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Vol. 25 No. 14
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On Tour senior to make debut on Broadway By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
Courtesy Town of Hempstead
The Pit Stop celebrates grand reopening The Pit Stop, on Sunrise Highway in Merrick, celebrated its grand reopening earlier this month. Owners Tony and Carolyne Rubano were joined by Hempstead Town Councilman Chris Carini, Town Clerk Kate Murray, employees Angelica Leon and Dorothy Scarlato, Merrick Chamber of Commerce President Ira Reiter, chamber members Joe Baker and Randy Shotland, and County Legislators Steve Rhoads and Tom McKevitt.
New book aims to normalize interabled relationships By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
North Bellmore native Rachel Aberman is hoping to normalize interabled relationships with her new children’s book, “Caterpillar and His Very Special Apartment.” The term interabled describes a romantic relationship in which one partner has a disability. Aber man’s boyfriend, Zacc Charvolin, has Duchenne mus-
cular dystrophy, a muscle wasting disease, and uses a wheelchair. Aberman, 26, a graduate of Sanford H. Calhoun’s On Tour Company drama program, told the Herald she met Charvolin, 24, online before the coronavirus pandemic. They now live together in upstate Ithaca, Charvolin’s hometown, and adopted a cat that they named Caterpillar. The book, Aberman said, is “about the normalcy of an inter-
abled relationship, through the eyes of our cat. You see some things that are disability-related and some things that aren’t. I wanted it to be a jumping-off point for younger kids — I didn’t want disability to be the forefront of the story. They can become curious and ask questions at their own pace.” The characters in the book resemble Aberman, Charvolin Continued on page 5
Most 17-year-olds don’t get the opportunity to appear in a Broadway play. But then again, most 17-year-olds aren’t David Kaid. A Merrick resident in his senior year at Sanford H. Calhoun High School, Kaid will play Pavel in “The Last Boy… A New Play With Music” as part of a one-night-only benefit performance April 27. “The Last Boy,” written by Steven Fisher, tells the remarkable story of 100 boys who lived in the Terezin concenDavid tration camp, during the Holocaust. Set in what is now the Czech Republic, the “last boys,” as they became known, created the longest-running underground publication of the Holocaust called “Vedem” — which means “we are leading” in Czech. Its contents included poems and essays, among others — all of which are incorporated into the play. Fisher, who founded Philadel-
phia’s Keystone State Boychoir in 2001, was touring with the well-known group pre-pandemic when they made a stop in the Czech Republic and visited Terezin, a small town of fewer than 3,000 people in the northernmost reaches of the country. It was there Fisher learned of Vedem. The choir boys Googled the story, finding some of the “last boys” had survived. Fisher met with Sidney Tausigg, a 92-year-old survivor living in Florida, and asked for his blessing to write a play inspired by their story. The play had its world premiere in New York last sumKaid mer, the first performance to return to the city post-pandemic. Now returning April 27, it will commemorate Yom Hashoah, the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. Kaid is part of the BellmoreMerrick Central High School District’s specialty drama program, On Tour Company, and grew up in Lynbrook. He moved to Merrick at the end of eighth Continued on page 9