TACT's antidote for the blues

The Tel Aviv Community Theater offers audiences a good laugh with the racy comedy Social Security.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The Tel Aviv Community Theater offers audiences a good laugh with the racy comedy Social Security. Those winter blues got ya? TACT, the Tel Aviv Community Theater, is ready to rescue you with the best medicine: laughter.
Click for upcoming events calendar! TACT'S forthcoming production will keep everyone in a jolly mood with the racy American comedy for adults Social Security by Andrew Bergman, directed by Shimon Mandel. Bergman's screenwriting credits include Blazing Saddles and Honeymoon in Vegas. Originally produced on Broadway, Social Security opened in New York in 1986, starring Ron Silver and Marlo Thomas. "The play," says Madeleine Mordecai, TACT'S producer and chairperson, "is a subject close to everyone's heart. TACT loves to present comedies because laughter is the best way to give the audience a respite from everyday stress." TACT is a Tel Aviv-based group of theater lovers who volunteer their efforts to keep English theater alive by staging plays and showcases, sponsoring play reading and Shakespeare groups, and offering workshops and courses related to the theater arts. Half a century old, TACT has been entertaining audiences of all ages with comedy, music and drama in English at Beit Yad Labanim, under the sponsorship of Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality's Department of Culture. "It was a great challenge and privilege for me to direct a play written by Andrew Bergman and directed on Broadway by Mike Nichols," says TACT director Shimon Mandel. In the play, David and Barbara Kahn are yuppie New York gallery owners. Barbara's sister and brother-in-law, Martin and Trudy Heyman, live in Minneola with Barbara and Trudy's mother, Sophie Greengrass. The character of world-renowned artist Maurice Koenig also makes an appearance. Michah Himmelman plays David, a practical joker, carefree, breezy and totally lovable. Joanna Malamud, a professional actress from Canada, plays Barbara. Abigail Gottlieb and Yisrael (aka Ian) Levitt, play Trudy and Martin. Gottlieb is a second-generation TACT performer; her mother, Stella Rubin, is a veteran member. Lorna Muller plays Sophie Greengrass; and Murrel Kohn plays Maurice. The attractive New York apartment in the play is designed and built by the master of TACT'S sets, Bernie Rose. All agree that working together, watching the creative process evolve and seeing how each actor gradually becomes the character, make the hundreds of hours of rehearsals a source of accomplishment and pleasure. Social Security will be performed on December 26, 28, 30 & 31 (Gala Night) at 8:30 p.m., with a show on Wednesday, December 27, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are NIS 55, with reduced rates for organizations of 20+ persons. Performances are at Beit Yad Labanim, 63 Rehov Pinkas, Tel Aviv. Box Office: (03) 604-1707. Fax orders: (03) 604-1954. Open: Sun - Thurs. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. For further information, call Madeleine at 0545-322988.