Directors’ Note:
At the heart of this charming play, written by Ernest Joselovitz and Harry Michael Bagdasian and adapted from the Jewish folktales of Chelm, there is a simple tale of the human experience. When the moonless Friday nights become too much of a safety hazard for the Jewish shtetl (village), a small party sets out to “capture the moon” and bring its light back home. Along the way, the party meets the adults of the neighboring Christian village and are immediately suspicious. They point out one another’s differences – in speech, dress, and traditions. Meanwhile, the children find common ground over shared bagels. Yossel–a young boy and the hero of our play–befriends the Williams’ daughter, Faith, and she offers to join them all on their quest.
Along the way, they meet many different people–some who wear their pants on their heads and some who eat the peel of a banana while leaving the fruit! The tension builds when the adventurers meet a terrifying lake monster and his minions. After a narrow escape, they successfully capture the moon and return to the shtetl with its light. In the end, the villagers realize that their new friends will be without light if they keep the moon only to themselves, so they return the moon to the sky to share its gifts with everyone.
It truly takes a village. That is the message of this play and the message of Circle Theatre. We would be nowhere without our strong system of support – our actors, our volunteers, our site supervisors, our teachers, our family members who get us to rehearsals, our backstage crew, our creative team, our board members, our funders, our audiences. It takes ALL of us to make this magic happen, and every single person is integral to our show. The beauty of live theatre is in the experience of creating together and building understanding. Our world would be a whole lot brighter – just like the world of our play – if we all learned to celebrate our differences and seek to understand them.
Courtney Stein Cairncross and Fran Sillau
Patrick Kilcoyne, President - Metro Community College
Mandy Gruhlkey - Attorney
Lisa Winton - Vic Gutman Associates
Sheri Schulz - Community Volunteer
Chris Bock - Quality Living resident
Julie Delkamiller – Professor, University of Nebraska, Omaha
