After the final curtain call of the Marin Shakespeare Company’s production of “Peter Pan,” Danny Greene will scrub off his makeup, toss aside his Michael Darling costume, knot his tie and dash off just in time to hear Kol Nidre.
The eighth-grader at Miller Creek Middle School and member of Congregation Rodef Sholom, both in San Rafael, isn’t fazed by the conflicts between being both actor and Jew.
After all, this is the kid who accepted his most recent role only after stipulating that his understudy must stand in for him on Erev Rosh Hashanah.
“I thought about it and I wanted to be more committed to my religion than to a play,” said Greene of this decision. “It wasn’t really an option” to perform during the High Holy Days.
In fact, when another cast member, a Jewish adult, asked him why he was missing a performance, suggesting that the 13-year-old was not totally committed to the play, Greene replied, “I have a bigger commitment to Judaism.”
“Touché. You got me there,” the other actor said.
Greene added, “I love to act but I also love Judaism.”
Sort of a Sandy Koufax for the ’90s, the young actor attributes his religious passion to “a combination of all things.”
Greene recalls lovingly lighting Shabbat candles, attending Jewish preschool, celebrating Passover at his aunt’s home and Rosh Hashanah in his own, and traveling to Israel last spring. He is a madrich (teaching assistant) at Rodef Sholom and spends summers at Camp Swig in Saratoga.
To date, Greene has played the butler in Marilyn Izdebski Productions’ “Singin’ In the Rain,” and the Earl of Kent in “King Lear” at school. Portraying a “lost boy” in “Peter Pan” is his biggest break.
But even a first shot at the Marin Shakespeare Company couldn’t keep Greene away from Jewish camp. Not wishing to forgo his art, Greene arranged to leave Swig for play rehearsals when necessary — such departures are highly unusual.
Upon his return to San Rafael a few weeks ago, Greene began practicing his haftorah for second-day Rosh Hashanah services. Rodef Sholom Cantor David Margules had made Greene a tape that would help him learn the melodies, but Greene was determined to learn the tropes.
“It was a big accomplishment. I’m like my own chazzan [cantor],” Greene said.
Lest he seem a bit too adult, Greene added that he’s excited to be kicking around the soccer ball on his school team and flying around onstage with “Peter Pan” siblings Wendy and John.
“It’s fairy dust,” he said of his in-the-air theatrical tricks.
Far more difficult will be the Yom Kippur fast. Greene celebrated his bar mitzvah last year and, as a Jewish adult, is obligated to fast for the first time.
“I’m determined” to do it, he said.