Inspired amateur theatre came to Deal, New Jersey this spring, as the talented thespians of Hillel Yeshiva’s High School Drama Club excelled in their production of Woody Allen’s Don’t Drink The Water. Audiences could not stop laughing at the amazing performances onstage.
Father Drobney, played by Zach Winzelberg, narrated the events on stage in a charismatic fashion with entertaining card tricks and magic acts. The play’s plot was familiar to many audience members: the story of the Hollander family, a New Jersey family caught behind the Iron Curtain in an unknown Communist country during the 1960s. Communist police chased the family and mistakenly believed them to be American spies. David Winitsky, a senior, had the audience roaring with laughter with his portrayal of Walter Hollander, the patriarch of the family. Yvette Halawani, a junior, proved a perfect foil for David with her witty repartee as Walter’s wife, Marion Hollander. The sparks flew between them, and their superb acting had us actually believing they were married. Susan Cohen, a junior, completed the family as the Hollander’s daughter, Susan. Together the family managed to cause total disruption as unintentional guests of the American Embassy.
The actors who played the Embassy staff brought an incredible sense of reality to the setting of the play. Raymond Chalme, a junior, played Axel Magee and achieved the sympathy of the audience in his role as the bumbling, hapless son of the American Ambassador, a role perfectly executed by one of Hillel’s favorite seniors, Ike Newman. The audience swooned over Axel and Susan’s on-stage faux romance. Adam Nasar, another senior, played the Embassy administrator, Mr. Kilroy, who, by the end of the play, suffers from multiple personality disorder. Nasar convincingly portrayed a split personality onstage, much to the delight of the laughing audience. Fortune Haber, a junior, gave a wonderfully eccentric performance as Ambassador Magee’s personal French chef. Her French accent was delicious!
The aggressive and intense communist soldiers were characterized by Elliot Antebi and Lee Cohen, both seniors. Antebi and Cohen proved a formidable duo, and their performance was also heightened by their ability to effectively insert elements of improv into each scene. Daniel Newman, sophomore, played the well-meaning lackey, Mr. Burns; and Joey Sultan, senior, provided comic relief as the “Sultan of Bashir” (with First Wife Shelley Greenstein, sophomore). Other outstanding cameo roles were filled by Doreen Zehavi, junior, Joey Bouganim, senior, and our own Head of School, Rabbi Howard Bald.
Our director, Ms. Jessica Lytle, along with assistant director Maurice Rahmey, senior, prepared each cast member to shine onstage. All of their performances were brilliant, but the interaction between the group of actors was the best part of the play.
The success of this production was the result of extraordinary producing and directing by Ms. Lytle.
