Ask Naomi Newman what it’s like to hit the big 9-0, and she gives a straight answer. “It feels similar to 89,” she says dryly. “The experience is quite ordinary.”
“Ordinary” is not a term normally associated with Naomi Newman. As an actor, director, playwright and especially as a co-founder of the pioneering Traveling Jewish Theater, she secured a spot in the Bay Area pantheon of performance art. So when her 90th birthday loomed last Dec. 24, her family, friends and colleagues couldn’t pass up the opportunity to throw a party.
It was a Zoomunion for the ages “joyous and affirming and beautiful” according to the birthday gal. “It was like I needed to be in touch with everyone in my life.” The festivities included kind words from colleagues past and present, and plenty of music, even a reworking of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” with the name changed to Naomi.