Holocaust Museum Hosts PALACE OF THE OCCULT

The Director of Special Programs for The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center brought historical insights to a post-show discussion following the Sunday, November 29 performance of the NEWCITY RECOMMENDED interactive world premiere, PALACE OF THE OCCULT.

In a discussion co-led by Lillian Gerstner of the Museum and Neil Tobin, the show's playwright and lead performer, audience members learned how the action of the play and its central character, Erik Jan Hanussen, fit within the larger context of Jewish life in Berlin during the early 1930s.

"One thing many people didn't realize-which Ms. Gerstner did an excellent job of pointing out-is that the Nazi party, while immediately recognized by modern audiences as the genocidal force it would become, was in early 1933 not even a majority voice in the German Parliament," explains Tobin. "No anti-Semitic legislation had yet been enacted, and Kristalnacht was a full five years away. So Hanussen's cooperation might be considered more understandable under the circumstances."

PALACE OF THE OCCULT opened November 20 and runs through December 20, 2015 at Prop Thtr, 2502 N. Elston Avenue in Chicago.

Based on actual events, PALACE OF THE OCCULT transports audiences to the historic Berlin 1933 grand opening of the titular establishment, presided over by the most popular psychic of the day, Erik Jan Hanussen. Guests are charmed by his stories and personally involved in his astonishing feats. But they must ultimately decide for themselves who he really is: seer or charlatan? Nazi or Jew? Traitor or Martyr?

NEWCITY calls it "a fascinating examination of real-life Austrian/Czech Jewish performer, Erik Jan Hanussen, an early advisor to Adolf Hitler...with some stellar magic."