Out of the Past: The Stories of Martha Wolfenstein

Radio on the Lake Theatre presents this new project in partnership with Interplay Jewish Theatre, in conjunction with the Cleveland Arts Prize Past Masters series.

Out of the Past: The Stories of Martha Wolfenstein is a series of recorded readings of three short stories by the late Cleveland author Martha Wolfenstein. These stories first appeared in her 1905-published collection A Renegade and Other Tales.

Director: Faye Sholiton

Sound Design: John Watts

Music for Dovid and Resel provided by Kathryn Wolfe Sebo

Special thanks to Dennis Dooley for selecting Martha Wolfenstein as a Past Master, and for his assistance in bringing this project to life.

Out of the Past: The Stories of Martha Wolfenstein was generously funded by the Leonard Krieger Fund of the Cleveland Foundation, Dr. Mark Levine and Ellen Levine, and Interplay Jewish Theatre.

 

Martha Wolfenstein Readers

  • Kathryn Wolfe Sebo

    Kathryn Wolfe Sebo (Loebele Schlemiel) enjoyed a career in musical theater before embarking into the gratifying realm of the cantorate some 36 years ago. She served as the Cantor of Congregation Bethaynu, a conservative congregation, from 1985 until 1999 and then, in July of 1999, became the inaugural Cantor at The Temple-Tifereth Israel in Cleveland, Ohio. A past President of the Women Cantors’ Network, Cantor Sebo continues to serve The Temple as well as her native, Cleveland community.

  • Rosette Barron Haim

    Rosette Barron Haim (Dovid and Resel) was ordained in 1988 from the Hebrew Union College. Rabbi Haim has been a religious leader in Cleveland for more than three decades. In 2018, she created Celebrating Jewish Life, a subscription series offering spiritual, cultural and communal experiences to strengthen Jewish identity and community.

  • Sarah Sager

    Sarah Sager (Babette), Cantor Laureate at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, has served the Beachwood congregation for more than 40 years. One of the first women in the world to be ordained as cantor, she has long been engaged in "recovering and discovering women's spirituality." Her 2007 publication "The Torah: A Women's Commentary" has engendered feminist commentary and a growth in interpretations and scholarship. Among her honors, recognition from the Commission for Women's Equality of the American Jewish Congress.

Loebele Schlemiel

Dovid and Resel

Babette

Dorothy Silver

 

This project is dedicated to beloved Cleveland theater legend Dorothy Silver, who had already signed on to record these stories.

After her death in 2021, the artistic team decided to move the project forward in her memory.

According to director Faye Sholiton,

"We were heartbroken that Dorothy could not complete this project, but were deeply gratified when these three extraordinary women stepped forward to bring Martha's wonderful stories to life. Martha Wolfenstein was an immense talent whose work deserved to be revived for a modern audience, and we were thrilled when Dennis Dooley and the Cleveland Arts Prize told us they wanted to include her in the Past Masters series. It's a privilege to honor both her legacy - and Dorothy's - with these recordings".

Out of the Past: The Stories of Martha Wolfenstein will also be made available to the Cleveland Public Library system.

For more information about Out of the Past: The Stories of Martha Wolfenstein, please contact Caroline Breder-Watts at caroline@radioonthelaketheatre.org.