He Said, She Said
January 18-February 2, 2015
A provocative show full of surprises and laughs as men and women tell all about fun, family, and fooling around.
THE PROGRAM
Material Adapted & Produced by Ronda Spinak
Directed by Eve Brandstein
Dramaturge Lisa Rosenbaum
Assistant Producer: Barbara Koletsky
Associate Producers: Susie Yuré & Rose Ziff
What Happened Next
Written by Allison White & David White.
Performed by Graham Sibley and Lisa Ann Grant.
Love Note
Written by Arla Sorkin Manson. Performed by Kate Zentall and Graham Sibley.
My First Love
Based on a short story by Alan Zweibel. Performed by Mark Simon, Graham Sibley, and Vicki Juditz.
Sweet Somethings
From the members of the cast. Performed by the ensemble.
Vague Recollections
Written by mother and son, G. Libby Schwartz and Alan Duncan Ross.
Performed by Graham Sibley, Kate Zentall, and the ensemble.
This Ain’t It
Music and Lyrics by Michele Brourman. Performed by the ensemble.
Off to the Races
Written by Barbara Bottner & Gerald Kruglik.
Performed by Kate Zentall and Mark Simon.
The Promise of Paradise
Written and Performed by Vicki Juditz.
Wrestling with Angels
Written by Robin Uriel Russin. Performed by Lisa Ann Grant and Mark Simon.
Once in Love
Lyrics by John Bettis and Music by Michele Brourman.
Performed by Lisa Ann Grant, Mark Simon and the ensemble.
ARTIST BIOS
BARBARA BOTTNER (Writer) writes for adults and kids. Some of her more than 40 books for children and teenagers have garnered national awards and appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. Her award-winning animations appeared on The Electric Company and Sesame Street, and Jim Henson sang her lyrics. She’s also written for children’s television and full-length features and was staff on a prime-time sitcom. Her short stories appeared in Cosmopolitan, Playgirl; her essays, humor, and criticism in LA WEEKLY, The Miami Herald, and New York Times. Her editorial art has appeared in the New York Times op-ed section and Ms. Magazine. As an actress, she traveled through Europe with Ellen Stewart’s Café La Mama and worked with Sam Shepherd. She’s been teaching writing to a talented bunch of authors and just completed a young-adult novel, I See Thunder.
EVE BRANDSTEIN (Director) has made contributions to nearly every facet of the entertainment industry as a major studio executive, producer, director, writer/creator, talent manager, and author. Eve has a very notable career as a casting director, with hundreds of credits for major television and film projects. Some of her credits over her three decades of casting include the feature This is Spinal Tap as well as television credits that include Diff’rent Strokes, One Day At A Time, Facts of Life, and Who’s The Boss. She has also produced and written E/R the Comedy Series and produced several features. Recently she directed the Off-Broadway production of Voices Of Swords in NY, and the long-running comedy Shut Up, Sit Down & Eat which is currently at the Snapple Entertainment Center on Broadway. Other recent credits are the NY and LA premieres of Revisiting Wildfire, Ronnie Spector’s Beyond The Beehive, Waiting For Jack – A Beat Poetry Reunion, Claiming Allen Ginsberg, and Suzanne Wang’s Cracked Open. Eve has also directed the Jewish Women’s Theater shows Stories From the Fringe, Saffron and Rosewater, Hold Me, Heal Me and Not That Jewish. She is currently producing Poetry In Motion, a spoken-word event since 1988 in LA at Beyond Baroque and in New York at the Cutting Room. evebrandsteinproductions.com.
MICHELE BROURMAN (Musical Director/Songwriter) is a Johnny Mercer Songwriter Award winner whose songs have been recorded by Reba McIntyre, Olivia Newton-John, Donny Osmond, and more. Her best-known song, “My Favorite Year,” recorded by Michael Feinstein, Cleo Laine, and Margaret Whiting, has become a cabaret standard. Broadway World recently wrote: “Brourman is an unquestionably amazing talent whose music should be heard by the whole world.” She composed the score for “Dangerous Beauty”, produced at the Pasadena Playhouse, with lyricist Amanda McBroom. She and McBroom have created the songs for seventeen animated features for Universal Studios, including the beloved “Land Before Time” series. Her musical “I Married Wyatt Earp”, with lyrics by Sheilah Rae, was produced Off-Broadway, and her songs have been featured in television and film. A gifted musical director, she’s worked with exceptional artists like Dixie Carter, Tovah Feldshuh and Bernadette Peters, and played piano in Bob Dylan’s band. Michele’s CD, Fools and Little Children, is available online.
LISA ANN GRANT (Actor) is thrilled to be a part of the Jewish Women’s Theatre. Originally from New York City, Lisa appeared on Broadway as Eponine in Les Miserables, Leader of the Pack, DreamGirls, and Camelot. She appeared Off-Broadway with Robert Downey Jr. and Jane Krakowski in American Passion and Radio City Music Hall as a soloist. On television she has appeared on Comedy Central, Stacked, Charmed, ER, and Crossing Jordan, to name a few, as well as several commercials and voice-overs. Every day is brighter because close by she has her mom, husband David, and two daughters Cara and Natalie.
VICKI JUDITZ (Actor) is best known for her one-woman show Teshuvah, Return, about her journey to Judaism, for which she received an LA WEEKLY nomination for Best Female Solo Performer and an Ovation Award nomination for Best Writing of a World Premiere. She has performed her original stories at temples, theaters, and festivals, including the National Storytelling Festival, the Aspen LAFF Festival, and the Jewish Festival of Hong Kong. Locally, she performs at spoken-word series such as Speakeasy, Tasty Words, I Love a Good Story, and Tales by the Sea. She recently won her first story slam at The Moth at Los Globos. No stranger to TV, she has guest-starred on Storytime, Everybody Loves Raymond, YES, DEAR, and My Name is Earl.
BARBARA KOLETSKY (Stage Manager/Assistant Producer) has most recently worked on the production side of Jewish Women’s Theatre. Prior to that, for three seasons she was responsible for catering. Now Barbara is thrilled to be moving into stage management for JWT at The Braid. Barbara is also the owner of RSVP Party Planning, where as an experienced party planner she has produced many events, specializing in charitable organizations but with many corporate and private clients as well. Barbara was born in New York and moved to California for a career in marketing and promotions for Polygram Records and Elektra Atlantic Corp. She regularly volunteers at the Grossman Burn Center with her service dog, Rodney.
GERALD KRUGLIK (Writer) is a physician who has been in practice for more than 40 years. He played the clarinet in the Doctors Orchestra, which toured China, and has co-authored four books for children with his wife, Barbara. One of them has been adapted as a musical for children in Stockholm, then animated and translated into French and Swedish. For the last issue of Tropic, the Miami Herald’s magazine, he published an essay about being the most written about husband in South Florida. He’s the delighted grandpa of two brand-new magical beings.
JAMIE LEVINSON (Technical Director) graduated from Santa Monica High School in 2010. At Allegheny College he acted in two productions, The Cherry Orchard, where he played Yepikhodov, and Servant of Two Masters, where he played Florindo. During his primary education, he appeared in numerous talent shows.
G. LIBBY (Writer), a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, is also a Phi Beta Kappa who graduated cum laude from Hunter College, was international president of Delta Phi Epsilon, NYC director of the American Cancer Society Women’s Division for fundraising, and somehow found the time to teach high school English. She is currently writing her memoir.
ARLA SORKIN MANSON (Writer) has written numerous television pilots, including Destiny and Me (ABC), Far from Where (ABC), The Shack (ABC), In the Mood (CBS), Loveland (CBS), and Bethany Gibbs (NBC), and has also written for the television series Against the Law (FOX) and Saved (TNT). Her TV-movie credits include The Wedding Dress (CBS) as executive producer, Mind Games (ABC) as writer/executive producer, and Acts of Contrition (CBS) as supervising producer. Arla’s contributions to Broadway theater include being co-producer on Beth Henley’s The Wake of Jamey Foster and production executive on Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy, Tom Dulack’s Solomon’s Child, and the Craig Carnelia musical Is There Life After High School? Arla has served on the board of directors and is currently on the selection committee of the Ojai Playwrights Conference. She dedicates this reading to her husband, David Manson, and her daughter, Lainie Sorkin Becky.
ALAN DUNCAN ROSS (Writer) is a writer, producer, and composer. He’s been accused of being a dreamer. What’s so great about reality? Accordingly, he is currently working on a feature-length animated musical film, based on his original screenplay. The film’s choreographer is Mikhail Baryshnikov. Ross also writes and produces television and is the author of several books. He loves the stage and is a rabid fan of Jewish Women’s Theatre, even though he’s a guy. His mother is G. Libby. Like many writers his age, when mothers are only a memory, he feels lucky he can pick up the phone and still say, “Hi, Mom.”
ROBIN RUSSIN (Writer) is a professor in the Department of Theatre, Film & Digital Production at the University of California, Riverside, where he helped create the MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts. He has written, produced, and directed for film, TV, and the theater, including the box-office hit On Deadly Ground, America’s Most Wanted, and ABC’s Vital Signs. Robin is co-author of the books Screenplay: Writing the Picture and Naked Playwriting. His stories, articles, and reviews have been appeared in Script Magazine, Verdad Magazine, Connotation Press, Harvard Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The American Oxonian, and Shofar, among others. A Rhodes Scholar, he has degrees from Harvard, Oxford, Rhode Island School of Design, and UCLA. His playThe Face in the Reeds recently premiered at the Ruskin Group Theatre, where he initiated and leads a workshop for emerging and established local playwrights.
GRAHAM SIBLEY (Actor) is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA and a founding member of IAMA Theatre Company. At EST/LA: Crack Whore Galore – LIVE, House of Gold, Bright Boy. At IAMA: World Premiere productions of Leslye Headland’s Cinephilia and Assistance, Neil LaBute’s Call Back, and Christian Durso’s Shiner in New York and Los Angeles. Other LA Theatre: Different Words for the Same Thing (*ws) with Center Theatre Group, Eurydice at A Noise Within, Belfry at Malibu Playhouse. Film/TV: Grey’s Anatomy, The OC, Strong Medicine, Hello My Name Is Frank, Midnight Sex Run, Saving Lincoln, Nanking, Robotropolis, Zombie Honeymoon, The Newsroom and How To Get Away With Murder. Graham has also penned a number of screenplays, plays, and short stories, including Dog Lovers, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and his first graphic novel, Cirrus: The Red Storm.
MARK SIMON (Actor) Stage: N.Y. Shakespeare Festival, Central Park: Measure for Measure and Henry V with Meryl Streep and William Hurt; N.Y.S.F., Public Theatre, The American Pig, with Henry Winkler; Hagar’s Children, Naked Lunch, and The American Pig. Regional Theatre: The Government Inspector, with Austin Pendleton and Bob Balaban; Steambath, at the George St. Playhouse; No. Carolina Shakespeare Festival, The Taming of the Shrew; Henry V; The Miser. In Los Angeles: World’s Second Greatest Entertainer, with Dick Shawn: Isn’t It Romantic, directed by Gerald Gutierrez; Exhibit A, at Disney Hall’s Redcat Theatre. Mark was a member of Paul Sills’ Story Theatre Co. in Chicago and recreated his roles on two broadcasts for N.E.T. Other featured television appearances: New Love American; Superior Court. On film Mark played The Man Who Doesn’t in the Academy Award-winning short Don’t. Bibliomania resulted in Mark’s second career as head buyer for the Samuel French Bookstore in Hollywood for 14 years. Mark performs with The Boyfriend, a cabaret trio.
RONDA SPINAK (Writer/Producer) created and produces JWT’s At-Homes Salon Theatre Series, now in its seventh season. To date, she has curated more than 20 original Jewish-themed salon shows for JWT, as well as been instrumental in adapting to the stage many of the pieces used in the salons. Educated at Stanford University, she also holds degrees from UCLA (MBA) and USC (Masters in professional writing). Ronda has written many plays, including Stories from the Fringe and festival-winner Oscar Wilde’s Wife, a favorite at the Ashland New Play Festival and Dayton’s FuturFest. She has written for the Emmy Award-winning children’s show Rugrats and authored the critically acclaimed nonfiction book ProBodX: Proper Body Exercise (HarperCollins, publisher). Ronda is on the board of the Association for Jewish Theatres and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. She feels especially blessed to be working with the many talented and inspiring women who are giving so generously to Jewish Women’s Theatre. She thanks ADR for his love, inspiration, and help.
ALLISON WHITE (Writer) is a writer, performer, and writing coach. She currently has a comedic web channel, Ally Sharre, on YouTube. Allison resides in Pacific Palisades, California, with her husband, David, and two children.
DAVID WHITE (Writer) is a screenwriter. His credits include Henry’s Crime, (starring Keanu Reeves, Vera Farmiga, and James Caan) and the upcoming Lionsgate comedy Revenge Wedding, as well as multiple projects in development. White is currently working on his first play.
SUSIE YURÉ (Associate Producer) has volunteered for 30 years in non-profit organizations, in which she has held leadership roles in fundraising, event planning, facilities coordinating, programming, membership, marketing, and administration. Susie has produced musical theatre productions, classical concerts, and cabaret performances and has been intensely involved in the world of theatre for over 20 years. She holds a BA and MA in elementary education from USC, along with her California lifetime teaching credential. Her favorite role is as mom to her two talented (grown) children, who are both professional (and working) musicians.
KATE ZENTALL (Actor) is proud to be an artist-in-residence at JWT. She has performed in NYC venues including the Public Theater, Guggenheim Museum, and Carnegie Hall. In LA, there’s been lots of Shakespeare, Irish plays, English comedies, dinner theater, and modern dramas, at the Taper and other companies around town, as well as movies and commercials plus a good deal of network TV, from series regular on Studio 5B to a recurring role on Hunter to guest spots on Cheers, Lou Grant, It’s a Living, Becker, and many more. In recent years she has been a writer and editor for magazines, books, the internet, and JWT. Kate considers herself a recovering actress who’s become increasingly lax about falling off the wagon. She believes she may be the only writer in LA not currently working on a screenplay.
ROSE ZIFF (Associate Producer) is new to performing arts. She came out of retirement after working at UCLA Medical Center for 33 years, where she functioned as “den mother” to more than 1000 interns, residents, and clinical fellows at UCLA, the VA, and Olive View-UCLA Medical Centers, providing resources and support. Rose is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Lev Eisha, a Jewish women’s non-profit religious organization and spiritual community. Her hobbies include gardening, dog training and hosting a monthly book club.