On April 13, 2015 arts, educational and memorial organizations across the country united by participating in the first ever Remembrance Readings for Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah). This event was conceived and launched by the National Jewish Theater Foundation (NJTF) as a way of harnessing the unique power of theater to remember the Holocaust, honor its victims, and foster subsequent conversations about lessons learned for future generations. It draws upon material from over 750 plays made accessible in our newly created Holocaust Theater Catalog (HTC).
Our sincere thanks to all participating organizations:
2017 Participants
California:
- The Old Globe - Love in Dark Times by Joshua Sobol starring Tovah Feldshuh
- North Coast Repertory Theatre - Gabriel by Moira Buffini
- Pasadena Playhouse in partnership with the Jewish Federation of San Gabriel Valley - Righteous by Jeff Cohen
- Berkeley Repertory Theatre - Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin
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San Rafael First United Methodist Church - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel
New York:
- New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, The National Jewish Theater Foundation - Holocaust Theater International Initiative in association with Burke-Cohen Entertainment - Premiere play reading of Righteous by Jeff Cohen
- New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center in association with The National Jewish Theater Foundation Holocaust Theater International Initiative at University of Miami Miller Center and Wagner College Holocaust Center - Dialogs and A Black Canopy, A Black Sky by Elie Wiesel. NJTF HTII Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of Elie and Marion Wiesel.
- Untitled Theater Company No. 61 - Cabaret in Captivity, Songs and sketches from Terezin
- Center for Jewish History/Remember the Women Institute - Women and Resistance - Women, Theatre, and the Holocaust
- Syracuse Jewish Federation/Temple Adath Yeshurun - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel
- Temple Beth Tzedek/Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel
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Monroe Community College/Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Project with Sixth Act - Good by Cecil Philip Taylor
Texas:
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The Pearl Theater - I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Celeste Raspanti and Second World War by Elie Wiesel
Florida:
- New College of Florida/The Windmill Theater Company - Nightwords: A Liturgy on the Holocaust by David G. Roskies
- University of Miami Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies with Gable Stage - Dialogs and Black Canopy, Black Sky by Elie Wiesel
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Eastern Florida State College - Dreams of Anne Frank by A. Frank
Minnesota:
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Illusion Theater - Wiesenthal by Tom Dugan
Alabama:
- Levite Jewish Community Center - The Informer and The Jewish Wife by Bertolt Brecht and Dialogs by Elie Wiesel
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Samford University Theatre for Youth - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel
Illinois:
- Round Lake High School Theatre - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel
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The Theatre School at DePaul University – Dialogs by Elie Wiesel
North Carolina:
- Elon University - Dialogs by Elie Wiesel
2016 Participants
- Untitled Theater company #61 - Performing Captivity, Performing Escape by Lisa Pechel
- University of Wisconsin – Harlequin in the Ghetto by Lisa Peschel and Alan Sikes
- La Jolla Jewish Community Center – Realm of Silence: Reflections on the Holocaust by Elvire Coriat de Baere
- Southern Oregon University - The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht.
- New York Public Library - Lincoln Center – The Soap Myth by Jeff Cohen
- Davidson College – Remnants by Hank Greenspan
- University of Miami– Last of the Just by André Schwarz-Bart
- Wagner College
- The H.E.A.T. Collective – Promised Land by Jessica Litwak
- Marin Theatre Company – The Soap Myth by Jeff Cohen
- Remember the Women Institute & American Jewish Historical Society – Bubby's Kitchen by Shira Ginsburg
- North Coast Repertory Theatre – The Soap Myth by Jeff Cohen
- Wells College – Kindertransport by Diane Samuels
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Merrimack Repertory Theatre - 2.5 Minute Ride by Lisa Kron
- Windy City Playhouse - Timekeepers by Dan Clancy
2015 Participants
- La Jolla Playhouse - Intelligence-Slave by Kenneth Lin
- The Old Globe – The Revisionist by Jesse Eisenberg
- North Coast Repertory Theatre – The History of Invulnerability by David Bar Katz
- Intrepid Theatre Company at Leichtag Foundation Ranch - The Substance of Fire by Jon Robin Baitz
- The Theatre School at De Paul – Ghetto by Joshua Sobol
- Genesis Stage at the Illinois Holocaust and Museum Education Center – The Last Cyclist by Naomi Patz
- Theatrical Outfit at the Balzer Theatre – The Soap Myth by Jeff Cohen
- Imagination Stage – Nivelli’s Way by Charles Way
- Untitled Theater Company #61 at Czech Embassy in conjunction with Israel Embassy – source: Performing Captivity and Beyond: Songs and Sketches from Terezin by Lisa Peschel
- The Temple Emanu - El Skirball Center, co-presented by the Polish Cultural Institute New York – Our Class by Tadeusz Slobodzianek
- Remember the Women at Center for Jewish History – Gretel Bergmann by Cynthia Cooper, Excerpts from In The Underworld by Germaine Tillion and Wild Wind Blows by Cynthia Cooper
- Eastern Florida State College – I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Jewish children from Prague imprisoned in the model concentration camp Theresienstadt
- Michal-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center – Butterflies No Longer Live Here by Fernando Hurtado.
Some of the excellent media coverage we received for our inaugural 2015, 2016 and 2017 Remembrance Readings: