Prime Stage Theatre presents ‘I Never Saw Another Butterly and The Terezin Promise’
Holocaust play is part of company's enGAGE anti-genocide education program
Wayne Brinda believes Prime Stage Theatre Company presents work that matters.
“That’s one of our goals,” he said. “It’s not just to do a series of plays that nobody really cares about, but to try and find things that are impactful and make a difference and raise awareness of certain things.”
For the last several seasons, the 28-year-old theater company has done just that, partnering with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh to present a Holocaust-themed play as part of its annual enGAGE anti-genocide education program, created to engage the community in education, understanding and actions against the atrocities of genocide.
Brinda is the co-founder and producing artistic director of the company. It’s motivated, he said, not only by the desire to entertain and create an uplifting theater experience, but also to facilitate thought and conversation.
“We’re doing things that are meaningful,” Brinda said. “We’re doing things that, by experiencing this, we’re going to make you appreciate life a little more. I think that’s the key, to learn something and have an experience where you come out of it and go ‘Wow, I think I’m a better person for knowing this information.’”
This year, Prime Stage Theatre is teaming with the Holocaust Center and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum to present “I Never Saw Another Butterly and The Terezin Promise,” to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Terezin concentration camp liberation.
The play, written by Celeste Raspanti and directed by Brinda, takes place in the Terezin concentration camp and is about Austrian artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, who teaches Jewish children to create poems and drawings in secret art classes. The title is taken from a surviving poem by Pavel Friedmann, who lived in the camp before being murdered at Auschwitz.
Artwork and poems created by the Jewish children were collected in the book “I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944,” published in 1994. The play uses poetry taken from the book.
“It’s a true story,” Brinda said. “It’s about the power of what a? teacher can do to help students find hope and inspiration.”
The camp, he said, was closer to a ghetto than a traditional death camp and was used by the Nazis for propaganda purposes. And yet, the death toll is striking — of the more than 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, only 141 are known to have survived.
The art and poetry produced by these children would have been lost to history, as the Nazis worked to destroy all proof that the camp and its prisoners existed, Brinda said, but for Dicker-Brandeis’ desire to preserve the works.
“She asked one of her students, Raya, to promise to make sure that the drawings and poetry and the work of the kids would be saved so that people would know exactly what happened in this camp and realize just what the truth was,” he said.
The play, Brinda said, is a story of hope, courage and perseverance.
Keeping with the aim of educating, as well as entertaining, opening night will include a talk by Patty Partington, whose father, Guy Prestia, was a sergeant in the U.S. Army 157th Infantry Regiment 45th Infantry Division and one of the liberators of the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945.
“She’s going to be speaking opening night, talking about the experiences of her father and what that meant,” he said.
The goal, Brinda said, is to make both history and the truth of the Holocaust come alive.
The experience includes age-appropriate casting — the majority of the actors are high school and college students. Eva Friedlander is a sophomore at Shady Side Academy who plays a lead in the production. She said she was excited to play Helga Weissova, a living Holocaust survivor.
“This play brings the survivors and their stories to life and shows them as multifaceted people,” she said. “It’s super important to hear these stories particularly because not many Holocaust survivors are left. Through this play, you can see their legacies live on.”
Another way Prime Stage is endeavoring to create an experience is through what it is calling a “wall of memory.”
“People can actually post their thoughts,” Brinda said. “After you see the play and have the experience, what are your thoughts, how has this affected you? What have you seen that really makes a difference? What can you do?”
Emily Loeb, director of programs and education at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, said that the center is proud to support the production.
“It is always meaningful to see the history of the Holocaust being shared with diverse audiences through different storytelling mediums,” she said.
“I Never Saw Another Butterfly and The Terezin Promise” will be performed at the New Hazlett Theater Feb. 28-March 9. Tickets can be purchased on Prime Stage’s website. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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