A SHAYNA MAIDEL Soars at IWU

Barbara Lebow's A Shayna Maidel is a perfect example of how to explore an issue, something really weighty and important, through theatre. As she builds her drama around a family split by the Holocaust, Lebow keeps the focus on her characters, on how these specific people have been divided and damaged and changed forever. That effort makes the issues -- family, faith, loss -- achingly real and heartbreakingly human.

A Shayna Maidel centers on sisters Rose and Lusia, one brought up in America and one left behind in war-torn Poland, reunited for the first time since Rose was four. What should be a miracle, what is a miracle, doesn't come easily, as Rose and Lusia struggle to find common ground, to remember and to forget, and to figure out what family means there's nothing familiar there.

This is not an easy show for college-age actors, since it requires a great deal of maturity, especially from the actors playing Lusia, so fragile and so fierce, and her father Mordecai, who bears his own scars. Nancy B. Loitz, who directs A Shayna Maidel for Illinois Wesleyan University's School of Theatre Arts, draws excellent performances from Amy Stockhaus, who finds the emotional truth in Lusia, and Ian Scarlato, the rare 20-something who can credibly play a 70-year-old. I don't know how Scarlato manages it, honestly. But Mordecai's prickly pride, terrible regrets and inability to bend are clearly etched in Scarlato's performance.

Annie Simpson is very pretty, a "shayna maidel," indeed, as Rose, while Sarah Menke is a joy as Hana, the friend Lusia left behind, Allyce Torres is a warm presence as Mama, and Ben Mulgrew does beautifully with both sides -- the sweet youth of memory and the drawn, pale face of reality -- of Duvid, another broken piece of Lusia's heart.

Scenic Designer Curtis C. Trout mounts the action on three levels of golden wood in the cozy domesticity of Rose's New York apartment. It's a beautiful set with a clever little radio that lights up (and cues some nostalgic mood music, too.)

Zachery Wagner's costumes do a nice job of evoking the 40s, with pretty frocks and robes for Rose, a solemn suit for Mordecai, and a dreary sweater and skirt for poor Lusia. Who's who and where their heads are becomes clear just from the wardrobe.

This is not a short play -- it ran about 2:40 on the night I saw it -- and it takes a while to find its rhythm, with a costume change or two that trips up the pace in the early going. Act II goes much more smoothly, however, as emotion flows more freely and secrets are unlocked, building to a moving conclusion.

A SHAYNA MAIDEL
By Barbara Lebow

McPherson Theatre
Illinois Wesleyan University School of Theatre Arts

Director: Nancy B. Loitz
Scenic Designer: Curtis C. Trout
Costume Designer: Zachery Wagner
Lighting Designer: Stephen Sakowski
Sound Designer: Toby Jaguar Algya

Cast: Annie Simpson, Ian Scarlato, Amy Stockhaus, Sarah Menke, Allyce Torres and Ben Mulgrew

Remaining Performances: October 5 and 6 at 8 pm and October 7 at 2 pm.

Running Time: 2:40, including one 10-minute intermission

For ticket information, contact the box office at 309-556-3232 or visit www.iwu.edu/theatre.

IWU's A SHAYNA MAIDEL Opens Tuesday at McPherson Theatre

Illinois Wesleyan's School of Theatre Arts opens its fall season Tuesday night with Barbara Lebow's A Shayna Maidel, a play about two Polish Jewish sisters separated by the Holocaust. Rose, the younger sister, escaped from war-torn Poland with her father, but her mother and sister, Lusia, were left behind when Lusia fell ill. By the time she was well enough to travel, the Nazis had overrun the area, sending Lusia and her mother into a concentration camp. Lusia survived, but her mother did not. When the play begins in 1946, Rose has become a very Americanized, very stylish New Yorker, and the unexpected reunion with her long-lost sister leaves her conflicted and unsure. There's confusion, guilt, a huge cultural gap, and unwanted feelings. Is it going backwards to remember how it used to be? And how can you form a family with someone you don't even know?

Lebow's play bowed off-Broadway in 1987, with Melissa Gilbert as Rose, followed by a 1992 TV movie called "Miss Rose White" where Kyra Sedgwick took the role. Both versions received good notices, as audiences were taken with the emotional depth and universal themes in the script.

Professor Nancy B. Loitz directs A Shayna Maidel for IWU, with Curtis C. Trout as scenic designer, Zachary Wagner as costume designer, Stephen Sakowski as lighting designer, and Toby Algya as sound designer. Wesleyan's cast includes Annie Simpson as Rose Weiss, who changes her name to Rose White to sound more American, Ian Scarlato as Rose's father Mordecai, and Amy Stockhaus as Lusia, the sister newly arrived from Poland. Sarah Menke, Allyce Torres and Ben Mulgrew round out the cast.

Loitz's production of A Shayna Maidel opens in McPherson Theatre on Tuesday, October 2nd, with an 8 o'clock performance. Performances on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday are also scheduled for 8 pm, with Sunday's matinee beginning at 2 pm. For ticket information, call 309-556-3232 or click here for the box office webpage.