ABSTRACT
Zelda grows up a rebellious young girl in a secular Jewish household in Washington DC in the 1930s. She reveres her father, a brilliant scientist and inventor, and longs to somehow “repair the world” (tikkun olam, in Hebrew). She studies Russian literature at Cornell, marries economist Tom Fichandler, and gets a master’s degree in Drama at George Washington University. With her theater professor Ed Mangum and her husband Tom, she co-founds Arena Stage—the first integrated professional theater in the nation’s capital. Mangum leaves two years later, right after Zelda’s and Tom’s first son is born, and Zelda becomes the sole producing director.
