JTC brings Charlotte Salomon story to stage

By PAUL HAIST

article created on: 2009-02-01T00:00:00

Portland’s Jewish Theatre Collaborative will present “Charlotte Salomon: Life? Or Theatre?” for just three performances on Feb. 14 and 15 at the West End Theater downtown.

The script was adapted by JTC founder Sacha Reich from what today might be called a graphic novel by the German Expressionist painter Charlotte Salomon, who was murdered at Auschwitz in 1943 at age 26.

Salomon, whose Berlin family found refuge for her in 1939 at Villefranche in the south of France, spent the last year of her life there painting more than 1,200 images in which she chronicled her life and that of much of her family. She called it a diary. In something akin to reverse manuscript illumination, Salomon added text to the images on paper overlays and, sometimes, directly on a painting, the latter in the manner of several Expressionist painters.

In a biographical preface to the 1963 book “Charlotte, A Diary in Pictures” which bears Salomon’s name as the author and which also includes reproductions of 80 of her paintings, Emil Strauss, who knew Salomon near the end of her life, says, “She opened her heart and poured forth the images she had been storing up for so long—at a headlong pace, never stopping to rest, as though suspecting how little time she had ahead of her.”

Reich, who directs the new production, said “Life? Or Theatre” tells the story of a young girl striving to find her voice as an artist against the backdrop of the rise of the Third Reich.The JTC production with a cast of eight will incorporate projections of Salomon’s paintings with live and recorded music.

Reich explained that Salomon makes references to music throughout her work. The performance will include music from the composers Franz Shubert, J. S. Bach and Frederick Hollander to modern art songs composed for this production by composer sound designer and musical director Rodolpho Ortega, whose work also can be seen or, more accurately, heard at the current Profile Theatre presentation of Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues.”

The cast of “Life? or Theatre?” includes Drammy award winner Michele Mariana and critically acclaimed singer, Cantor Ida Rae Cahana.

Other players are Bill Barry, Doren Elias, George Lederer, Jamie M. Rea, Darrel Salk and Hannah Treuhaft.

Other members of the production design team are Sara Gahagan, Mark Loring and Peter West.

Reich said she did not know much about Salomon until she visited Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem last fall.

“Charlotte’s work is in their exhibit because it is unique and she gave artistic expression to what was happening around her,” said Reich, who added that she has “immersed herself” in Salomon ever since.

Reich came up with the idea of creating this theater presentation while “brainstorming with (Oregon Jewish Museum Executive Director) Judy Margles” for a project on which the museum and JCT could collaborate.

OJM co-sponsors this JCT production with the German American Society of Portland.

The production was made possible by a $9,000 opportunity grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council.

Performance time on Saturday, Feb. 14, is 8 p.m. There will be a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Feb. 15, followed by a 7 o’clock performance that evening.

The West End Theater is located at 1220 SW Taylor St.

Following each performance there will be a discussion of themes and issues in the play.

Tickets are $20 general admission and $10 for students.

Purchase tickets at the Oregon Jewish Museum, 310 NW Davis St., or on line at www.ojm.org.