Photo Flash: TimeLine Theatre Presents A SHAYNA MAIDEL

TimeLine Theatre Company announces the cast and creative team for the launch of its 22nd season-a revival of A Shayna Maidel, Barbara Lebow's moving family drama about two sisters reunited after years of separation caused by the rise of the Nazis.

Director Vanessa Stalling, who recently helmed The Goodman Theatre's critically acclaimed production of Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves, makes her TimeLine debut with A Shayna Maidel.

Previews begin August 22. Opening Night is August 30 and performances run through November 4 at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave., Chicago. For tickets and information, visittimelinetheatre.com or call the TimeLine Box Office at (773) 281-8463 x6.

A powerful and poignant drama, A Shayna Maidel begins with the story of a daughter and her father, Rose and Mordechai Weiss, who escaped Poland shortly before World War II and have adapted to life as new Americans in New York City. In their escape, they were forced to leave behind Rose's sister Lusia and her mother. When Rose and Lusia are reunited, Rose struggles to engage with an older sister who, having survived the horrors of war overseas, now seems a stranger. And Lusia-haunted by vivid memories of her past-is uncertain about connecting with a family she's never known.

Stalling's revival of A Shayna Maidel for TimeLine will feature Emily Berman (she/her) as Lusia and Bri Sudia (she/her) as Rose. The cast also includes Carin Schapiro Silkaitis as Mama (she/her), Alex Stein as Duvid (he/him), Charles Stransky as Mordechai (he/him) and Sarah Wisterman as Hanna (she/her). Note: Carin Schapiro Silkaitis steps in for Hanna Dworkin, originally announced as Mama.

The production team includes TimeLine Associate Artist Collette Pollard (Scenic Designer, she/her); Samantha C. Jones (Costume Designer, she/her); Rachel K. Levy (Lighting Designer, she/her); Jeffrey Levin (Sound Designer and Composer, he/him); Elise Kauzlaric (Dialect Designer, she/her); and Deborah Blumenthal (Dramaturg, she/her).

Written in 1984, A Shayna Maidel was widely produced by America's leading regional theaters and became a long-running success Off Broadway from 1987 to 1989. The New York Times hailed A Shayna Maidel as "a tribute to the sustaining power of family,"The Hartford Journal Inquirer called the play "an emotional powerhouse of almost overwhelming proportions," and the Atlanta Constitution raved that "anyone who sees it will not soon forget it." The Chicago Reader, in a 2002 review, wrote that it presents "history as intimate as a snapshot," underscoring the play's fit with TimeLine's history-based mission.

Fast forward to this April, when The New York Times reported that 41 percent of Americans, as well as 66 percent of Millennials, "cannot say what Auschwitz was," and lack "basic knowledge" about the Holocaust.

?"Don't we know our own history?" responded Stalling. "It's disturbing to recognize our country's current ignorance about the Holocaust while at the same time witnessing rising anti-Semitism and white nationalism. Rather than shaping a world informed by the mistakes and traumas of our past, our lack of historical knowledge is shaping a country that feels like it's regressing. Simply put, our ignorance is dangerous."

Photo Credit: Lara Goetsch