Jonah

Dear friends,

I’m so honored to share with you this very special, very loving portrait of Jonah, written by the one and only Jill Abusch. Read her bio below. Jill, along with her husband Steven, is the heart and soul of Play Group Theatre. For any truly complete reflection on what the intersection of Jonah and PGT was truly about, it’s important to hear from Jill. Needless to say, for the care and guidance and love she gave to both our sons across the years (heck, that’s she’s given to me and Ellen, as well!) we can never offer sufficient gratitude. But I have a wish: that she and Steven be able to do their thing for many, many decades to come, so that tens of thousands of kids will benefit from the same magic they bestowed upon Jonah and Aiden.

While our autumn fundraiser ends on Jan 5, 2014, we’ll be running a bunch more essays written by Jonah’s friends. I hope you enjoy them all.

Billy

Jill Abusch remembers …

Jill Abusch is the co-founder and Artistic Director of The Play Group Theatre in White Plains, NY. Jill studied acting and directing at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the Classical Studio at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned a BFA in Drama. She adores working alongside her husband and partner, Steven, and is especially proud of their best productions, by far: Aviva and Ilana.

It was almost exactly a month after Jonah died, in the first week of April. I was driving with my then little girls in the back seat of the car … hearing their little girl chatter in the background but lost in my own thoughts of Jonah, feeling angry and heartbroken and just so terribly sad … and suddenly, I was driving in snow. SNOW! In April. And not just light little flakes of snow … big, swirly snow, falling fast and furious. And all I kept thinking was, of course, how very perfect. This snowfall – so surprising and unpredictable, making my kids scream “It’s snowing!” with equal parts disbelief and wonder, was the perfect metaphor for our Jonah. When I looked up, the snow was swirling excitedly around in the sky, seemingly random and frenzied, but as the flakes landed on my windshield I could see that they indeed had direction and meaning and purpose. It was magical, this snowstorm, because it was unexpected and because it was beautiful and because it was powerful and strong – not a wimpy little snow shower – and because it made all of us smile. And then, just as quickly as it started, the snow stopped. It didn’t gradually slow down and peter out, it just stopped. And when we arrived home and I got out of my car, the sun was shining. It was over too quickly. But I will never, never forget that snowfall.

Jonah burst onto the PGT scene full force. He took the stage by storm and stole our hearts in the process. His exuberance on stage was matched by his off-stage lovable, infectious energy. He had hugs for everyone. Not polite little pats on the back – big, giant, pick-you-up-off-the-floor-and-spin-you-around bear hugs. For his teachers too. I received many.

Hair
Jun 2008

Audiences LOVED Jonah – they would leave the theatre talking about him because his characters were all larger than life, yet totally truthful. They were all funny and sweet, charming and real, theatrical and always deeply personal. But audiences only got to see a part of Jonah. His PGT friends and teachers are so lucky; we got the backstage Jonah.

Backstage Jonah was mischievous, silly, passionate, industrious … he could also totally goof off, be completely infuriating and distract everyone from their work! He was the student you LOVED to have in your cast and the one you had to ALWAYS keep your eye on! He was the student you had to keep in line, but also, how could you reprimand JONAH?!?!?! He was just being Jonah … he was just doing it HIS way!

Above all, I remember Jonah’s generosity of spirit. The look on his face as he handed out the homemade buttons he created for the cast of Hair on the morning of our closing show – the act of giving this gift, bringing him such total joy – is permanently planted in my heart and mind. The impulsive way he would give a friend a piggyback ride when she didn’t have shoes to wear down to Subway, or the ease and love with which he shared his senior show experience with his baby brother … his ability to jump in and help out with whatever needed to be done around the theatre – no task too great or too small … his sparkly eyes that were windows into his sparkly spirit … his generosity took many forms.

At PGT, we have some golden rules – they are both implicit and explicit in the work we do every day. If we can teach these rules to our students during their time with us, then we have been successful:

• Make your partner look better than yourself.
• Work hard, play hard.
• Bring your best self to everything you do.
• Listen.

I like to think we taught Jonah a thing or two during his years at PGT. He certainly graduated a different kid than he arrived. But these golden rules weren’t things we had to teach him. Jonah intuitively owned these values. He embodied them – it is who he was.

I have been talking with my students a lot lately about the very nature of live theatre. It is in the moment. It is here and it is gone. The curtain comes down on a show and it is over, gone forever. If you weren’t in the theatre, you missed it. Photographs and videos are nice reminders, but they can’t replicate the experience. You had to be there to see it … you had to see it to understand it. That is what makes it so special. And yet … and yet. We are part of an incredible tradition, those of us who spend our lives in the theatre. Centuries of artists have come before us and we have inherited their plays, their superstitions, their techniques, their legends, their ideas and ideals. So, while the art itself is fleeting, its impact is long-lasting. And, on a smaller scale, here at PGT … nearly twenty years of young actors, teachers, designers, directors have now passed through our little world. Shows open and they close. They are here and they are gone. But left behind are twenty years of traditions, life lessons, memories, role models … a foundation upon which our current and future students and staff can make their own art.

And, in those twenty years, is our Jonah. You had to know Jonah to understand him … you had to experience Jonah to know him. I can write about him, I can tell stories about him … but like photographs of live theatre, my words can only tell you so much. Jonah had to be experienced in the moment. That is what made him so special. And yet … he leaves behind so much for us to build upon. From the fun off-stage memories to the gorgeous art he created to the life lessons he embodied and passed along to the rest of us. His life was fleeting, but its impact long-lasting.

I miss Jonah all the time. He was unpredictable and a little frenzied … but his passionate, exuberant energy always had direction and meaning and purpose. He was a beautiful, strong, magical person. He made us smile, sometimes in spite of ourselves. We couldn’t help it. That was Jonah. And then, like that snowstorm, he was gone too soon. But Jonah left behind a gorgeous ray of sunshine – beautiful memories, enduring friendships, a theatrical career that made us laugh and cry and think and feel, a brother who carries his legacy on stage and in his heart, parents and a sister who continue to keep his memory alive through incredible charitable work and beautiful written words that lift us all.

Jonah’s life was too short. But he lived it fully. I am so very grateful that I got to be a part of it, and that I continue to bask in the sunshine that he left behind.

Jill

P.S. Please give generously to our Autumn 2013 campaign at jonahmac.org. As always, we are ever grateful for your friendship and support.

“Jonah’s Years at PGT” is The Jonah Maccabee Foundation’s autumn fundraiser for 2013. Throughout November and December 2013, we’ll be remembering, mainly through the writing of his friends, some of the great fun and growing Jonah experienced at PGT. We’re hoping you’ll be inspired to help us provide other kids with similarly loving direction along the road to wholeness during their own childhood years. Please consider making your tax-deductible gift at jonahmac.org by Sunday, January 5, 2014. Okay, or any other time. Thank you. You’re the best!

Chiara Klein remembers …

Chiara Klein grew up in Edgemont and performed in PGT shows for six memorable years. After graduating from Dartmouth in 2010, Chiara founded MaineStage Shakespeare, an outdoor summer theater in Kennebunk, Maine. She is currently in New Haven pursuing an MFA/MBA joint degree in theater management at Yale.

When I look back on my years at PGT, I have very few memories that do not somehow involve Jonah. Whether or not he was in your cast, Jonah was a huge presence at PGT. He was always full of surprises ranging from whipping out his ukulele necklace and making up a song, to completing a challenge to eat a ball of wasabi, to talking about his latest adventures in detention, to sneaking up on someone for a big bear hug. His infectious energy, when channeled for good and paired with his acute sense of compassion, gave him an uncanny ability to create truthful and moving characters.

A Man of No Importance
Dec 2005

The two shows that we did together were The Laramie Project and A Man of No Importance – two challenging productions in which Jonah played multiple roles (and, coincidentally, multiple gay-bashers). In both cases, I admired him not just for his ability to seamlessly transform into complex characters, but by the way that he could go from goofing around offstage to playing these troubled, layered, emotional characters onstage. I have never met anyone else who at the same time could be as irreverent, fun and gregarious offstage and as thoughtful, serious and moving onstage.

A Man of No Importance
Dec 2005

I will always cherish getting to watch Jonah grow as an actor and a person from the unique perspective of having graduated two years before him and seeing him only in short bursts. Every time I saw him after I graduated, it was as if he had grown years in maturity, confidence, and craft. I will always remember being stunned by his kindly and complex portrayal of Ben in The Secret Garden, how I did not recognize him in his riveting, chilling portrayal of Doctor Otternschlag in Grand Hotel, and the tremendous joy with which he became Woof in Hair.

The last time I saw Jonah he told me how excited he was that he would be going to Buffalo in the fall, and I told him how impressed and amazed I was by the confident and grounded young man he had become in the five years since we first met. It has been another five years now and I still expect to see him at every PGT gathering and show. Jonah’s life was much too short, but the impact and legacy that he leaves is immeasurable. He was and always will be larger than life.

Chiara

P.S. Please give generously to our Autumn 2013 campaign at jonahmac.org. As always, we are ever grateful for your friendship and support.

“Jonah’s Years at PGT” is The Jonah Maccabee Foundation’s autumn fundraiser for 2013. Throughout November and December 2013, we’ll be remembering, mainly through the writing of his friends, some of the great fun and growing Jonah experienced at PGT. We’re hoping you’ll be inspired to help us provide other kids with similarly loving direction along the road to wholeness during their own childhood years. Please consider making your tax-deductible gift at jonahmac.org by Sunday, January 5, 2014. Okay, or any other time. Thank you. You’re the best!

Jeff Downing remembers …

For many years, Jeff was the Associate Artistic Director of Play Group Theatre. He directed Jonah in six shows there: Lucky Stiff, The Laramie Project, A Man of No Importance, The Secret Garden, Marvin’s Room and Grand Hotel. He recently moved to Helena, Montana, where Jeff now serves as the Artistic Director for Grandstreet Theatre.

I directed Jonah many times. Through countless hours of rehearsal and performances, I watched Jonah transform from a boy into an incredible young man. I remember so much about his journey.

I remember …

Jonah and Jeff backstage
“Grand Hotel” (Dec 2007)

• When he didn’t know how to walk on tempo in Lucky Stiff and somehow became a dancing hippie superstar in Hair.
• How he never seemed to know his lines when he was supposed to. The rumors that I threw a script at him during The Laramie Project may or may not be true.
• When he became the kid we would fight over in casting sessions.
• When he auditioned with “Over the Rainbow,” and accompanied himself with his ukelele.
• Choreography rehearsals for Hair. Jonah was not to be believed.
• How he embraced playing the bad guy show after show, knowing his unlikable character was a necessary piece of the story puzzle.
• When he played Ben in The Secret Garden … a good guy … yay!
• Our quality time during Grand Hotel when I would paint his hair gray with a toothbrush and tape a mustache to his face.
• That monologue in The Laramie Project. That unbelievable monologue near the end of Act One. Jackie Cotugno standing stage right. Sarah Nash standing stage left. Jonah sitting down center stage in a dark-blue hoodie. Some of the finest acting I ever saw at PGT.
• How proud he was when we gathered with his senior class for their final performance.

Ben in The Secret Garden
Jan 2007

Sadly, what I don’t remember is the last time I saw Jonah. I have some fuzzy memories; I know it would have been during our rehearsal process for Urinetown, but I can’t say for certain when it was. My best guess is that it was an ordinary day at the White Plains Mall [PGT’s former rehearsal space]. We had put out a call for volunteers to come and help us paint scenery for an upcoming show. Jonah was home on a break; a college student who could have easily spent his time on his parent’s couch. But of course, Jonah showed up to help us paint scenery. I don’t remember a lot about this afternoon, but I remember that Jonah was there. He didn’t have to be there, but he was. He continued to give back to us, the people and the place that he cared so very much about. I will always remember that about Jonah, his spirit of giving. Joining a stage crew at the last minute or accepting a cameo role so that the show could go on was so quintessentially Jonah.

But the kind of giving that warms my heart the most is the way he gave his energy, his heart, his soul, his very own self to every single moment he had onstage, especially in his final shows at PGT. I am so grateful to have those memories. They will never go away … and so Jonah won’t either.

Jeff

P.S. Please give generously to our Autumn 2013 campaign at jonahmac.org. As always, we are ever grateful for your friendship and support.

“Jonah’s Years at PGT” is The Jonah Maccabee Foundation’s autumn fundraiser for 2013. Throughout November and December 2013, we’ll be remembering, mainly through the writing of his friends, some of the great fun and growing Jonah experienced at PGT. We’re hoping you’ll be inspired to help us provide other kids with similarly loving direction along the road to wholeness during their own childhood years. Please consider making your tax-deductible gift at jonahmac.org by Sunday, January 5, 2014. Okay, or any other time. Thank you. You’re the best!

Maya Glasser remembers …

Maya was lucky to be a member of the cast of “Zanna, Don’t” at PGT. She graduated from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2011, creating her own concentration in “Religion and Theater as Text and Interpretation.” After working at Park Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan, she moved to Israel for a year in July 2013 to begin her Rabbinical Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

My first (and last) callback night for a show at PGT was during my senior year of high school, and I was incredibly nervous. I was very relieved to see Jonah hopping out of the car in front of me when my parents dropped me off. He could tell that I was apprehensive, but of course in his typical charismatic way he made me feel at home by telling me that he would find someone my age to introduce me to. Scanning the room, he brought over a fellow senior, explaining that she had only been with PGT for a few shows and that she was really nice. It made me feel exponentially more comfortable to connect with someone one-on-one and to know that someone was looking out for me in a room full of a family to which I did not yet belong. That girl and I are now classmates and close friends! Since we ended up in separate shows at PGT, I can’t say we would have necessarily connected at that time if it hadn’t been for Jonah.

When a friend who was in a show with me at PGT and I organized a benefit cabaret that summer featuring a cast of PGT volunteers, we needed someone to film the show. After some brainstorming, I thought of asking Jonah. We wanted him to come early that day and watch our dress rehearsal so he knew who to film when, and not only did he practically sprint into the theater exuberantly, ready to do anything we asked of him, he arrived over an hour early for his call time. He was more attentive and focused that day than I ever remember seeing him.

What stands out to me from each of these experiences is Jonah’s purity of heart and devotion to others. His incomparable spirit shone through in every act of kindness he performed, whether it was a favor asked of him or a good deed he decided to do because he was just that kind of person. I think nothing could have stopped him once he set his mind on a task. I loved seeing this spark manifest itself on the PGT stage and beyond, and while the world is definitely missing it, his spirit lives on in the lives of those he touched along the way.

Maya

P.S. Please give generously to our Autumn 2013 campaign at jonahmac.org. As always, we are ever grateful for your friendship and support.

“Jonah’s Years at PGT” is The Jonah Maccabee Foundation’s autumn fundraiser for 2013. Throughout November and December 2013, we’ll be remembering, mainly through the writing of his friends, some of the great fun and growing Jonah experienced at PGT. We’re hoping you’ll be inspired to help us provide other kids with similarly loving direction along the road to wholeness during their own childhood years. Please consider making your tax-deductible gift at jonahmac.org by Sunday, January 5, 2014. Okay, or any other time. Thank you. You’re the best!

Emily Selinger remembers …

I was in five shows with Jonah, which left me perfectly positioned to witness his journey as an actor. Our third show together was Marvin’s Room. Being in a seven-person cast – unprecedented for PGT – was an experience I will never forget. Being such a small cast, we had the time to really delve into the script, devoting entire rehearsals to talking about the play’s message, each character’s depth and journey, and how we were going to deal with the combination of comedy and tragedy.

The most remarkable part of the process, though, was Jonah’s transformation into Dr. Wally. At the beginning, the doctor’s office scenes between Dr. Wally and Bessie were frustrating to watch. Jonah didn’t know his lines, he and Naomi were having a lot of trouble with the pacing, there was just something missing. The problem persisted as we got closer and closer to opening.

Jonah with Naomi Riemer
“Marvin’s Room,” May 2007

Then one night, during a run-through in the purple room [at the old PGT location], something in Jonah clicked. It was like watching a different show. The scene moved along, Jonah was hysterical and honest and compassionate and we all fell in love with Dr. Wally.

That was the magic of Jonah. Just when we were beginning to lose faith in him, he would take us all by surprise and create a character so complex and enjoyable to watch that it was almost better that way, happening all at once. I remember thinking, “Is this really the same kid from Lucky Stiff?”

Jonah’s astounding growth as an actor also helped him gain a sense of self, and this once temperamental kid became funny, confident, and loving. He was a true pleasure to share the stage with, and I’m so lucky that I got five chances to do so.

Emily

P.S. Please give generously to our Autumn 2013 campaign at jonahmac.org. As always, we are ever grateful for your friendship and support.

“Jonah’s Years at PGT” is The Jonah Maccabee Foundation’s autumn fundraiser for 2013. Throughout November and December 2013, we’ll be remembering, mainly through the writing of his friends, some of the great fun and growing Jonah experienced at PGT. We’re hoping you’ll be inspired to help us provide other kids with similarly loving direction along the road to wholeness during their own childhood years. Please consider making your tax-deductible gift at jonahmac.org by Sunday, January 5, 2014. Okay, or any other time. Thank you. You’re the best!

Ben Zacharia remembers …

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It was hard not to love Jonah. Even if he was the last to learn his lines. Even if he was always funnier than you (even when he didn’t know his lines). Even if he spent most of his down-time during Marvin’s Room sitting on the couch just offstage with the other two boys in the cast (myself included!) singing anything from Monty Python to Spring Awakening and making sure that we annoyed just about every other member of the cast and crew. It was hard not to love him. There are few people with as positive and infectious an attitude. He inhabited so many of the qualities that PGT prides itself on. He was caring, fun-loving, intelligent, and excited about everything.

Ben and Jonah Cast photo from “Marvin’s Room”

One of my fondest memories is from the three weeks he spent working at PGT Summer. For those who have never gone, Summer PGT provides so much more time to sit and have fun and really enjoy each other. You go to classes, play games, have lunch and, if you’re on staff, you stay ‘til all hours of the night trying to finish things. It’s great.

At lunch, if you’ve done something extraordinary since the previous lunch, someone on staff might just give you an award. This award is given to you in front of everyone, and the whole camp sees you in the spotlight.

Jonah’s vistory lap atop Kyle Moore
PGT Summer Camp, Aug 2008

This particular summer some of the older students decided that the staff should be given awards. They got nametags (on which the award is given), divvied up the staff between themselves, and, one lunch near the end of the summer, gave out awards. The staff, obviously, loved it. But no one was as excited as Jonah who, after less than three weeks there, had come to understand and believe in what makes camp so special. Upon receiving his award he promptly jumped onto Kyle [Moore]’s back and rode back to his spot with his award clenched in the air as if it were Charlie’s golden ticket. His smile on that day something I will remember for years and years still.

I mean, come on, you have to be pretty darn special if Jeff [Downing, one of PGT’s directors] still likes you after you don’t learn your lines!

Ben

P.S. Please give generously to our Autumn 2013 campaign at jonahmac.org. As always, we are ever grateful for your friendship and support.

“Jonah’s Years at PGT” is The Jonah Maccabee Foundation’s autumn fundraiser for 2013. Throughout November and December 2013, we’ll be remembering, mainly through the writing of his friends, some of the great fun and growing Jonah experienced at PGT. We’re hoping you’ll be inspired to help us provide other kids with similarly loving direction along the road to wholeness during their own childhood years. Please consider making your tax-deductible gift at jonahmac.org by Sunday, January 5, 2014. Okay, or any other time. Thank you. You’re the best!

Liza and Allison Pincus remember …

*    *    *

Liza: I will never forget when Jonah presented our Hair cast with the pins he’d made for us: ‘Psychedelicize South Korea.’ He did it just to be sweet, just to make us laugh, just to show how much he cared about us.”

Allison: As Billy reminded me recently, I was there when Jonah first walked through the doors at PGT, helping students sign in before their auditions. I listened through the door as Jonah performed his monologue: the cowardly lion from The Wizard of Oz.

Jonah’s button design for the cast of “Hair”

Jonah was cast with me in Lucky Stiff that first season. He played a series of smaller parts, the most memorable of which was the thug with the baseball bat. That character wasn’t written into the play, but Jonah created a character background, props, a specific walk, and spoke with a cockney accent. I could tell he was really getting into it and finding himself at PGT. That was his first show.

When I came back to PGT three years later to watch my sister, Liza, and the rest of the senior class perform in Hair, I was blown away by Jonah’s presence on stage. He was certainly no cowardly lion now.

After the show, Jonah walked around comfortably, giving hugs to his fellow cast members and PGT’ers past and present. This is totally part of the culture at PGT, but not the norm for a teenaged boy. Jonah embraced it.

Ellen adds: We are so grateful that Allison was the very first person Jonah met when we arrived for that first audition. She proclaimed herself the “Welcome Committee,” and made sure that Jonah felt at home within his first five minutes, quite possibly changing his life forever.

P.S. Please give generously to our Autumn 2013 campaign at jonahmac.org. As always, we are ever grateful for your friendship and support.

“Jonah’s Years at PGT” is The Jonah Maccabee Foundation’s autumn fundraiser for 2013. Throughout November and December 2013, we’ll be remembering, mainly through the writing of his friends, some of the great fun and growing Jonah experienced at PGT. We’re hoping you’ll be inspired to help us provide other kids with similarly loving direction along the road to wholeness during their own childhood years. Please consider making your tax-deductible gift at jonahmac.org by Sunday, January 5, 2014. Okay, or any other time. Thank you. You’re the best!

Brenne Rimberg remembers …

*    *    *

Most of my memories of Jonah are in rehearsal for Hair, or onstage with him in the show. He was always, hands down, the silliest person in the room. He was either throwing himself through the choreography with all of his might, knowing that his energy was contagious, and hilarious, all at the same time. Or he was lending a huge, quiet hug to whatever tearful, overworked high school senior needed it most.

He was surprising that way. Jonah had this ability to be silly and rambunctious one minute, and then still, and incredibly thoughtful, the next. Turns out he was really both at the same time, but to watch him be one way and then the other was always surprising, yet sincere. It might sound cliche, but I’m realizing as I get older and move further away from my childhood at PGT, that there are not many people in this world who are as fun as they are kind, or who are as passionate as they are thoughtful. Jonah was a gem this way.

I think my favorite memory of working on Hair with Jonah was when Jill had me climb on his shoulders for the first time. We had been blocking [“Hippie Life”] that belty diva song I sang with Anya. I was standing on a block behind him, spotted by tiny Jill and maybe Kyle. Jonah bent down to lift me up, and in one swift motion lifted me up onto his shoulders, let go of my legs, and started doing a wave-like snake dance with his arms. Jill had a near heart attack, but Jonah was confident that between his sheer strength and impeccable balance, I was not going anywhere. After a few minutes of what turned into Jonah gliding around the room with me on his shoulders doing the wave-like snake dance with his arms, Jill figured out a way for the boys to get me down for the next part of the song without Jonah flinging me into the audience yelling, “Catch her!” trusting that the audience would be as strong and as balanced and as spontaneous as he was.

The truth is, after that first rehearsal, I never worried about that stunt we did together. Although being high up was not a vantage point I was, or am, used to, Jonah had this way of making me trust him. He had my back. If we were to teeter or come close to crashing, I knew he would have made sure I came down softly before he crashed into something, calling it “nothing,” and getting right back on his feet again. Jonah was not afraid, and his fearlessness made those around him less afraid.

I feel lucky to have known Jonah, to have grown up a little with him, and to have been carried on his shoulders, if only a few times, without a worry in the world.

Brenne

“Jonah’s Years at PGT” is The Jonah Maccabee Foundation’s autumn fundraiser for 2013. Throughout November and December 2013, we’ll be remembering, mainly through the writing of his friends, some of the great fun and growing Jonah experienced at PGT. We’re hoping you’ll be inspired to help us provide other kids with similarly loving direction along the road to wholeness during their own childhood years. Please consider making your tax-deductible gift at jonahmac.org by Sunday, January 5, 2014. Okay, or any other time. Thank you. You’re the best!

Abby Fried remembers …

I first met Jonah when I was in the eighth grade while I was in The Prince and the Pauper. Jonah was a production assistant through our week of tech and for our four performances. As far as I know, Jonah had one job: hitting a wooden spoon to a pot as a nap [sound effect] for someone getting hit on stage.

What I remember best … he was always late.

I remember him excitedly bouncing side to side in the wings in anticipation of his cue. Then the wind-up would happen. Then the hit would happen. THEN Jonah would hit the pot. Every time without fail, and yet, he had the best attitude about it. He would smile really wide, wink at me and say “Next time.” I think he hit it once. During a rehearsal. In typical Jonah fashion, it never bothered him and he would always smile about it. “Next time.” Jonah was ever the optimist. He was also extremely funny, and never failed to make me laugh. Most importantly, though, is how dedicated Jonah was.

The following story doesn’t actually take place at PGT, but it was right in the middle of The Secret Garden rehearsals (which Jonah and I were in during my freshman year of high school, his junior year). My temple Confirmation class was going on a trip to Washington, DC, and we were lucky enough to share a bus with the Woodlands temple group (Jonah’s). I didn’t have a lot of friends going with me, but Jonah took me under his wing to hang out with him and his friends. He played guitar (this was the first time I would hear him play and sing “Over the Rainbow” – there was much more of that to come). He would also sit with me at dinner, and check up on me to make sure I was having a good time. Jonah was also my automatic “buddy” if we needed one, even though he was three years older and I thought he would be embarrassed hanging out with a freshman (he wasn’t).

My favorite memory from this trip started after we were all sent to our rooms for the night. Jonah was going to sneak out of his room and come hang out with me and my roommates after our “guards” had left their posts. I told him I’d call when they left, and I did, but to no answer. As a teenage girl, I worried he realized I was just a lame freshman and I went to bed. The next morning I woke up and went down to breakfast. Shortly after sitting down, Jonah joined me. Before I could even register the apology coming out of his mouth, I noticed a huge red mark on his cheek. Apparently, Jonah had fallen asleep with his face on his phone, waiting for me to call. Jonah was so dedicated to his promise, he literally fell asleep on top of his phone … and he had the red mark to prove it.

This, Jonah with the huge red mark on his cheek, is what I remember as my “iconic Jonah moment.” Jonah was so sweet, and so dedicated. He was like that with his friends, and with all his work at PGT. It’s what made him an excellent actor, and an even better friend.

Abby or Julia?
Posted on Facebook (Jan 2007)

Jonah and I became very close during The Secret Garden, and I have a lot of great memories from that time – from watching Jonah learn ballroom dancing, to jokes made backstage, and making faces at each other during notes (Jonah’s were always funnier than my own). My favorite memory, though, was a picture Jonah took and tagged me in on Facebook. There was a very close-up photograph which he had tagged as being me and that I swore was Julia Goldberg. She and I had a good laugh about it being EXTREMELY close to her face. But then Jonah added (very matter-of-factly, I would imagine) that the picture was actually of me. He posted several details of how he knew it was not Julia, and that it was in fact me. And naturally, he was right. At this point, I don’t know why I was ever surprised by his dedication, particularly to proving a point, but more specifically to his friends.

The last time I saw Jonah was December 2008. Aiden was in Urinetown [at PGT, we date everything by shows and seasons] and I had gone with my parents to see it. Jonah was ushering with Jimmy Sorrow, and I decided to hang around with them pre-show.

There was a podium with a basket of nametag pins in it. It was Jonah’s idea to take them out and assume several different identities while taking tickets. We’d all switch around nametags. We played out the characters we were making up. The show started shortly after and we abandoned Beth, Emily and Joe (our new names, of course) to sit with our respective parents. We met up again at the end of the show, just as us. Before leaving, I got a big Jonah bear hug and we promised to see each other again when he was home next.

Jonah and Abby backstage
“The Secret Garden” (Jan 2007)

Jonah made PGT a fun place to be. I was always happy to have a rehearsal with him, and seeing him there always brightened my day. If you were upset, he always knew how to make you feel better, and he was great for making up fun stories. He’d also spin you around, or make funny faces and was just always happy to be there and around you. I can’t ever remember seeing Jonah unhappy at PGT. He loved sharing what made him happy.

Most of all, I remember his classic bear hugs. They were there to greet me, and to say goodbye, at every rehearsal. His arms were so big he would just envelop you and it always felt safe and comfortable.

What I remember most is the feeling of him kissing my cheek for every picture we were in together, the feeling of how his laughs always made me smile, and the feeling of his stories, of his passion, his hugs, and how good it felt to be around him. And, of course, how lucky I am to have been his friend, and for him to have been mine.

Abby

P.S. Please give generously to our Autumn 2013 campaign at jonahmac.org. As always, we are ever grateful for your friendship and support.

“Jonah’s Years at PGT” is The Jonah Maccabee Foundation’s autumn fundraiser for 2013. Throughout November and December 2013, we’ll be remembering, mainly through the writing of his friends, some of the great fun and growing Jonah experienced at PGT. We’re hoping you’ll be inspired to help us provide other kids with similarly loving direction along the road to wholeness during their own childhood years. Please consider making your tax-deductible gift at jonahmac.org by Sunday, January 5, 2014. Okay, or any other time. Thank you. You’re the best!

Yoni Bronstein remembers …

Yoni Bronstein grew up in White Plains, New York, and is the proud son of Rabbi Les Bronstein and Cantor Benjie Schiller. He studied theater and philosophy at Brandeis University and now lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Jonah and I went back a long way. We knew each other through our parents’ singing group, and went to each other’s Bar Mitzvahs. When Jonah came to the Play Group Theatre, I was excited. Now we could really get to know each other at PGT, which, in my opinion, is the best place in the world to get to know someone.

Jonah and I were only in two productions together, but both felt like very special shows at PGT. The first was The Laramie Project, about the kidnap and murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. It was a big cast, and everyone had many parts to play. These parts included all kinds of people; the countless, diverse residents of Laramie, the interviewers, and people directly involved in the case: witnesses, detectives, and perpetrators. Among his many roles, Jonah played the young man who found Matthew, and one of the two kidnappers. It was clear that these roles were a huge challenge for Jonah, but his performances are clear in my memory. He told those two stories in a way that only someone with his sensitivity and depth of feeling could do.

Our second show together was Marvin’s Room, the story of a woman with cancer reconnecting with her family. This production was very different from what most of us were used to at PGT. Unlike the musicals with casts of twenty or thirty, this was a straight play with a cast of seven people. We all felt very close to one another, and we knew that being in this particular PGT cast was a great privilege. In this intimate setting, Jonah and I became closer than we’d ever been. I think I speak for the other members of the cast when I say that of the many things that I remember about Jonah, I’ll always especially remember him as part of the Marvin’s Room family.

It was easy to let your hair down with Jonah, and sometimes it felt as though that was the reason we were at rehearsal in the first place. Speaking as a kid who relished goofing off during rehearsal, some off the most fun I had was with him. I can remember many times where he’d smile at me, we’d trade weird stories, and do something goofy, like run in slow motion to the tune of a piano ballad. And then we’d put a serious face on and get to work.

The men of “Marvin’s Room” (May 2007)
Yoni, Ben and Jonah

The last time I saw Jonah was at a PGT rehearsal for Urinetown the year after he graduated. It was just a few months before his death. I can remember how happy he was to be back in PGT’s old studios at the White Plains Mall, beaming from ear to ear. Jonah had come back and it was like he had never left, even if it was only for one night. He still belonged there as much as anybody. And he still does.

Yoni

P.S. Please give generously to our Autumn 2013 campaign at jonahmac.org. As always, we are ever grateful for your friendship and support.