Q&A / MIRA HIRSCH, artistic director of Jewish Theatre of the South: Mission to remain after stage exit

If you want Mira Hirsch to toot her own horn, you may have to prod her.

The artistic director of the Jewish Theatre of the South doesn't come to the table to brag about her 13 years of accomplishments. During a recent lunchtime interview, you can tell by the way she pushes her salad around her plate that she is reflecting and collecting her thoughts.

Late last year, Hirsch and the Marcus Jewish Community Center announced that the Jewish Theatre of the South would end its residency at the Dunwoody institution at the close of the 2007-2008 season. They cited differences over vision, artistic content and financial accountability.

But as the Jewish Theatre of the South disappears from the city's cultural landscape, Hirsch has much to be proud of. She produced the play that included the final performances of her mentor, Frank Wittow ("Visiting Mr. Green") —- and worked with the legendary Joseph Chaikin in a 7 Stages co-production of Sholem Asch's "God of Vengeance."

But most gratifying to Hirsch are the relationships she's made with the city's artistic community —- bridges she intends to build on as she continues to work in her hometown.

Five months after announcing the Jewish Theatre would close, her feelings seem to have shifted from bittersweet to upbeat. As the theater stages its final show, "The Last Schwartz," here are highlights from a recent conversation with Hirsch.

Q: What's on your mind as your theater closes?

A: Obviously I have mixed emotions. But for the most part, what I am feeling now is optimism, excitement about what I hope I'll be able to create in the future. What's been so gratifying has been the response from my theater community and the Jewish community and the broader audience of Jewish Theatre of the South, whose response has been: "Let me know what you are doing next. I want to follow you. I want to be there." Which says to me there's still an audience for what I was doing.

Q: So what's next?

A: I do have plans in the beginning stages to start an independent Jewish arts organization, and I say "arts organization" rather than "theater company" because the plans involve encompassing more than just theater. And I don't mean to be cagey, but there are certain people in particular that I don't think I can specifically name right now, just because of other things they are involved in. . . . But talks have begun.

Q: Would you be based intown?

A: That's my goal, yes, that this would be an intown arts organization.

Q: You produced at 14th Street Playhouse before moving to the Marcus Jewish Community Center in 2000. Do you think being in Dunwoody held the theater back?

A: It was a mixed blessing. . . . Certainly, a lot of my audience and a lot of the Jewish population is in Dunwoody and the northern suburbs. . . .However, I do feel for some people it was a little prohibitive. Some of the intown Jewish community was very resistant, maybe a little resentful about having to leave intown for arts programming. I know a lot of people live in town specifically because they have these things at their fingertips.

Q: How much financial support did you get from the center?

A: As you know, most not-for-profit theaters operate on a 50 percent-50 percent basis [of earned and contributed income]. And we fit that model. . . . I would say that aside from facilities cost, which is overhead and I can't even begin to figure, maybe about 10 percent of our operational and salaries would have been gifted from the JCC.

Q: Did that structure affect your independence? You didn't have a board, did you?

A: Departments in the JCC cannot have their own boards, so our board was the JCC board. . . . In terms of fund-raising, it was very much a Catch-22. When you are part of a large organization, there are people and places that are off-limits to you because another department is seeking funds from them. . . . And there's also this perception that you are taken care of, that you don't need help. . . . And we never had our own development person, which most theaters have, who was dedicated to raising money for our theater. So it was a very difficult situation.

Q: What have you learned from this experience?

A: Everything. . . . It's been the most incredible on-the-job training for 13 years. What I take away is knowledge and a skill set, but more than anything, relationships.

Q: The JCC says it wants more commercial work. If you had it to do over again, would you pick different plays?

A: Was every play a success? No. . . . In 13 years of producing, they are all not going to be everything you want them to be. But I feel very good that I created a mission and I adhered to it, and I still think the mission is valid. When I do what I'm going to do next, the mission will basically be intact.

Q: And what is that mission exactly?

A: To produce premieres of seldom-produced work. I don't see a compelling reason to produce plays that are done over and over again.

Q: Tell us about "The Last Schwartz."

A: I certainly didn't know when I selected the play that it would be the last production. . . . It's about a family of grown siblings in their 30s and 40s who congregate at the family's ancestral home in upstate New York on the first anniversary of their father's death. . . . The question is, Will they be the last generation of the Schwartzes? So there are issues about Jewish continuity, which is an issue in Judaism, particularly post-Holocaust. We all grow up with this responsibility of we must continue the Jewish people.

ONSTAGE