VIDEO: THE SOAP MYTH Starring Ed Asner and Tovah Feldshuh is Now Streaming For Free

On Monday, April 20, Temple Emanuel Streicker Center will commemorate Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) with a special panel discussion on the PBS/WNET film of Jeff Cohen's acclaimed drama The Soap Myth. The staged "concert reading," starring seven-time Emmy Award and five-time Golden Globe Award winner Ed Asner and four-time Tony Award and two-time Emmy Award nominee Tovah Feldshuh, is available now to stream for free via WNET's ALL ARTS platform.

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Did the Nazis make "human soap"-soap from corpses of murdered Jews-or was it a myth, a rumor? Fifty years after the end of World War II, impassioned Holocaust survivors like Milton Saltzman (Ed Asner) demand that historians include the atrocity of "soap" in Holocaust memorials and museums. Jeff Cohen's acclaimed play wrestles with the conflict that pits survivor memory against historians' need for evidentiary proof. The Soap Myth poses such provocative questions as Who has the right to write history? Who determines the truth? and How does a survivor survive surviving?

In observation of Yom Ha-Shoah and to foster an ongoing sense of community during these isolating times, Temple Emanuel Streicker Center will host a special live-stream panel discussion on Monday, April 20 at 6:30pm (EST). The discussion will be introduced by Temple Emanuel Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson and National Jewish Theater Foundation President Arnold Mittelman. Taking questions from the worldwide virtual audience, the panel will include stars Ed Asner and Tovah Feldshuh, playwright Jeff Cohen, historian and Project Director for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Michael Berenbaum and the Obama Administration's Special Envoy for Combatting Anti-Semitism Ira Forman. Moderating the panel discussion will be Richard Salomon, Vice President of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. The panel discussion is free but registration is required via the Temple Emanuel Streicker website.

It is suggested that participants view the film of The Soap Myth prior to the live discussion.

The 85-minute play The Soap Myth was taped on April 22, 2019 at the Center for Jewish History/YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City. A program of PBS/WNET and the ALL ARTS channel's "House Seats" series, it can be viewed free-of-charge on any of the ALL ARTS streaming platforms.

Alongside Ed Asner as Holocaust survivor Milton Saltzman, Tovah Feldshuh plays the dual roles of Holocaust scholar Esther Feinman and Holocaust denier Brenda Goodsen. Also in the cast are Liba Vaynberg as journalist Annie Blumberg and Ned Eisenberg portraying five roles, including Holocaust scholar Daniel Silver. The play reading was directed by Pamela Berlin.

The performance of The Soap Myth is a part of the National Jewish Theater Foundation/Holocaust Theatre International Initiative program "Remembrance Readings" to honor and commemorate the Holocaust through works of theater. The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is the educational partner of The Soap Myth.