Barbara Lebow Playwright

Vanessa Stalling ~ Director

Cast

Emily Berman * Lusia Weiss Pechenik

Emily Glick * Rose Weiss, beginning 10/22

Sam Bell-Gurwitz Duvid Pechenik, beginning 11/7

Carin Schapiro Silkaitis * Mama, until 11/25

Alex Stein Duvid Pechenik, until 10/28

Charles Stransky * Mordechai Weiss

Bri Sudia * Rose Weiss, until 10/21

Sarah Wisterman Hanna

Production Team

Collette Pollard # ^ Scenic Designer
Rachel K. Levy # Lighting Designer
Samantha C. Jones # Costume Designer
Jeffrey Levin Sound Designer and Composer
Hillarie M. Shockley Properties Designer
Elise Kauzlaric Dialect Designer
Dina Spoerl Lobby Display Designer
Sasha Smith Intimacy Designer
Deborah Blumenthal Dramaturg
Richard Lundy * Stage Manager, beginning 11/7
Mary Zanger * Stage Manager, until 11/4
April Cleveland Assistant Director
Elle Erickson Production Assistant

Understudies

Ross Kugman Duvid Pechenik

Julie Proudfoot Mama

Mike Rogalski Mordechai Weiss

Maggie Scrantom Lusia Weiss Pechenik, Hanna

Sarah Wisterman Rose Weiss

Reviews

Chicago Tribune

August 30, 2018

★★★★. “A neglected play from the 1980s that truly is much richer than I, for one, had ever realized … Beautifully detailed and exquisitely acted … that clear-eyed honesty lies this potent show’s ability to broaden its impact beyond its own specifics. You might be watching a story about a trio of Jewish immigrants in New York in 1946, with all the attendant themes of pride and assimilation, honoring the past and moving forward to the present, but you cannot help but think of the common problems faced by all immigrants, all refugees. You can’t avoid your head filling with the suffocating inequality of disruption — how some of us get to live our lives with mistakes for which we mostly can blame ourselves, and yet how others must withstand the most destructive of external disruptions.”

—Chris Jones

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Chicago Sun-Times

August 30, 2018

★★★★. “Transcendent … Connections between family members and between the past and the present define A Shayna Maidel. It’s filled with tragedy, but it is also a story of survival and strength.“

—Catey Sullivan

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CBS 2

August 31, 2018

★★★★. “A really moving a beautiful play … As a whole this very fine show reminds us of the plights of immigrants and refugees, but also how ordinary families can be upended by events out of their control.”

—Chris Jones

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Newcity

September 2, 2018

RECOMMENDED. “A richly complex journey. The play poses so many questions: How do we love people through their trauma? When the people around us can’t understand where we’ve been and where we are, how do we hold our trauma alone? … This is absolutely the sort of work that we need to champion.“

—Erin Shea Brady

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The Hawk Chicago

September 5, 2018

★★★★. “So incredibly relevant and resonant: the first must-see of the fall theatre season. … You’ll leave hearing the echoes of your ancestors and questioning the significance of where, with whom, and with what resources one is raised. You’ll leave asking yourself what’s most important to you, what you would save and hold on to if the world around you ever crumbled. It’s, as the best productions are, an experience with lasting effects.“

—Emily Schmidt

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Broadway World

September 1, 2018

“A beautiful, haunting, and necessary theater experience … A Shayna Maidel has a freshness and immediacy that had me on the edge of my seat.“

—Rachel Weinberg

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PerformInk

September 5, 2018

“Gorgeous and heartfelt … A Shayna Maidel displays many challenging and painful moments and harsh truths from the recent past, but ultimately shows the resilient power of family and love.”

—Elizabeth Ellis

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Daily Herald

August 31, 2018

★★★. “Beautifully performed … [Vanessa] Stalling’s production is a careful, yet emotionally charged one, free from false sentiment.”

—Barbara Vitello

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Chicago On Stage

August 30, 2018

★★★★. “Because TimeLine’s audience is within a few feet of the actors, we are placed right in the room with them, letting us share in their joys and pains. … This provocative play serves as a reminder and a warning, and seems more timely now than ever.“

—Karen Topham

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Chicago Theater Beat

September 1, 2018

★★★½. “A Shayna Maidel is a story of the Holocaust, immigration and survival, but most of all it’s a story of sisters. … As A Shayna Maidel progresses and the sisters learn to live with – and love – one another as adults, the viewing experience becomes infinitely rewarding.“

—Lauren Emily Whalen

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Chicago Theatre Reviews

September 1, 2018

“The story truly springs from the page with breath and tears … [Vanessa] Stalling has infused her presentation with life, authentic humanity and unpretentious sensitivity. It’s impossible not to become engaged in this brilliant production without finding empathy with every character. That’s the gift that Ms. Stalling brings to theatergoers: she brings Barbara Lebow’s impressive, inspirational play to Chicago, and makes it feel timely and brand new once again.”

—Colin Douglas

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Stage and Cinema

August 30, 2018

“Sensitively staged by Vanessa Stalling for TimeLine Theatre, and galvanized by an indelibly committed six-member ensemble, A Shayna Maidel delivers a harrowing litany of loss. Still, there’s enough hope to leaven so much suggested sorrow.“

—Lawrence Bommer

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The Fourth Walsh

September 5, 2018

“[Barbara] Lebow’s story pieces together the past and the present. The Weiss family searches for understanding, forgiveness and love in the aftermath of a genocide. Although the Holocaust is ever-present… this play is about what happened to a pretty girl. And her story is powerful. A Shayna Maidel is like sitting in the living room of an estranged family and watching as they learn how to be a family again.”

—Katy Walsh

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Windy City Times

September 5, 2018

“A Shayna Maidel, first produced in the mid-1980s, is among the most successful of the many plays about those who survived or avoided The Holocaust. … The look is splendid. In short, the production has the integrity we’ve come to expect from TimeLine.“

—Jonathan Abarbanel

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Chicago Reader

September 5, 2018

“A Shayna Maidel is almost necessarily compelling … There are two kinds of Holocaust narrative, after all: the kind, like Shoah, that sticks to the monstrous facts, and the kind, like Schindler’s List, that’s committed to redemption. A Shayna Maidel is out for redemption.“

—Tony Adler

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Chicagoland Theater Reviews

August 31, 2018

★★★½. “[A Shayna Maidel] triumphs as an intimate and absorbing family drama … Its success is easily understood.“

—Dan Zeff

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Third Coast Review

August 31, 2018

“Skillfully directed by Vanessa Stalling, with careful attention to the present turmoils and wrenching memories of the main characters. … There are many sweet and tender moments in A Shayna Maidel, along with sad and painful memories.”

—Nancy Bishop

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Picture This Post

August 30, 2018

RECOMMENDED. “This production is about intense emotions erupting in intimate spaces. … Anyone seeking a play in which sensitive women grapple with major issues will find substance in Rose and Lusia’s emerging relationship.”

—Susan Lieberman

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Features

Daily Herald

August 17, 2018

Barbara Vitello sat down with A Shayna Maidel actor Charles Stransky for this Daily Herald feature on Chuck’s Chicago upbringing, his long career, and what makes this the perfect moment for a play about family.

—Barbara Vitello

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