Published: July 19, 2007 07:33 pm         

Prof’s creation ‘Table 17’ based on his own experiences

TERRE HAUTE — A Jewish boy who becomes an adult conflicted about his feelings toward the black servant who worked in his family’s home is the subject of a play that opens tonight at Indiana State University.

It’s the same plot line present in the life of ISU theater professor Arthur Feinsod, because it’s his own story.

Feinsod, who is also the artistic director of Crossroads Repertory Theatre at ISU, decided to plug his own play into the summer lineup because of its relevance to the theme of the season, he said. This summer’s plays all are examining social and interracial relationships.

When Feinsod began writing this play, “Table 17,” he was struggling to come to terms with how he and his family felt and interacted with a black woman named Mildred who worked as a housekeeper and nanny in his Jewish home.

His family’s interaction with the servant was typical of the time, Feinsod said. When his parents were home and eating a meal, they sat in the dining room, while Mildred ate alone in the kitchen. But when Feinsod was alone with the servant, the relationship evolved into something that was safe and secure for the youngster, he said, and Mildred became his primary caretaker, confidant and trusted friend.

What plagued Feinsod into adulthood was Mildred’s daughter Jeanine. Mildred left the girl and her brother living in the South with their grandmother while Mildred worked and lived in the North with the Feinsods. As a boy, Feinsod wrestled with the idea that he had taken the mother away from her children.

That idea, combined with the picture in Feinsod’s mind of black servants who sat at a table during his bar mitzvah, helped him create “Table 17.” At the Jewish ceremony that celebrated the 13-year-old boy’s coming of age, Mildred sat, seemingly alienated and out of place, at a table with her son, daughter and friends.

“That image has haunted me for years,” Feinsod said. “I needed to write a play based on that photo … It was something that was irking me that I couldn’t put to rest.”

In “Table 17,” Jewish family members struggle to accept their deceased matriarch’s decision to leave domestic servants $1 million in inheritance money.

“When there is money involved, old hurts get reactivated,” Feinsod said. The lead character of David, portrayed here by Peter Papadopoulos, faces old hurts as he “sees the domestics he hasn’t seen in years.”

“All of this brings up emotions for both sides that have to be rectified,” he said.

Feinsod hopes this play that he’s been developing for the past nine years will challenge audiences as they examine the relationships between this Jewish upper-middle-class family and the black servants.

“I think this play is about people finding common ground,” he said. “To think about these cultures being divided … just kills me.”

Ultimately, Feinsod hopes his play will bring people together.

“Conflict is best resolved by individuals who care about each other,” he said. “I hope through examining the specifics we can get to the universal.”

“Table 17” plays at 7:30 tonight and Saturday in the New Theater at 540 N. Seventh St. on the ISU campus in Terre Haute. Matinee performances are at 4 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday. Tickets are $12, or free to ISU students, and may be reserved by telephoning the ticket office at (812) 237-3333.