Bashert. The word kept coming up in a recent interview with Mel Weiser and Joni Browne-Walders.
It was bashert (fate) that they were in Ashland, Ore., at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2008 when a friend suggested they view plays outside the festival. They went to Oregon Stage Works and saw the play “My Name is Rachel Corrie.” That play, which is considered to have a distinct Palestinian point of view, concerned the couple. They met with the producer and asked if he’d be willing to produce a play that explained the other side of the question, i.e., the Israeli viewpoint. He said he had looked for just such a play and none existed.
“Aha,” they thought. “We have our next project!”
Weiser and Browne-Walders both arrived separately in Phoenix from New York in the mid-1950s. Weiser was married and had a family and wasted no time in becoming involved in the theatre community in Phoenix. He directed a number of plays at the Phoenix Jewish Community Center, then located at 17th Avenue and Maryland in Phoenix. Among the plays were classics such as “Morningstar,” “The 10th Man” and “Middle of the Night.” At the same time he taught drama at local high schools and, ultimately for 17 years, at Glendale Community College while always writing on the side.
Browne-Walders was a young teenager at the time, smitten with dreams of being a Broadway actress. She volunteered to help out on the JCC plays and became friends with Weiser and his wife in the early 1960s.
Flash-forward to the early 2000s. Weiser and Browne-Walders both lost their spouses; his wife died in an automobile accident and her husband passed away from an illness. Browne-Walders had spent most of her adult life in Los Angeles.
They pair first re-met each other, appropriately, at a play. They were both at Phoenix Theatre’s 80th anniversary in 2000. Browne-Walders introduced herself and they chatted. Then again they bumped into each other at another play, and then another and another. Bashert! Weiser finally asked Browne-Walders out on a date and they have now been together 10 years, married for nearly seven.
Both had been independently writing for many years. In addition to writing many plays for high school and community theater productions worldwide, Weiser wrote “The Trespasser” (Avon Books), “Within the Web” (Dell), and Nick Nolte – Caught in the Act” (Momentum Books), which won the Irwin Award as the best celebrity book of 1999 from the Book Publicists of Southern California. (Nolte spent much of his early career in Phoenix). Weiser also wrote, produced and directed a feature film called Love Ya Tomorrow. He is a member of Broadway League, Dramatists Guild, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC), and American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). More recently, he wrote the play “Cry, Tiger,” which was optioned for a Broadway production in 2009.
Browne-Walders is a graduate of UCLA Theatre Arts. In addition to being an actress, she worked for Hollywood talent agents and producers, reading hundreds of scripts and writing coverage for film and TV development. She has written numerous plays, including “My Name is Evie Goldstein,” “Waiting for the Coast Guard” and “Home Furnishings,” which have been produced at Playwright’s Theatre, ASU West and Theatre Artists Studio. She was also a co-founder and publicist for Southwest Ensemble Theatre. It seemed only natural that they should collaborate on a play that meant so much to both of them. They had a burning desire to present the Israeli viewpoint to a sometimes naïve American public and to help fill the void from the lack of such plays.
They spent months researching their topic, including six weeks in Israel interviewing writers, politicians and citizens. They wanted to make sure their writing included more than just an emotional response — it needed to be real and filled with facts. Their final product is “A Tiny Piece of Land.” The setting is Nitzan, Israel, where an American unexpectedly arrives to visit his brother and his Israeli family. The two brothers discuss, argue and discover information about each other and their perspectives. Through the dialogue and action of the play, the audience is exposed to both sides of the age-old battle. Upon completion of the script, Weiser and Browne-Walders took it back to Oregon Stage Works where the producer honored his commitment and produced the play, with great success. They also had a reading at the Pico Playhouse in Los Angeles and a production at Teatron, a Jewish Theatre in Toronto.
The final stop — for now — is a production at Phoenix Theatre’s Little Theatre (100 E. McDowell in Phoenix) Feb. 6-10, utilizing most of the same stellar cast they used at the Los Angeles reading: Andrea Dovner, Cliff Smith and Robert Bledsoe. Talented Jenny Cohen is joining for this production. The play is a moving story of love, struggle and hope, which the playwriting couple hopes will resonate deeply with both the Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. At the past productions, Weiser and Browne-Walders have seen the play deeply touch those in the audience and have received extremely positive feedback in the post-show discussions.
They are using a phrase from the play as their tagline: “Don’t ever underestimate the Jewish spirit.”
Tickets are available by calling 602-254-2151 or at tickets.phoenixtheatre.com.
When asked what their next project would be, Browne-Walders said she’d like to just “retire” for a bit, noting all the energy it takes to promote and produce a work. Weiser is already thinking about what is coming up next. No doubt something will just pop up for them — bashert! Janet Arnold is the former producing director of the Arizona Jewish Theatre Company. She has been an active member of the local Jewish community since arriving in Phoenix in 1957.
Irwin Award as the best celebrity book of 1999 from the Book Publicists of Southern California. (Nolte spent much of his early career in Phoenix). Weiser also wrote, produced and directed a feature film called Love Ya Tomorrow. He is a member of Broadway League, Dramatists Guild, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC), and American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). More recently, he wrote the play “Cry, Tiger,” which was optioned for a Broadway production in 2009.
Browne-Walders is a graduate of UCLA Theatre Arts. In addition to being an actress, she worked for Hollywood talent agents and producers, reading hundreds of scripts and writing coverage for film and TV development. She has written numerous plays, including “My Name is Evie Goldstein,” “Waiting for the Coast Guard” and “Home Furnishings,” which have been produced at Playwright’s Theatre, ASU West and Theatre Artists Studio. She was also a co-founder and publicist for Southwest Ensemble Theatre.
It seemed only natural that they should collaborate on a play that meant so much to both of them. They had a burning desire to present the Israeli viewpoint to a sometimes naïve American public and to help fill the void from the lack of such plays.
They spent months researching their topic, including six weeks in Israel interviewing writers, politicians and citizens. They wanted to make sure their writing included more than just an emotional response — it needed to be real and filled with facts. Their final product is “A Tiny Piece of Land.” The setting is Nitzan, Israel, where an American unexpectedly arrives to visit his brother and his Israeli family. The two brothers discuss, argue and discover information about each other and their perspectives. Through the dialogue and action of the play, the audience is exposed to both sides of the age-old battle.
Upon completion of the script, Weiser and Browne-Walders took it back to Oregon Stage Works where the producer honored his commitment and produced the play, with great success. They also had a reading at the Pico Playhouse in Los Angeles and a production at Teatron, a Jewish theater in Toronto.
The final stop — for now — is a production at Phoenix Theatre’s Little Theatre (100 E. McDowell in Phoenix) Feb. 6-10, utilizing most of the same stellar cast they used at the Los Angeles reading: Andrea Dovner, Cliff Smith and Robert Bledsoe. Talented Jenny Cohen is joining for this production. The play is a moving story of love, struggle and hope, which the playwriting couple hopes will resonate deeply with both the Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. At the past productions, Weiser and Browne-Walders have seen the play deeply touch those in the audience and have received extremely positive feedback in the post-show discussions. They are using a phrase from the play as their tagline: “Don’t ever underestimate the Jewish spirit.” Tickets are available by calling 602-254-2151 or at tickets.phoenixtheatre.com.
When asked what their next project would be, Browne-Walders said she’d like to just “retire” for a bit, noting all the energy it takes to promote and produce a work. Weiser is already thinking about what is coming up next. No doubt something will just pop up for them — beshert!
