The best-laid plans of theater troupes, like those of mice and men, often go awry.
Such was the situation at New Jewish Theatre, which announced its 2010-11 season in March. Since then, however, two of the five shows had to be pulled. But all is well now, says artistic director Kathleen Sitzer, with good replacements ready to go.
A script straight from this spring's Humana Festival of New American Plays, "Sirens" by Deborah Zoe Laufer, will take the February slot, originally assigned to "Imagining Madoff." And instead of a play about Ann Landers, the season will close with "The Immigrant," a fact-based, sentimental hit by Mark Harelik that New Jewish first staged in 1999.
"We've had to make a switch after we had our schedule before," Sitzer said. "But never two."
The reasons for cancellation were different. The February play, "Imagining Madoff" by Deb Margolin, is a fantasy built on an imaginary conversation between corrupt financier Bernard Madoff and Nobel laureate, human rights activist, author and Auschwitz survivor Elie Weisel (one of Madoff's many victims). But Weisel, who had originally okayed the play, decided upon closer reading that he didn't want to be associated with it. The NJT wasn't the only theater caught in the switches.
When the NJT announced plans to produce "The Lady with All the Answers," it hadn't yet secured the rights to David Rambo's one-woman show about Ann Landers. "I guess I didn't jump on it soon enough," Sitzer said. Instead, the rights went to Max & Louie Productions, which will stage it in April at the Missouri History Museum.
Here's the actual 14th-season lineup:
"My Name Is Asher Lev" (Oct. 6-24). An exploration of the Hasidic world, based on a novel by Chaim Potok and adapted for the stage by Aaron Posner. Deanna Jent, artistic director of Mustard Seed Theatre, directs; Mustard Seed will present Posner's adaptation of another Potok novel, "The Chosen," Oct. 22-Nov. 7 at Fontbonne.
"The Last of the Red Hot Mamas" (Dec. 1-26). A musical revue about vaudeville star Sophie Tucker, directed, choreographed and co-written by Muny veteran Tony Parise (writing with Karin Baker).
"Sirens" (Feb. 16-March 6). Years before, a young musician fell in love and wrote a song that became such a big hit, it's supported him and his beloved - now his wife - ever since. Now Sam wants to reawaken the muse that spurred his creativity and mades him feel alive. "Sirens" will be directed by Tom Martin, one of several people who went to the Humana Festival in Louisville and returned to St. Louis urging Sitzer to look at the script.
"Awake and Sing" (April 20-May 8), Clifford Odet's classic slice of Jewish life during the Great Depression, will be directed by Steven Woolf, artistic director of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
Mark Harelik based "The Immigrant" on the story of his grandparents, the only Jews in a little Texas town in the early 20th century. Ed Coffield directs.
The NJT performs in its new home, the Harlene and Marvin Wool Studio Theatre in the Jewish Community Center's Arts & Education Building in the Staenberg Family Complex on the I.E. Millstone Campus, off Schuetz Road just west of Lindbergh Boulevard.
