Touch of New York coming to Novato
SUZANNE WEISS Bulletin Correspondent People are fond of saying that art imitates life, but Carrie Sugarman can swear to it. The San Anselmo Internet consultant with a passion for theater is in the throes of directing “Crossing Delancey,” a comedy about a Jewish girl and her matchmaking bubbe. “I can completely relate to the main character,” Sugarman says, laughing. “We’re in the same space — 30-something, single and happy with that…but everybody’s trying to fix you up.” The life-similarity is not, however, why she chose the play, her fourth directorial effort for the Novato Community Players. “This is really the first show I got to hand-pick,” said the director, whose Novato credits include “Kiss Me Kate,” “You Can’t Take it With You” and “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.” “I looked at a lot of plays and I thought of ‘The Sisters Rosensweig’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ I really wanted to do a Jewish play. “There’s this Old World charm to ‘Crossing Delancey.’ Bubbe has some amazing things to say and so does the matchmaker.” The stage version is quite different from the popular 1980s movie that starred Amy Irving, Sugarman explained. For instance, there were a lot of added scenes and extraneous people in the movie that are not in Susan Sandler’s original script. The basic plot, however, is the same: A young, single New York bookseller resists the efforts of her beloved bubbe and a hired yenta to fix her up but ends up with Sam, the Pickle Man, anyway. Sugarman’s own Jewish identity is rooted in her Mill Valley childhood. She attended Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco and went to Israel with her confirmation class. She now attends Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael. “I definitely consider myself to be religious,” she said, adding “although Reform.” She was active in the drama program at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley and went on to major in theater at University of Southern California. This is the 14th production she has directed. She tends to specialize in comedy and musicals, she said, but Shakespeare is her secret love. “My dream is to go to Cambridge with the U.C. Berkeley Extension Program next summer and study Shakespeare,” she confided. “Three weeks of the comedies and another three weeks of tragedy.” Meanwhile, there’s “Crossing Delancey.” “It’s a very nice thing to bring a Jewish play to Novato, to north Marin,” she said. “To me, this is a very big deal.” The Novato Community Players presents “Crossing Delancey” at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Sept. 8 to 23 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17 at the Novato Community House, Machin and LeLong. Tickets: $15, with student and senior discounts. Half-price preview at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7. Information: (415) 892-3005.