This is a Holocaust program that transforms this frequently inaccessible topic into a relevant and immediate experience for audiences of all ages. Two performers, embodying a variety of roles – director, bullies, rescuers, and Hitler youth – invite their audiences, through rap and step dance, to participate in join-in re-enactments as perpetrators, victims and rescuers. The arc of the presentation begins with references to everyday newspapers – from the Daily News to Der Stürmer – and demands its audience examine racial and religious hatred: Bullying – both historical and contemporary – and ends with empathetic examples of empowerment through tolerance and love.
The audience is allowed to examine socially relevant real-life racist situations – both as they occur in present day office and school settings, and as they occurred in Germany in 1937-38. Historical re-enactments highlighting the program include the gentile rescue of Odette Meyers; the work of Sister Donata of Milan, Italy who created an underground railroad through the country's monasteries, convents and schools to move endangered people into neutral Switzerland; and the hiding of Anne Frank and her family. A lively sound track and the art of quick-change sets the scene and keeps the audience engaged in this highly volatile and significantly current topic.
New Jersey | Visual and Performing Arts 1.1 Language Arts 3.4 Social Studies 6.4 |
Connecticut | Theatre 6 Connections Social Studies 1 Historical Thinking 2 Local United States and World History 6 Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens |
New York | Theatre 3 Analyzing and Responding Social Studies 2 World History and its Relevance |
Greene, Joshua and Kumar, Shiva. Witness: Voices from the Holocaust. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Lee, Carol Ann. Anne Frank and the Children of the Holocaust. New York: Puffin Books, 2008.
Prose, Francine. Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.
Rittner, Carol and Myers, Sondra. The Courage to Care: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust. New York: New York University Press, 1986.
Read more about Sister Donata online @ www.claremontmckenna.edu/hist/jpetropoulos/church/convents.html#italy
“I was so impressed by this program. Its refreshing approach allowed my students not only to come to grips with the evils of the Holocaust, but also its relevance. During the discussion that followed it was clear that it had inspired them to make the world a better place.” - Deborah Roberts, Director, Palisades Youth Theater
“A compelling program and an impressive achievement!” - Rabbi Steve Golden, Rabbi in Residence JCC on the Palisades
“I can't thank Geraldine, Anne and Keith enough for allowing us to preview Those People. Weeks later my kids were still talking about this program.” - Ms. Denise Lute, Director Lab School Drama Club
Anne
Pasquale (actress & playwright)
is presently a member of The Actors Studio. She trained at LAMDA and
the New York School of the Arts. She has appeared on TV in: As
The World Turns and Search for Tomorrow.
In Great Britain she performed a range of roles from Viola in Twelfth
Night to Sarah Goddard, a turn of the century Rhode Island
feminist. Some of her New York stage credits include: The New
Dramatist's Three Sisters, Lincoln Center’s A
View from the Bridge, Theatre of the Open Eye’s Birdbath,
The 78th Street Theatre Lab’s Ruffian on the Stair,
and Paradise Lost at The Actors Studio. In
addition, Ms. Pasquale creates and tours her repertoire of Living
History Programs for audiences of all ages in venues along
the East Coast. Recent appearances include: Nellie
at The NHHC Chautauqua, Liberty Belles at The
Yale University Museum and Deborah Sampson at The
John Jay Homestead.
Geraldine Baron is a member of The Actors Studio. She was trained as an actress and teacher by Lee Strasberg, spent 14 years teaching with him and taught his Master Class upon his death. Her acting credits include Broadway, film, television, regional theatre, and variety. She has coached and taught actors internationally for over 30 years, and has trained award winning theatrical and cinematic actors and directors whose works have been represented at the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and the Tribeca Film Festival, among others. She has taught at UCLA, NYU, The Actors Studio (Hollywood & NY), the Lee Strasberg Institute (Hollywood & NY), and in many theatrical centers throughout North America and Europe. In addition, she trained all the actors for George Tabori’s famed production of Nathan the Wise at the Residenz Theater in Munich. She has worked with a number of renowned directors, including: Peter Bogdonovich, Martha Coolidge, Ivan Passer, Dennis Hopper, Elia Kazan, James Ivory, Henry Jaglom, Arthur Penn, Orson Welles, Anthony Drazen, Theo Angelopoulos, and Valario Binasco. She was a casting director for Francis Ford Coppola at his American Zoetrope Studios. Ms. Baron is the founder and artistic director of Commonwealth Theater, a group dedicated to social consciousness through art.
Keith
Herron (www.imdb.com/name/nm0380803/)
grew up following his parents all around the world. He has appeared in
more than three dozen films, television shows, and commercials, and has
performed on stage with the NY International Fringe Festival, Equity
Library Theatre, Minnesota Opera, Dudley Riggs, Children’s Theatre
Company, Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, and the Minnesota Shakespeare
Company. He is a member of John Strasberg’s Accidental Repertory
Theater (ART) in New York City. He was Tom/Tennessee in ART’s Tennessee
Williams, the Writer and His World, Krogstad in A
Doll’s House, and premiered his solo show It’s My
Divorce – Y’all Come! during their inaugural season. He is
currently awaiting the release of three feature films and can be seen
in a spot for The Onion: www.theonion.com/content/video/nasa_scientists_plan_to_approach
www.keithherron.com
Original concept by Anne Pasquale. Written by Anne Pasquale and Geraldine Baron. Step Dance Choreography by Rev. Melvin Miller. Sound Design by Clark Kee.
1933 - Nazi party takes power in Germany; Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor. Nazis “temporarily” suspend civil liberties, set up the first concentration camp at Dachau, and inter 200 Communists; books with ideas considered dangerous to Nazi beliefs are burned.
1934 - Hitler becomes “Fuhrer” or “Leader of Germany”; Jewish newspapers can no longer be sold in the streets.
1935 - Jews are deprived of their citizenship and other basic rights; Nazis intensify the persecution of political people that don’t agree with Hitler’s philosophy.
1936 - Nazis boycott Jewish-owned businesses; the Olympics are held in Germany; signs barring Jews are removed until the event is over; Jews no longer have the right to vote.
1938 - German troops annex (take over) Austria; on Kristallnacht Nazis terrorize Jews throughout Germany and Austria – 30,000 Jews are arrested; Jews must carry ID cards; Jewish passports are marked with a “J”; Jews can no longer head businesses, attend plays, etc.; all Jewish children are moved to Jewish schools; Jewish businesses are shut down; Jews must sell businesses and hand over securities and jewels; Jews must hand over drivers' licenses and car registrations; Jews must be in certain places at certain times.
1939 - Germany takes over Czechoslovakia and invades Poland; World War II begins: Britain and France declare war on Germany; Hitler orders that Jews must follow curfews; Jews must turn in radios; Jews must wear yellow stars of David.
1940 - Nazis begin deporting German Jews to Poland; Jews are forced into ghettos; Nazis begin the first mass murder of Jews in Poland; Jews are put into concentration camps.
1941 - Germany attacks the Soviet Union; Jews throughout Western Europe are forced into ghettos; Jews may not leave houses without permission; Jews may not use public telephones; United States declares war Germany.
1942 - Nazi officials disclose their plan to kill all European Jews to government officials; Jews are forbidden to: subscribe to newspapers; keep pets; keep electrical equipment, including typewriters; own bicycles; buy meat, eggs, or milk; use public transportation; attend school.
1943 - As of February, about 80-85 percent of the Jews who would die in the Holocaust have already been murdered.
1944 - Hitler takes over Hungary and begins deporting 12,000 Hungarian Jews each day to Auschwitz where they are murdered.
1945 - Hitler is defeated and World War II ends; the Holocaust is over and the death camps are emptied; many survivors are placed in displaced persons facilities.
1946 - An International Military Tribunal (Judicial assembly) is created by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union; in Nuremberg, Nazi leaders are tried for war crimes by the Judicial assembly.
1947 - The United Nations establishes a Jewish homeland in British-controlled Palestine, which becomes the State of Israel in 1948.