“adam Baum And The Jew Movie” Comedy/drama Opens This Month At The Michael-ann Russell Jcc

Oct. 2, 2009 - PRLog -- “Adam Baum and the Jew Movie” by Daniel Goldfarb and directed by David Zabel, the second production of the 2009/10 season of the Jewish Cultural Arts Theatre (J-CAT) of the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center/Sanford L. Ziff Campus, will be presented from October 21-November 1, in the JCC’s J-CAT theatre, 18900 NE 25th Avnenue, North Miami Beach.

The play, a comedic drama that touches on the subject of racism and prejudice, in 1946 Hollywood, California, where Jewish movie mogul, Sam Baum, prepares to give notes to non-Jewish screenwriter, Garfield Hampson, on his screenplay about anti-Semitism.   Time is of the essence since Zanuck at Fox has his own “Jew Movie” – “Gentleman’s Agreement” – and it is the belief that America can only take one.  Furthermore, Sam Baum tells the non-Jewish Hampson that the script that he has prepared is too Jewish, having been written “as a Jew, and not as a Gentile.”

Cast in the show are Daniel Steinlauf as Samuel Baum, Jonathan Yunger as Garfield Hampson, and David Ben-Arie and Blake Mars (who are double cast) for the role of Adam Baum, Sam’s son, who is preparing to become a Bar Mitzvah. According to Yunger, “The character who I play, Garfield Hampson, is a writer who is way ahead of his time.  He’s fed up with screwball comedies and wants to write something with a message.  So he takes the leap, which in those days was risky.  Risky for his career and the message he was going for.  After all, he was a gentile writing a Jewish script in 1946.”

“Adam Baum and the Jew Movie” will open with a wine and cheese reception on Wednesday night, October 21, at 7 pm.  Other production dates and times are:
Thursdays, October 22 and 29, 7:30 pm      Saturdays, October 24 and 31, 9 pm
Sundays, October 25 and November 1, 2 pm      Tuesday, October 27, 7:30 pm
Tickets for Opening Night are $36; for all other performances $27-front row seating/ $20-general admission/$12-seniors and students.  All seats are reserved.  Tickets may be purchased on-line at www.jcctheatre.com or by phone at 1-866-811-4111.

The Jewish Cultural Arts Theatre (J-CAT) is the community theatre program of the MAR-JCC’s Rabbi Norman Mussman Cultural Arts Department.  Initially launched two years ago, primarily as an after school theatre program for middle and high school age youth, the J-CAT program has assimilated under its umbrella the MAR-JCC’s adult community theatre company, Actors In The Gym.  This season, J-CAT youth and adult, will present a total of six productions, in addition to providing acting classes and workshops.  

For further information about “Adam Baum and the Jewish Movie” or about J-CAT’s theatre season, call Lillian Andron, J-CAT’s Educational Director, at 305-932-4200, ext. 130

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The Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center/Sanford L. Ziff Campus is dedicated to the enrichment of Jewish life and fosters the spiritual, emotional, and physical development of its individual members through all of life’s stages and circumstances. The MAR-JCC represents a model of acceptance, understanding and diversity. As such, people look at the MAR-JCC as a center of excellence that epitomizes how shared Jewish values support a vibrant and evolving constituency. The MAR-JCC is a beneficiary agency of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and the United Way of Miami-Dade County, and a member of the Jewish Community Center Association of North America.