Remember the Women Institute to Present WOMEN, THEATER, AND THE HOLOCAUST

Remember the Women Institute's annual presentation, Women, Theater, and the Holocaust, will feature four dramatic readings by and about women on Monday, May 6, 2024, at 7:00 pm, at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, Amsterdam Avenue and West 76th Street, New York, NY.

This year's annual Yom HaShoah event shares plays about aspects of women's experiences during the Holocaust, dramatizing how some women survived the horrors of the Nazi regime, all in different ways. These stories give women their place in Holocaust history.

Included are Annulla (excerpts), written and performed by acclaimed Broadway theater director and playwright Emily Mann, based on the true story of a Jewish woman who passed as a non-Jew in Nazi Germany.

English Lessons, the premiere of a short play by award-winning playwright Cynthia L. Cooper, is inspired by a memoir by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's sister Gemma LaGuardia Gluck, held as a Jewish political hostage in Ravensbrück women's concentration camp, with Shauna Bloom as Gemma and Jimmy Georgiades as Fiorello, directed by Janice L. Goldberg.

Excerpts from And the Rat Laughed, a novel by esteemed Israeli writer and educator Nava Semel deal with the sexual abuse of a hidden child in Poland, performed by Broadway and film actor Neva Small and directed by Lisa Pelikan, award-winning actor and director.

Excerpts from Letters to Sala by prize-winning playwright Arlene Hutton, directed by noted director Eric Nightengale, are adapted from Sala's Gift by Ann Kirschner, a true story about letters that a survivor saved in Nazi labor camps and what her daughter and grandchildren later decide to do with them, featuring Judy Hiller as Sala, Dana Brooke as Ann, Kleo Mitrokostas as Elisabeth, and Sofia Ayral-Hutton as Caroline.

Following these dramatic presentations, there will be a talkback with the playwrights and others, as well as a reception.

Founded 25 years ago and based in New York City, Remember the Women Institute is dedicated to including women in history. The nonprofit organization tells women's stories from their own point of view, integrating them into history and collective memory. Special emphasis is on women in the context of the Holocaust, as well as violence against women. Dr. Rochelle Saidel is the Executive Director of Remember the Women Institute. More information is at its website: https://rememberwomen.org.

The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, National Jewish Theater Foundation, and Jewish Theatre Circle are Remember the Women Institute's partners for this event, which is in cooperation with the annual National Jewish Theater Foundation-Holocaust Theater International Initiative Remembrance Readings.

Tickets for Women, Theatre and the Holocaust on May 6 at 7 pm are available at https://mmjccm.org/programs/person-women-theater-and-holocaust-2024-yom-hashoah-program

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