HEIDI HUNTER is Eva in the Jewish Theatre Collaborative production of “Kindertransport,” which opens Feb. 25 on the stage of Artists Repertory Theatre. The opening of the play marks the beginning also Kindertransport 2010, a monthlong focus on genocide.
Staging of ‘Kindertransport’ highlights genocide awareness
By JEWISH REVIEW
article created on: 2010-02-24T00:00:00
The Feb. 25 opening of the play “Kindertransport” officially launched Kindertransport 2010, an ambitious community outreach project on genocide awareness, in anticipation of the UN’s Genocide Awareness Month this April.
The Jewish Theatre Collaborative has reached out to more than 50 organizations.
Among the many organizations supporting the production are Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland’s Office of Human Relations and Human Rights, German American Society and the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization’s Africa House.
Satellite programming has been selected to include diverse arts groups and speakers all in an effort to examine the historical implications of one girl’s story and investigate its relevance in our world today.
In the nine months before the German invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, which led to Britain and France’s declarations of war against Germany on Sept. 3, 1939, almost 10,000 children, most of them Jewish, were sent by their parents from Germany to Britain to safety and security through the Kindertransport.
The play “Kindertransport” weaves the story of three generations of women whose lives are intertwined when 9-year- old Eva is sent from Germany to Manchester in 1938.
Two Kindertransport survivors made their way to Portland. Rose Hassin, whose story is told in the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center’s education trunk, Kindertransport, and the Late Brig. Gen. Fred Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum dedicated his life to advocating for the vulnerable in society.
To generate community conversations, nightly talk-backs are planned after each performance. Audiences will be invited to share their experiences. Among those on board for talk-backs are Holocaust survivors from the OHRC speaker’s bureau, social worker Samuel Giori, psychologist Dr. Aart Lovenstein, Chadian refuge and director of IRCO’s Africa House Djimet Dogo and Kayse Jama, a Somali refugee and director of the Center for Intercultural Organizing.
Monday nights during the run there will be free satellite programming. On March 1, Dr. Natan Meir, an assistant professor of Judaic studies at Portland State University, will present a lecture on the vibrant and diverse Jewish life of pre-war Europe and what remained of that culture after the war.
March 8, JTC will host the Beirut Wedding World Theatre Project, a group that will present a reading of Stefanie Zadravec’s “Honey Brown Eyes” about the ethnic violence in Bosnia. Finally, Base Roots, a local African American theater company, will present a staged reading of playwright Winter Miller’s “In Darfur” on March 15.
Throughout the run of the production, Friderike Heuer’s photomontage/poetry exhibit “Fugue: Exile, Emigration and Displacement” will be showcased at the theatre.
JTC Executive Director Sacha Reich said, “Producing this play (‘Kindertransport’) is an extraordinary opportunity to fulfill our mission. Witnessing the unforgettable experience of one girl’s journey may trigger our own unforgettable stories. Sharing those stories with each other, we can learn lessons about humanity to apply at home and abroad.”
This program is made possible with grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Community Endowment Fund of the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation.
“Kindertransport” runs for 16 performances through March 21.
For more information on go online to jewishtheatrecollaborative.org.
