue through the medium of story, character and dialogue. Her ability to combine accuracy of detail, dialogue and strong characterization, makes the play and ideal medium for her creativity. Based on Deboraís Lilac Minyan, I have no doubt in my mind that she will write this play with sensitivity, wit, brilliantly drawn characters, subtle plot turns, and craft. Debora will find the universal resonance in the life of one afflicted woman, a sign of true genius. the causes and ramifications of EI, and write a professional, personal, moving and produceable, viable play. The Bunting Fellowship would provide Debora with the unparalleled opportunity to research a new and frightening disease and the people it changes. 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