A huge set of Thank You's to:

With deep gratitude, we thank The Community Synagogue Theater Company's biggest supporters - the leadership of the Community Synagogue - to our Executive Director, Jeff Rembrandt who always found a way to say yes, to our clergy team, our Board of Trustees, our COVID task force and our maintenance team - we literally could not have done this without you!!

A big thank you goes to Matt DeLuca and the Mineola HS for sharing experience, knowledge, props and set pieces for this performance!

Dear Audience Member,

It is with deep gratitude and total amazement that I officially welcome you to a performance of The Community Synagogue Theater Company!  What an unbelievable roller coaster we have been on - as a company, as a community and as a collective humanity.  We could not have predicted on March 14, 2020 when we made the difficult decision to cancel our production of Once Upon A Mattress, that was set to open on April 2, that we would have spent nearly 15 months in lockdown, devoid of arts, culture, and the basic human experience of being together.  Community theater is so much more than putting on a great show - it's the process of coming together, working towards a goal, working and creating in tandem with fellow thespians to have the ultimate expression of emotion, with the goal of evoking that same emotion in our audience.  

When Tom approached me about putting on a series of one acts this year, I was ecstatic.  I knew that our company needed something to work on as much as our audiences needed the entertainment.  A musical didn't seem to make much sense, so we moved out of our comfort zone and into a straight comedy!   Zoom auditions, zoom rehearsals and rehearsing at home made for a bizarre, and yet totally doable experience.  We are nothing if not nimble!  As things began to open up in May, with vaccinations going up and infection rates going down, we allowed ourselves to believe that it would be possible to move the rehearsal process in person, and then possibly, a live performance.  It is dizzying to believe that we were able to bring you a live performance in just a few weeks. 

None of this would have been possible without the incredible leadership of our esteemed director and dear friend, Tom Rocco.  His vision, patience, time and expertise is second to none and we are so lucky to have him.  Our luck continues that we have the incomparable Jane Ronis as our resident, in house Stage Manager.  Her enthusiasm for this company and her training as a stage manager keeps us all working at the highest possible level.  The newest addition to our team was simply a godsend when we needed it most - Ben Hegarty is responsible for all of the technical aspects of the show - from the sound at the live performance, to the filming, editing and streaming of the video.  His talent is insane and we are going to be happy to say we knew him when!

Finally, I would like to dedicate this performance to our dear friend and company member, Gina Farasciano.  Gina would have loved doing comedy and would have had us all in stitches at rehearsal watching her shine up on stage.  We know she is shining down upon us at this performance, and forever.  

We thank you for your support and your belief that the theater is worth doing.  We certainly agree!

Sincerely,

Lori Zlotoff

Executive Producer