A Message from Arnold Mittelman After a career in not-for-profit and commercial theater spanning more than 40 years I was honored in 2007 to found the National Jewish Theater / Foundation and in 2010 to assume leadership of its Holocaust Theater International...
Beneath the Ice of the Vistula
Author(s): Roman Freud
In the weeks leading up to the Nazi invasion of Warsaw in the summer of 1939, a reclusive Jewish composer locks himself in his apartment vowing to compose a revolutionary cello suite before the world ends. To avoid capture, he makes a desperate bargain with his Polish cook to provide him with meals and do his laundry. The Polish cook, who is his only link to the outside world, becomes the composer's muse. What begins as a simple, practical arrangement transforms into a passionate and volatile bond between the two. The play explores survival, art, and forbidden love in the midst of war.
Format: Full-length drama
Cast Size: 1M/1F
Character breakdown:
Adam Kobylanski — Jewish composer
Lydia Mazurik — Polish cook
Notes:
A Five Evenings Theatre production in association with New Wave Arts Theatre Collective & EventMuze production company. Directed By Eduard Tolokonnikov.
Snapshot
Original or Prominent Production:
West End Theatre, NYC, February 12–28, 2026.
West End Theatre, NYC, February 12–28, 2026.
Nationality of Author: Russian
Original Language: English
Production Rights Holder:
Visit the play’s website: beneathiceofvistulaplay.com
Experience(s) Chronicled: Hiding | European Jewry Before the Holocaust | Germany, Hitler and the Growth of Nazism
HTC Insights
Views, reference and research of interest.
Lifetime Achievement Award
The National Jewish Theater Foundation presented its 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award to Alfred Uhry. The presentation took place as part of the Lincoln Center Library event on January 27th 2025 in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
Lifetime Achievement Award
On September 30, 2024, French playwright, Mr. Jean Claude Grumberg received the Lifetime Achievement Award. It was presented by NJTF HTII President, Arnold Mittelman with Dominique Trimbur, PhD-Manager for the History of Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, Teaching of the Holocaust of Fondation Pour La Memoir de la Shoah Project.