THE LAST CYCLIST Comes to Genesis Creative Collective Next Month

The Last Cyclist is the Austin premiere stage production written in 1944 by Terezin concentration camp prisoner Karel Švenk and rediscovered and reconstructed by writer Naomi Patz. Welcome to a uniquely theatrical performance as we attend a fateful dress rehearsal of inmates - immediately banned when it was shown - and bear witness to this new historical record of atrocities, as well, this fascinating work of Jewish defiance. The original script by the playwright, was irrevocably lost during the Holocaust, when Švenk was sent to his death at age 28.

In the darkest of times, art sustains life...and hope.

But Švenk's production was not forgotten. It acquired legendary status among survivors despite having been banned following its dress rehearsal. Beginning in 1995, the playwright Naomi Patz painstakingly re-envisioned the play based on everything she could find, which included the dark absurdist allegory on the "Jews and cyclist" theme, but also expanding on the scathing satire of Nazism, in which bicyclists are blamed for all of society's ills. She allowed its message of defiance in the face of prejudice and bullying to speak implicitly to society today.

The Last Cyclist is produced by City Theatre Austin and is directed by Stacey Glazer. The cast includes Zachary Barrett, Toni Baum, Alessio Franko, Jesse Griffith, Bryan Headrick, Saige Hilton, Ashley Howell, Grace James, Asa Johnson, Moses Kutz, and Miriam Rubin. More information on the play can be found by visiting thelastcyclist.com