No one can accuse Shirley and Larry Zipkin of not putting their money where their mouths are.
Local couple pays thousands to bring stage play here
Twin Cities Audience will get to see the production, which is about addiction, for free.
After yelling "Bravo!" for the musical "Freedom Song" in California, they raised $16,000 to bring the entire 22-member cast and crew to the Twin Cities to put on a free show.
"I like to tackle projects that can change people's lives," said Shirley Zipkin. Her husband said she was so adamant about the idea that the Minnetonka couple personally chipped in "the lion's share" of the funding. "If this saves just one life, it's worth it," she added.
The show is the work of Beit T'Shuvah, a treatment center in California that uses techniques involving the arts to combat addiction. The cast members are recovering addicts, and the plot incorporates their personal stories.
Although focused on addiction, "It's for anyone who has issues that enslave them," Shirley Zipkin said. And even though the plot involves a Passover seder, "It's not just for Jews," she insisted. "That's a holiday that celebrates escaping from bondage."
The Zipkins were at a dinner party in Palm Springs, Calif., when the host invited them to the show. They went mainly because they didn't want to seem rude, she said. "But we were blown away by it," she said.
The show is at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Sabes Jewish Community Center, 4330 Cedar Lake Road, St. Louis Park. Reservations are not required.
"We want to fill the place," said Larry Zipkin, a semi-retired investment banker. In fact, he'd like to do better than that. "I just paid an extra $375 so we can have a closed-circuit TV feed into another room if the auditorium gets full. Nobody is not going to be able to see it if they show up."
Kids can learn how to program robots, play chess, speak Chinese or dance hip-hop style, among other enrichment options.