Lights Up on the Dark: The Holocaust Onstage
Lights Up on the Dark: The Holocaust Onstage
Podcast Description
Blending performing arts and history, LUOTD delves into what it means to represent the Holocaust onstage. Co-hosting from London and New York, theatre historian Samantha Mitschke and actor Alexandra Gellner discuss all things Holocaust-theatre. Bringing their perspectives as Holocaust educators, the pair look at how theatre can help with teaching and learning about the Holocaust as they offer fresh and thought-provoking insights.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast delves into diverse themes focusing on Holocaust education, theatre adaptations, and the historical context of performances, with episodes addressing crucial topics such as the cultural life in the Terezin ghetto, the representation of antisemitism in plays like 'Our Class', and adaptations of significant works such as 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'. Discussions also consider the impact of these themes on current educational practices and societal perceptions.
Blending performing arts and history, LUOTD delves into what it means to represent the Holocaust onstage.
Co-hosting from London and New York, theatre historian Samantha Mitschke and actor Alexandra Gellner discuss all things Holocaust-theatre. Bringing their perspectives as Holocaust educators, the pair look at how theatre can help with teaching and learning about the Holocaust as they offer fresh and thought-provoking insights.
In this week’s episode, coinciding with Yom HaShoah, Sam and Alex look at Here There Are Blueberries by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich.
Here There Are Blueberries tells the story of an album donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum containing never-before-seen photographic evidence of Nazi officers and staff at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. In the play, Museum archivist Rebecca Erbelding and her colleagues begin to unravel the shocking story behind the images. As the album makes headlines around the world, a businessman in Germany sees the photos online and recognizes his own grandfather. He begins a journey of discovery that will take him into the lives of other Nazi descendants—and into a reckoning with his family’s past and his country’s history.
Currently unable to get a copy of the playtext for love nor money, Sam and Alex rely on their memories of seeing productions in New York and London as they discuss elements such as the ‘play as museum’ and the different takeaways for different spectators; the element of ‘detective story’; the representation of perpetrators’ descendants; the concept of ‘I could never do that’ and its contemporary relevance; and the elusive quality they wanted but couldn’t quite find…
For more of the historical context around Here There Are Blueberries, listen to S3 Episode 2 – “Album Karla Höckera / The Album of Karl Höcker with Paul Bargetto.”
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Hosts: Samantha Mitschke & Alexandra Gellner
Executive Producer: Samantha Mitschke
Producer / Editor: Alexandra Gellner
Music: “Image” by Infraction Music
Contact: https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/
Episode Sources
Plays
Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich (2024) Here There Are Blueberries.
Selected sources and resources – for a full list, please use the Contact form above
‘Here There Are Blueberries’ Further Learning – online resource from Tectonic Theater Project.
Jonathan Freund, ‘Widen the Lens: A Learning and Discussion Guide‘, provided by the University of Miami.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Unlocking the Mystery: The Höcker Album (YouTube).
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Inside the Höcker Album: The Nazis at Auschwitz – further learning guides and resources relating to Here There Are Blueberries
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