Four Short Plays to Spotlight Women's Experiences During the Holocaust on Remembrance Day
The event will take place at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, featuring performances by AMY ERLANGER, EVE SOREL, and students from Ursinus College.
The experiences of women in the Holocaust will be highlighted at an event sponsored by Remember the Women Institute on April 14 at 7 pm in Manhattan.
The readings include the premieres of three short plays and an excerpt that reprises scenes from an acclaimed off-Broadway production. The evening marks the nationally-recognized Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah).
Included in the evening is 'Pour Out Your Blessings,' a short play about a mature woman in the Sommerda forced labor camp who guides a girl on the the value of faith even in their daunting circumstances. Written and directed by Jessica Feder-Birnbaum, the work is performed by Amy Erlanger and Eve Sorel.
'Eye Witness' by Cynthia L. Cooper and directed by Jessica Bauman, tells the story of an artist-survivor in Mexico and her unusual interaction with an interviewer from nearby Holocaust testimonies project. The play features actors Florencia Lozano and Lynda Sturner.
Also included is 'Chava & Zenia,' adapted and directed by Meghan Brodie based on the new book 'Letters from an Afterlife,' (ed. Goldie Morgentaler) sharing the lifelong correspondence between two women survivors who become recognized for their writing and art after living in a Nazi concentration camp. The play is performed by students from Ursinus College in Philadelphia: Calista Baechtold, Mel Petro and Laisha Torres, with dramaturgy by Anna Cisler.
The fourth selection highlights excerpts from 'Hannah Senesh,' written and directed by David Schechter and performed by Jennifer Apple. About the young poet from British Mandate pre-Israel who parachuted into Hungary on a rescue mission during the Holocaust, the play was recently performed in an acclaimed Folksbiene production off-Broadway. Developed in collaboration Lori Wilner (who performed in it in 1985) the story is based on the diary and poems of Hannah Senesh.
The performances will be followed by a talkback with the playwrights and Dr. Rochelle G. Saidel, founding executive director of Remember the Women Institute, as well as a reception.
The readings will be at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam near 76 Street, on the Seventh Floor.
Tickets are $10 in advance ($15 at the door), available at https://www.mmjccm.org/event/women-theater-holocaust.
'Women, Theater and the Holocaust,' the only program of its kind across the country to feature women's experiences, is celebrating its eleventh season. Remember the Women Institute sponsors the readings in partnership with the National Jewish Theater Foundation's Remembrance Readings and co-sponsors National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, National Jewish Theater Foundation, Jewish Theatre Circle of NYC, and Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan.
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