Theatre Ariel, in partnership with the Miriam and Raymond Klein Branch of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Philadelphia, presents BACK TO THE BOULEVARD, a new play celebrating the history of the Jewish community of Northeast Philadelphia. BACK TO THE BOULEVARD runs April 26 to April 29, 2007 in the Polonsky Theatre at the JCC’s Klein Branch at Red Lion and Jamison Roads. Tickets $4.00 for seniors and $8.00 for all others.

Tickets can be reserved by calling Theatre Ariel at 215-735-9481.

Playwright Julianne Theodoropulos has drawn from more than 50 oral history interviews that were conducted by students from Northeast area high schools. Serving as oral historians and photojournalists, theses students received service-learning credit while playing an instrumental part in the creation of BACK TO THE BOULEVARD, a play that portrays the community’s transformation from rural pastures to the multi-racial, multi-cultural community we find today. Based on oral history interviews with Jewish seniors from Northeast Philadelphia and performed by Theatre Ariel’s professional ensemble and two George Washington High School student actors, BACK TO THE BOULEVARD is a Philadelphia story.

BACK TO THE BOULEVARD is the culmination of Theatre Ariel’s two-year oral history arts project, A Community Remembers. Last February, students from three Northeast area high school schools, armed with oral history questionnaires, tape recorders, and photography equipment, hit the JCC’s Klein Branch, where they interviewed more than 54 seniors who shared with them their stories of immigration, migration, and post World War II suburbanization. They also documented the seniors’ stories by photographing them, leading to an exquisite photography exhibit that was displayed at the JCC’s Klein Branch, re-mounted last month at the MYX (Multi-Cultural Youth Exchange) Gallery in Old City, and is to be mounted once again, during the run of the production.

“It is a thrill to celebrate this very special Philadelphia story. The oral history docu-drama process” says Artistic Director Deborah Baer Mozes, “is one that I cherish. Celebrating one community enables all of us to see the universal story that is “humanity” and in these days of high tech disconnection, we need to hear the stories of our elders. Their story is our story.”

BACK TO THE BOULEVARD marks the seventh play that Julianne Theodoropulos (aka Julianne Bernstein) has written for Theatre Ariel. She is known for her ten-minute Jewish comedies and her work as co-editor of Theatre Ariel’s Ten-minute Plays from the Jewish Experience. She wrote the libretto for Theatre Ariel’s family musical, Aleph Bet Bop! and two oral history projects - one with the National Museum of American Jewish History where she wrote Heart and History, a Veterans Day Tribute based on letters from Jewish World War II Veterans and Letters thru Time, a tribute to the Jewish Family Services of Delaware, inspired by the letters of the famous Bintel Brief. BACK TO THE BOULEVARD, Theodoropulos’ fifth commission, is being directed by Aaron Oster who recently directed Theatre Ariel’s mask and puppet production Dreamers, Demons and Queens. BACK TO THE BOULEVARD’s ensemble features local actors Peggy Smith, Corbin Arbernathy, Becca Landis, Brian Adoff, and George Washington High School students Dane Wozniak and Tatyana Kalko. BACK TO THE BOULEVARD’s design team features Susan Symthe (costumes), Stephen Hungerford (set and props), and Aaron Oster (sound).

Performances will take place Thursday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28 at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 29 at 2:00 pm at The Polonsky Theatre in the JCC’s Raymond and Miriam Klein Branch, off of Roosevelt Boulevard, at the corner of Red Lion Road and Jamison Avenue.

BACK TO THE BOULEVARD was made possible by grants from the Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Samuel S. Fels Foundation, Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, Connelly Foundation, and Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.