Art Station's Triumphant Season Opener
By Doc Lawrence
STONE MOUNTAIN, GA-Audiences will remember Judy
Leavell as the steel magnolia in Art Station’s acclaimed production of Mama
Makes up Her Mind. Her return to this stage in Becoming Dr. Ruth, An
Unexpected Journey, portraying America’s most popular sex educator, is a
resounding testament to the power and majesty of live theater.
Everyone knows Dr. Ruth Westheimer – from her career as a
pioneering radio and television sex therapist. Few, however, know the
incredible journey that preceded it. From fleeing the Nazis in the
Kindertransport to Switzerland, to joining the Haganah in Jerusalem as a
sniper, to her struggle to succeed as a single mother newly arrived in America,
Mark St. Germain deftly illuminates this remarkable woman’s untold story. Becoming
Dr. Ruth is filled with the humor, honesty, and life-affirming spirit of
Karola Ruth Siegel, the girl who became “Dr. Ruth,” America’s most famous sex
therapist. Many recall Dr. Ruth Westheimer as America’s grandmotherly sex
therapist.
Becoming Dr. Ruth also recounts her sobering and heroic
life even before her 1980s fame, when she was a German Jewish refugee and
Holocaust survivor during World War II, and then a gun-toting Israeli pioneer.
Dr. Ruth is revealed as a practical woman deeply
steeped in wit and hard-earned wisdom, with strength of character that allowed
her to survive and triumph over unconscionable loss to craft a career that
through humor and wisdom brought happiness to millions of fans.
Fairly described as a comedy, Dr. Ruth pricks the
soul and conscious, reminding the audience that once civilized Germany embraced
a monster who early on sent SS goon squads to collect Jews including Ruth’s
father.
There are moments of rollicking humor juxtaposed with
tenderness and sadness. Life has such swings and Ms. Leavell, brilliantly directed by David Thomas, interprets
everything flawlessly. Her version of Dr. Ruth is very near to the Dr. Ruth
millions saw with Johnny Carson and David Letterman
Go see Dr. Ruth. It’s your opportunity to master the
highly useful “Westheimer Maneuver.”
Runs through Nov. 20. www.artstation.org;
(770) 469.1105
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