JAMESTOWN – A limited number of tickets remain for a special presentation of a WRFA program Thursday night, April 4, featuring author, actor, and former Arts Council for Chautauqua County executive director David Schein.
Schein will returns to Jamestown to read excerpts from his new novel “The Adoption” during the first installment of an Arts on Fire LIVE series presented by WRFA. The program will be recorded in front of a live studio audience to be broadcast later this month during our weekly Arts on Fire program.
Gleaned from Schein’s many travels to Ethiopia where he co-founded the One Love AIDS/HIV Awareness Theater, Schein tells WRFA “The Adoption” fictionalizes the lives of children growing up in Ethiopia and the USA over the span of 20 years. He said that while the stories are fictionalized, they are also drawn from several real people he came to know over the years.
“I had the gift of getting involved in Ethiopia at a point when the country really started developing, and knowing these kids who were street kids who were really poor, some of them were orphans, but they were talented gymnasts,” Schein explains. “I watched these children grow up in a developing African country, having a voice in the world which African children never had before, and looking at how their lives changed over 20 years, which is the span of the book. Their voices captivated me.”
The Adoption book cover
Schein says that much of his book does focus on the process of adoption and the effort to help Ethiopian Children by bringing them to America along with the consequences that arose from that effort.
“There’s a lot of corruption in Ethopia and here, and this book intertwines that. The adoption business was quite corrupt. It was a business. There was a lot of commentary on that. The people working in those developing countries. A lot of them had really good intentions, but you know what they say about the road to hell being paved with good intentions. There was a lot of real misunderstandings and cultural mistake,” Schein explains.
In addition to Schein reading excerpts from his book in front of a live audience, WRFA Station Manager Dennis Drew will also conduct an interview.
Arts on Fire LIVE with David Schein begins at 7:30 p.m. April 4 at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts’ Multi Media Room – third floor of the Reg Lenna in downtown Jamestown. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Patrons are invited to enjoy refreshments before the performance and meet Schein after the performance in the adjacent Pre-function Room, also on the 3rd Floor. The book will also be for sale at that point.
The event is free to the public but seating is limited. Those wishing to attend must RSVP by calling 716-484-7070 or sending an email to RSVP@reglenna.com.
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