NEW YORK (AP) — Events in nine states will honor Holocaust Remembrance Day with readings of plays that deal with that darkest time in world history.

The second annual Remembrance Readings program will include the reading of "2.5 Minute Ride" by Lisa Kron, "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" by Bertolt Brecht and "The Timekeepers" by Dan Clancy, among others.

The states participating either Sunday or Monday include New York, Florida, Illinois, California, Wisconsin, Alabama, Oregon, North Carolina and Massachusetts.

USC Shoah Foundation and National Jewish Theater Foundation Collaborate to Launch ‘This is What I’ve Scene,’ First Ever Theater-Related Activity To Be Provided to Students Worldwide Via IWitness Website

Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah)

San Diego, CA March 30, 2015. On April 13, 2015 arts related organizations across the country will unite to honor victims of the Holocaust by joining 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) and draws on information from over 600 plays made accessible in their newly created Holocaust Theater Catalog (HTC).

What Were They Thinking: Archiving Anne Frank

By: BOB ABELMAN

Playwrights did not begin to describe and interpret the Holocaust experience until a decade after the end of World War II. It takes time to heal, generate the strength to reflect, and find a clear and steady voice.

The most influential and lasting American effort was “The Diary of Anne Frank,” the 1956 adaptation of a young girl’s journal by two Hollywood screenwriters, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. To a large extent, the play’s accessibility and popularity stem from its dramatic realism and the alluring thread of Anne’s innocence and optimism within the context of the atrocities occurring outside her secret annex.

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By Teresa Eyring
TCG Executive Director

Because its nature of bringing people together and, having therefore, a political character,
theatre has been proven an especially apt medium to feed collective memories.
—Juan Mayorga, playwright, writing for Holocaust Theatre Catalogue

In October, the National Jewish Theater Foundation/ National Jewish Theatre launched a new website, the Holocaust Theatre Catalogue (htc.miami.edu), with over 550 entries of plays written since 1933, about or related in some way to the Holocaust. Addressing the absence of any such comprehensive resource, the archive also came about in part because we are losing the last of the survivors of the Holocaust—and with them go their first-hand accounts of that horrific time in our history.

Many of us are fond of intimate fireside chats, myself included. Last night's Sheldon Harnick: A Conversation & Celebration at San Diego's JCC Garfield Theatre took place on a stage in front of an audience, but the heartfelt exchange between Broadway lyricist icon Sheldon Harnick and his longtime collaborator Arnold Mittelman evoked the coziness of a late-night dialogue between bosom buddies in front of a crackling blaze in the rare New York apartment with a fireplace. The overture to this captivating conversation consisted of musical selections from Harnick's oeuvre, sung with verve and passion by an assortment of performers, and the evening culminated with Mittelman's presenting Harnick with the National Jewish Theater Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award.

By Dr. Michael Berenbaum, Director American Jewish University

Jeff Cohen’s “The Soap Myth,” as produced by the National Jewish Theater Foundation and directed by Arnold Mittleman, has brought to life on the New York stage the inherent tensions between Holocaust historians and Holocaust survivors over facts and interpretation of facts. Time and again, survivors speak of the Nazis’ making human fat into soap, while Holocaust historians say that, at best, there is insufficient evidence to support that claim.

The launch of the National Jewish Theater and American Theater Festival was a resounding success. Leading with the musical The Soul of Gershwin, Arnold Mittelman’s theatrical rebirth drew some of South Florida’s most influential people. The legendary performer of stage and screen,Jack Klugman, came to town to help Arnold introduce these latest ventures. On hand at the Saturday night performance were Harvey and Roberta Chaplin. Harvey was honored for his longtime commitment to philanthropy, and is one of the founding donors to the National Jewish Theater and American Theater Festival. Also on hand were Mel Dick, Ana Azcuy and Judge Michael Chavies. After the performance, Azcuy pronounced, “Arnold Mittelman is back!”