By DORIS RUBENSTEIN
Michael Mitnick is not from Minnesota, and his play Scotland, PA isn’t about Jews. But Mitnick is Jewish, and like the very famous Jewish Minnesotans the Coen brothers, he has a quirky way of dealing with some serious topics. And there are few plays more serious than Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Scotland, PA is a musical based on that story, so it might be worth your while to see this production making its regional premiere at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis. The production is staged by the always creative Theater Latté Da.
The play is a musical, but Scotland, PA originally was produced as a movie with a stellar cast including Christopher Walken and Maura Tierney. The play will open Sept. 18.
My father’s family landed in the Pittsburgh area when they emigrated from Europe, and I know the area well. Mitnick, too, is from the Steel City, which has the distinction of, in the early days of American Reform Judaism, having hosted the infamous “treife banquet.” I’ve always thought that Pittsburgh and St. Paul share a similar ethos. I set out to learn what influences brought Michael Mitnick to write Scotland, PA.
AJW: Have you written any plays with Jewish themes?
Michael Mitnick: Elijah is a play of mine that is very much about Jewish themes — set in 1921 about a young composer having a lost summer in Paris. I also co-wrote a screenplay that is at Spielberg’s company, Amblin, based on the incredible book The Light of Days, about a young woman who fought the Nazis.
AJW: Who’s your favorite Jewish playwright/screenwriter and have they had any influence on your plays?
MM: Stephen Sondheim would be the dramatist. For screenwriting, my answer has always been the Coen brothers, so I’m happy to be working near their turf.
AJW: Were you involved in the Pittsburgh Jewish community growing up? How?
MM: It was Friday night and Saturday morning services, Sunday school and Hebrew school on Mondays and Wednesdays. Kosher household. No Christmas tree. In high school, I taught Hebrew to kids for their Bar and Bat Mitzva prep. My family was a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue and Adat Shalom.
AJW: Will this be your first time in the Twin Cities?
MM: Adam Gwon, the Jewish songwriter of Scotland, PA, and I were lucky to come to Minneapolis last summer to work on Scotland, PA, in anticipation of this production. We’re thrilled to be back and have made restaurant lists.
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The regional premiere of Scotland, PA, a production of Theater Latté Da, will be Sept. 18, at the Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis. For tickets, call 612-339-3003 or go to latteda.org.
(American Jewish World, August 2024)
