What I’ve Scene – Training Approach
“What I’ve Scene” is an innovative teaching approach developed by Mira Hirsch and Arnold Mittelman of NJTF HTII, in partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness program. It combines historical study with the performing arts to immerse students in Holocaust testimony through staged tableaus and dramatized survivor narratives. This international program is based on Enacting History: A Practical Guide to Teaching the Holocaust through Theater (Routledge), co‑authored by Hirsch and Mittelman.
Leadership & Trainers
The Enacting History initiative is guided and executed by a dedicated core team of educators, theater practitioners, and researchers committed to bringing Holocaust testimony into contemporary classrooms through the medium of theater. Together, they combine scholarly rigor, pedagogical innovation, and performance expertise to support schools in connecting students not only to the historical record, but to the emotional and human dimensions of survivor narratives. Their work spans curriculum development, training, outreach, research, and artistic collaboration—with the unified mission of deepening empathy, critical thinking, and historical awareness through embodying testimony.
Janet E. Rubin, Ph.D.
Co-Author
Janet E. Rubin, Ph.D. is co-author for Enacting History: A Practical Guide to Teaching the Holocaust Through Theater. received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. is a respected scholar, theatrical director, teacher, consultant, and arts educator. She currently teaches for the Visual and Performing Arts, Humanities, and Speech Departments at Eastern Florida State College
Mira Hirsch
Senior Educator — NJTF HTII
Mira Hirsch is senior educational consultant and workshop leader with NJTF HTII and co-author for Enacting History: A Practical Guide to Teaching the Holocaust Through Theater. Mira Hirsch is a multi-hyphenate theater artist--director-educator-producer-devisor-actor --who has been working in Atlanta's professional theatre community for the past four decades. She currently teaches high school theatre at Atlanta International School, an IB School focusing on international-mindedness and inclusivity.
Dr. Samantha Mitschke
Trainer — NJTF HTII
Dr. Samantha Mitschke is a scholar and educator specializing in Holocaust theatre history, focusing on plays and performances that explore the Nazi persecution of Jews and other groups through dramatic representation and storytelling. She holds a PhD in Drama & Theatre Studies (University of Birmingham), where her doctoral research examined cognitive and affective empathy in British and American Holocaust theatre. In addition to her academic writing in journals and edited collections, she is a member of the Virtual Speakers Bureau of the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University (HEFNU). She also co-hosts Lights Up on the Dark: The Holocaust Onstage, a podcast that explores the intersection of theatre and Holocaust history.
Ruth Gordon
Holocaust Impact Theatre
Ruth Gordon, MEd is the creator and longtime director of Holocaust Impact Theater (HIT). A career educator from Miami with decades of experience in teaching (including special education and gifted program development), Gordon launched HIT in 2004 and has guided the program for 20+ years, helping generations of teens explore the Holocaust’s lessons through theater. Under her leadership, students take creative ownership of productions that tackle themes of historical memory, prejudice, racism, bullying, antisemitism, and other forms of injustice