THE ROLE MODEL  OUTSTANDING JEWISH WOMEN               BY STACEY BROOK

ELIZABETH SWADOS          

Dr. Elizabeth Swados is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Ford Fellowship, a Covenant Foundation Grant, 3 Obie Awards, 5 Tony Nominations, a special Pen Citation and a Cine Award.  She has composed, written and directed over 30 theater pieces including The Trilogy, Nightclub Cantata, Broadway’s groundbreaking 1977 production Runaways (Tony nomination), Alice in Concert (starring Meryl Streep), Doonesbury and Rap Master Ronnie (both in collaboration with Garry Trudeau).  Her work has been seen at The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Brooklyn Academy of Music as well as on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in productions around the world. Currently, she is in production for a new musical Jabu about the life of Alfred Jarry.  This work will be presented at New York’s Flea Theater this spring and at the Alley Theater in Houston in the fall.  As a composer, Swados has written music for film and television. Her compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Asia Society, and in dozens of cabarets, clubs, churches and synagogues.  As an author, Swados has published 3 novels, 3 non-fiction books and 9 children’s books.  In addition, she has authored articles for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue and O.

She is currently at work on a memoir/textbook about working with adolescents in the theater and has a project with teenagers called Loss and Gain that will tour the New York public school system.  As an author, Ms. Swados has published three novels, three non-fiction books, and nine children's books.  Her newest books are My Depression (April 2005) and Sidney's Animal Rescue (now available).  She is currently writing a memoir/text book for Faber & Faber about creating theater with adolescents.  She has also collaborated on film scripts with Milos Forman (based on her musical "Groundhog"), Marlon Brondo, and Sean Penn, and on television scripts with Tom Fontana and Kelsey Grammer's production company.

 

 

Her expertise with young people is exemplified by seven shows made for and with teenagers, including "Runaways" on Broadway, and "The Hating Pot", a PBS Special.  Her two most recent works for young adults are "Heart and Mind" about mental illness in children, and "Everything is different", both for national video release. Published plays:  "Runaways": A collection of songs sung by troubled children. While the subject is primarily runaway children from broken homes, Runaways also comments on the larger world in which the children live. "Elizabeth Swados makes us eavesdrop on the sufferings of children. That sounds ominous but it isn't.... The calligraphy of childhood is one of the wonders of nature even when the message it writes is heartbreaking."---N.Y. Times. "An immensely affecting show."---Newsweek. First performed at Martinson Hall Public Theater and The Plymouth Theater on Broadway. "Alice in Concert": Meryl Streep made a great impression in this musical directed and produced by Joseph Papp at the Public Theatre. An extremely imaginative rendering of the Alice in Wonderland story, performed on a bare stage. The music encompasses everything from country-western to calypso, all transmogrified by Ms. Swados' inimitable style. "Ms. Swados' new dramatized cantata ... made me think of Carroll very deeply.... [She] magnificently catches most of Carroll's divine nuttiness...Her best musical to date."-- N.Y. Post. "Doonesbury": to make it through commencement, the Walden crowd must fend off Zonker's uncle Duke, who wants to bulldoze their house and replace it with condos. "A larkish lampoon of an entertainment, sometimes sweet and often very funny. The score ranges from rock and calypso to tender ballad and boogie-woogie-- a lively assortment of solos, duets and ensembles."-- Christian Science Monitor. Liz Swados has devoted much of her thirty year career to making shows with, for, and about children and adolescents. These shows are issue-oriented and often tour public and private schools as well as running in professional theaters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE ROLE MODEL WOMEN TO ADMIRE            

Liz's mission is to create engaging theater that is deeply connected to kid's thoughts and feelings, producing a repertoire that reflects the opinions and issues of the young performers she works with. In extensive workshops lasting from three months to a year, she trains a diverse group of adolescents (aged anywhere from 11 to 20) in acting, movement, voice and writing skills. Through company exercises and improvisation, a group of disparate individuals coagulates to form an ensemble as each person joins in the creative process, adding their own monologues, scenes and songs. Liz believes that children are misrepresented, condescended to, and made to participate in theater that has nothing to do with their day-to-day concerns. By approaching theater from the point of view of the children involved, a new theatrical form is born that truly is young people's theater. Due to Liz's unique, exciting and engrossing educational methods, her ensembles perform at an extremely high level. Many of Liz's plays for and about youth are available on the Plays page. Liz is currently writing a memoir/text book for Faber & Faber about creating theater with adolescents. The book includes sample exercises and descriptions of the techniques she has developed over 25 years. Through theater education, Liz strives to give children the skills they need to create theater they can make their own.- Stacey Brook.

LAURA LAUDER

Laura Lauder is determined to make sure that the Jewish community flourish and prosper nationwide and worldwide, by using her incomparable knowledge of venture-capitalism methods. Her objectives are noble: The creation of a cadre of  well-trained educators and teachers in both, Jewish and secular education and learning, so they could and would fill the ever increasing ranks of Jewish scholars and pedagogues  in Jewish day schools and centers of learning. In addition, this great  woman comes from an outstanding Jewish philanthropist family who raised approximately $100 million for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. An organization, Laura’s mother, Evelyn founded herself.

 

STACY MADISON

Stacy Madison. The Jewish Woman reported: “For Stacy Madison, getting fired from a restaurant in Honolulu "was the best thing that ever happened." After months of working more than 80 hours a week as a manager, she had asked when her bonus check would be coming—and found herself without a job. "That's when the entrepreneurial gene clicked," she says. "I was now motivated to go into my business for myself." Seven years after co-founding Stacy's Pita Chip Company with her former husband and current business partner, Mark Andrus, the 39-year-old Madison presides over a multimillion-dollar natural-snack-food company that's equally dedicated to its products, employees and charitable contributions. A single mother of twin baby girls, she also has a newfound respect for women who juggle work and family. "I am proud of all of my choices," she says. "I learned to stop waiting for things to happen to me and, rather, became proactive." Ranked the number-two-selling snack food in Costco stores worldwide, Stacy's Pita Chips have earned Madison numerous accolades, including an invitation to visit the White House in 2000.” As a successful female business leader, doing good works remains a crucial component of her modus operandi, which she attributes to her Reform Jewish upbringing.