Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Week of Events Commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day

The National Jewish Theater Foundation and the Holocaust Theater Archive will commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day (April 19, 2012) with a week of events from April 17 – 23 in New York City.  The week will be the highlighted by ongoing performances of the National Jewish Theater’s production of The Soap Myth by Jeff Cohen.

The start of this Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration will be an invitation-only reading of Rocket City, Alabam’, a new play by Mark Saltzman, on April 17 and 18; and a series of interviews with scholars, survivors, historians and the cast of The Soap Myth, coordinated by NJTF and the Holocaust Theater Archive will take place on April 23.  The Soap Myth runs through April 22 at the Black Box Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 111 West 46th St., between 6th Avenue and Broadway.
 
Holocaust Remembrance Day, “Yom Hashoah” in Hebrew, marks the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.  The internationally recognized date comes from the Hebrew calendar and corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on that calendar.  The day falls within the week of the Days of Remembrance, established by the U.S. Congress in 1980 as the nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust. 
The National Jewish Theater Foundation and Holocaust Theater Archive are commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day this year with the following events:

Directed by National Jewish Theater Artistic Director Arnold Mittelman, this acclaimed production of The Soap Myth by Jeff Cohen, which began performances on March 23, stars Greg Mullavey (television’s “Mary Hartman Mary Hartman”) and features Andi Potamkin, Donald Corren, and Dee Pelletier.  The work explores the horrific rumors that the Nazis turned the fat of their Jewish victims into soap and one survivor’s pursuit of establishing it as fact through the advocacy of a young journalist.  Tickets range in price from $50 to $60 and can be purchased online at www.nationaljewishtheater.com or by calling (212) 352-3101.

On Wednesday and Thursday (April 17 and 18) an invitation-only reading of Mark Saltzman’s play Rocket City, Alabam’ will be presented.  This new work deals with the aftermath of the Holocaust in America through the story of the former Nazi scientist Wernher Von Braun being brought to Hunstville, AL by the American military to oversee the conversion of a rocket/missile program that was formerly used against the allies but now would be developed to benefit America’s defense against communist nuclear threat. 
Arnold Mittelman will direct a company of nine actors in this play set in 1951 that also features songs from the American South that at that time was still highly segregated.  The play juxtaposes the need to integrate these former Nazi’s into Hunstville’s community including its Jewish citizens while the South still failed to provide equality to its African American people.
On Thursday (April 19, Holocaust Remembrance Day) The National Jewish Theater Foundation/National Jewish Theater’s inaugural production of The Soap Myth by Jeff Cohen, directed by Arnold Mittelman, will be recorded and made into a permanent record to be distributed to Holocaust museums, educational institutions and memorials around the world This distribution will be made internationally with the help of the Association of Holocaust Organizations.
  
The commemoration week will end with a series of interviews conducted on Monday April 23 of leading scholars, survivors and historians as well as cast members and young people in a videotaped discussion about The Soap Myth and the role of theater as a tool for future Holocaust education and awareness.   These interviews will take place at NYC’s Museum of Jewish Heritage and will be added and made part of the production of The Soap Myth videotape distribution. 

Those being interviewed include Jeff Cohen, Playwright The Soap Myth), Arnold Mittelman, director of The Soap Myth, President Producing Artistic Director National Jewish Theater Foundation Greg Mullavey and Andi Potamkin (cast  of The Soap Myth), David Marwell, director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Bonnie Gurewitsch, head curator at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Michael Berenbaum, former project director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and former president and CEO of the SHOAH Foundation and Holocaust Survivor Irving Roth.

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Gracewell Prodiuctions

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

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All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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