Marc Palmieri, author of “She Danced with Lightning: My Daughter’s Struggle with Epilepsy and Her Boundless Will to Live,” will discuss what his child taught him during her decade-long battle with the disorder at Temple Beth-El of Great Neck on Friday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m.
All are welcome to attend the Pikuach Nefesh Shabbat: On Daughters, Storms and Second Chances, which is sponsored by Sharon and Michael Freeman and will be followed by an Oneg Shabbat with sweet treats.
Palmieri is a playwright, actor, screenwriter, baseball coach and university professor. His talk will focus on his daughter’s battle to persevere as a competitive dancer, which culminated in a terrifying decline, a courageous performance and an 11th-hour lifesaving brain surgery.
Part family memoir, part medical mystery, “She Danced with Lightning” tells the story of 11-year-old Anna, who had lived with severe epilepsy all her life. Despite the ravage of thousands of violent seizures and heavy medications, she thrived at school, athletics and her passion—dance. As she approached her 12th birthday, her condition took a dire turn, leaving the family only one excruciating choice.
Told from the perspective of her dream-chasing father, Palmieri ultimately learns strength and courage from his daughter that he never imagined possible.
His other works include the plays “Poor Fellas,” “Carl the Second,” “Levittown,” “The Groundling” and “Waiting for the Host,” and the screenplay “Telling You” for Miramax Films starring Peter Facinelli and Jennifer Love Hewitt. As an actor, Palmieri played the lead role in the critically acclaimed film “Too Much Sleep,” for which he was nominated for an IFP Spirit Award.
The Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA member has appeared in Verizon, Toyota, Macy’s, Heineken, Burger King, Microsoft, New York Lottery, Nike and Pizza Hut commercials. The Mercy University professor is also a guest faculty member in playwriting, screenwriting and dramatic adaptation for the Creative Writing MFA Program at The City College of New York and teaches short-play screenwriting for the summer program at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. Though he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays out of high school, he instead accepted an athletic scholarship to Wake Forest University, where he received a BA in speech, communications and theatre arts—and graduated the second winningest pitcher in program history.
He went on to earn an MA and MFA in Creative Writing from The City College of New York.
For 10 years, he served as varsity pitching coach at Chaminade High School in Mineola and is currently the NCAA Division II Mercy University Maverick’s pitching coach.
In Hebrew, the words “pikuach nefesh” mean “saving a soul,” which is a fundamental principle in Jewish law prioritizes the preservation of human life above almost all other religious obligations, the synagogue said.
Temple Beth-El has served the community for nearly 100 years at 5 Old Mill Road.
For more information, visit tbegreatneck.org, call 516-487-0900 or email info@tbegreatneck.org.
