{"id":12121,"date":"2014-01-24T12:56:15","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T18:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=12121"},"modified":"2014-01-24T16:37:07","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24T22:37:07","slug":"producer-of-goldas-balcony-is-proud-zionist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/producer-of-goldas-balcony-is-proud-zionist\/","title":{"rendered":"Producer of &#8216;Golda&#8217;s Balcony&#8217; is proud Zionist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ALAN SMASON, Exclusive to the CCJN<\/p>\n<p>Producer David Fishelson is not a household name to most theater lovers, but he holds the record for producing the longest-running one-woman show ever to run on the Great White Way, &#8220;Golda&#8217;s Balcony.&#8221; Originally scheduled to have its regional premiere opening\u00a0 at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carr\u00e9 tonight, \u00a0a last minute decision to cancel the first two performances due to the illness of star Claire Moncreif in the role of Israel Prime Minister Golda Meier means that Sunday will be the new opening date.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/GOLDA1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-12131 lazyload\" title=\"GOLDA1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/GOLDA1-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/GOLDA1-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/GOLDA1-1024x688.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/GOLDA1.jpg 1280w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/201;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-12131\" title=\"GOLDA1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/GOLDA1-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/GOLDA1-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/GOLDA1-1024x688.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/GOLDA1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>The Sunday afternoon January 26 performance will be a benefit for the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana. It will begin at 3:00 p.m at the theater located at 616 St. Peter Street. A limited number of tickets, each costing $40.00, will be available at the door.<\/p>\n<p>Patrons originally scheduled to see Moncreif tonight and tomorrow night in what should be a tour de force performance will be rescheduled to later performances, according to a press release from the theater&#8217;s public relations company.<\/p>\n<p>Following the Sunday performance, Fishelson will participate in a Skype interview and will answer questions from audience members. As the producer of \u201cGolda\u2019s Balcony,\u201d the award-winning\u00a0play that starred Tovah Feldshuh and, later, non-Jewish star Valerie Harper in its road production, Fishelson has enjoyed a string of critical and artistic triumphs. But just as important to him as the fame and reward that producing successful stage productions brings is the significance of bringing to the stage a work that articulately defends Israel\u2019s reasons for existence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis play is a love letter to Israel,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause it is written from Golda\u2019s point of view.\u201d Even noted author and commentator Elie Wiesel was moved to tears when he saw the original William Gibson play on Broadway, a fact that Fishelson is happy to relate.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12132\" style=\"width: 209px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/goldas_balcony2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12132\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12132 lazyload\" title=\"New Orleans Photographer Frank Aymami\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/goldas_balcony2-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/goldas_balcony2-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/goldas_balcony2-681x1024.jpg 681w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/goldas_balcony2.jpg 852w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 199px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 199\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12132\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12132 \" title=\"New Orleans Photographer Frank Aymami\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/goldas_balcony2-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/goldas_balcony2-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/goldas_balcony2-681x1024.jpg 681w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/goldas_balcony2.jpg 852w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-12132\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Claire Moncreif will star as Golda Meir, the only woman to ever hold the post of Israel prime minister. (Photo by Frank Aymami)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cUnashamedly and with great art it tells the story of the Jewish people in a way that you can be proud of Israel,\u201d he continued. \u201cI didn\u2019t write it and I didn\u2019t direct it. I pulled a team together and I gave them support on the sidelines. That\u2019s been my job. I\u2019ve been the shepherd on this project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fishelson doesn\u2019t know why someone who could best be described as a secular Jew has now become a confirmed Zionist. \u201cI am not a practicing Jew,\u201d he stated, \u201cbut I\u2019ll be the first one to stand up when the stormtroopers come into the room ask who is the Jew. I\u2019m an admirer of it (Judaism), but I am not a practitioner of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The journey to his present day position and feelings began as a young boy in Wooster, Ohio, not far away from Cleveland, a place he grew to frequent and admire for its arts scene.\u00a0 Yet, it was his father, Joe Fishelson, a renaissance man who was both a manufacturer of fire-fighting equipment and a university professor, who gave him his first taste of Zionist fervor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy dad spent a year teaching at Hebrew University,\u201d he explained. \u201cIn seventh grade I was 12 going on 13 and we lived in Jerusalem. It was the years between 1967 and 1973 and it was a time of great euphoria. It was a great time to be in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fishelson found the overall experience moving. \u201cAs a young boy, to be in this beautiful and great country was a wonderful experience. It planted a seed of a lifelong devotion to Israel in my psyche. When I had an opportunity to produce this Zionist show, this was the realization of wanting to give something back,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, to be in theatre was not something Fishelson had planned. As a film student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, he immersed himself in the study of cinema, oftentimes seeing two or more films a day. \u201cFilm was my thing,\u201d he said. \u201cMy trajectory is from a love of motion pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He credits his attempts at screenwriting towards spiriting his entry into the theatre scene. The pivotal project was \u201cCity News,\u201d an independent film he wrote and directed that was broadcast over PBS\u2019s \u201cAmerican Playhouse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess you could sum me up as a guy who wanted to work in film, but wound up finding his niche by working in theatre,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>(<em>Portions of the above are printed courtesy of the <a title=\"Cleveland Jewish News\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cjn.org\" target=\"_blank\">Cleveland Jewish News<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Producer%20of%20%27Golda%27s%20Balcony%27%20is%20proud%20Zionist\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4858,4891,4890,8790,8795,4892,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12121"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12135,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12121\/revisions\/12135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}