TheatreWorks and Hershey Felder Will Screen THE ASSEMBLY Documentary in May
Hershey Felder's award-winning documentary will screen on May 4 at Fox Theatre in Redwood City.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and Hershey Felder Presents will screen a one-night-only presentation of actor/pianist/writer Hershey Felder's internationally-acclaimed film THE ASSEMBLY. This captivating documentary filled with music, heartbreak, and hope follows a group of American high school students as they visit Poland and learn the fascinating life story of Holocaust survivor Eva Libitzsky. Felder, a favorite among TheatreWorks audiences and frequent performer at the Tony Award recipient theatre, will be in attendance, perform music from the film, and answer audience questions following the screening, joined by the film's stars, Moses Libitzky, Roxane Carrasco, and Timothy Farson. THE ASSEMBLY will be screened 7:30pm Monday, May 4, 2026 at Fox Theatre, 2215 Broadway, Redwood City.
In 2019, Hershey Felder committed to bring Holocaust survivor Eva Libitzky to the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts to speak to the young artists about her experiences during World War II. Libitzky was interned in the Lodz Ghetto and then later at Auschwitz. Miraculously surviving, she then committed to tell her story to students all over the world, illuminating the results and capabilities of human hatred. With the onset of COVID, the program had to be postponed, and during the pandemic, Eva succumbed to COVID. Having promised to share her story, Felder then committed to bring the school's diverse group of students and leaders to the locations of Libitzky's story in Poland. What transpired was a musical story of heartbreak, fear, terror, and ultimately one of hope and a better world.
Constructed as a docudrama, the film's events are set in the modern day, with Tony Award-nominated Broadway and television actor Eleanor Reissa (Broadway's Those Were the Days and Indecent) playing the role of Eva Libitzky, revealing her life story to the young student artists. The result is a musical film that is unlike any other on the subject matter, where young people of today can see themselves in the story as it unfolds.
THE ASSEMBLY features the music of Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Flaherty, Azriel David Fastag, Naomi Shemer, live Klezmer by The Klezmerata Fiorentina, and many more. It is directed by Hershey Felder, cinematography by Stefano DeCarli, sound management is by Erik Carstensen, and production is by Lilla DiFlorio and Annette Nixon. THE ASSEMBLY features Moses Libitzky, Eleanor Reissa, Kim Campbell, Igor Polesitsky, Roxane Carrasco, Timothy Farson, Joe Alterman, Stephanie Friedman, Romeo Baccarella, Katelin Banman, Olive Benito, J. Isaiah Foster, Colette Giganti, Giovanny Diaz de Leon, Alexander Meeder, and Yzabel Ugalde.
Hershey Felder (Actor, Pianist, Producer, Playwright, Composer) is currently the Artistic Director of FirenzeOnStage, directing Teatro Niccolini in Florence, Italy (Florence's oldest theatre, 1648) at the foot of Florence's historic Duomo. Felder has presented film and stage superstar Jeff Goldblum, Helen Mirren, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Malcolm McDowell, the cast of The Sound of Music film and many more. Superstar virtuosi presented include David Khrikuli, Boris Giltburg, Francesco Libetta, Inna Faliks, Charles Castronovo and more, along with directing superstar Taylor Hackford, Broadway stars Santino Fontana and Jenn Colella, among others.
Following 28 years of continuous stage productions and over 6,000 live performances throughout the U.S. and abroad, Hershey Felder created Live from Florence, An Arts Broadcasting Company, based in Florence, Italy, which has produced more than eighteen theatrical films to date. They include the recently-released Noble Genius - Chopin & Liszt; The Assembly; Violetta, the story of Verdi's Traviata; Dante and Beatrice; Mozart and Figaro in Vienna; the World Premiere musicals Nicholas, Anna & Sergei, the story of Sergei Rachmaninoff; Puccini, the story of famed opera composer Giacomo Puccini; Before Fiddler, a musical story about writer Sholem Aleichem; Great American Songs and the Stories Behind Them, Leonard Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic, a documentary, and the popular Musical Tales in the Venetian Jewish Ghetto.
Felder has given performances of his solo productions at some of the world's most prestigious theatres and has consistently broken box office records. His shows include George Gershwin Alone (Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre, West End's Duchess Theatre); Monsieur Chopin; Beethoven; Maestro (Leonard Bernstein); Franz Liszt in Musik, Lincoln: An American Story, Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin, Our Great Tchaikovsky, and A Paris Love Story and Monsieur Chopin. In 2026, he performed the World Premiere of Hershey Felder: The Piano & Me at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. In 2024, he premiered Hershey Felder: Rachmaninoff and the Tsar, performing as composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff opposite Jonathan Silvestri as Tsar Nicholas II. His compositions and recordings include Aliyah, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; Fairytale, a musical; Les Anges de Paris, Suite for Violin and Piano; Song Settings; Saltimbanques for Piano and Orchestra; Etudes Thematiques for Piano; and An American Story for Actor and Orchestra, and the opera Il Quarto Uomo that premiered in Fiesole, Italy in the summer of 2023 with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Felder is the adaptor, director, and designer for the internationally performed play-with-music The Pianist of Willesden Lane with Steinway artist Mona Golabek; producer and designer for the musical Louis and Keely: ‘Live' at the Sahara, directed by Taylor Hackford; and writer and director for Flying Solo, featuring opera legend Nathan Gunn. Felder has operated a full-service production company since 2001. He has been a scholar-in-residence at Harvard University's Department of Music and is married to Rt. Hn. Kim Campbell.
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