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...
Magda’s Story
Author(s): David F. Eliet
Magda’s Story is based on certain episodes in the life of Mária Magdaléna Bednarová. It tells the true story of Magda, a young Slovak woman, who risked her life to save the life of one Jewish man. The story is one of personal courage by an ordinary person, and shows how everyone had the choice to help or turn away. It is the answer for anyone who ever said: "What could I have done, I was just an ordinary person.”
Format: Full-length drama
Cast Size:6M/4F
Running Time: 90 minutes
Character breakdown:
Written for 10 actors
Narrator-Inquisitor 1 (male)
Narrator-Inquisitor 2 (female)
Magda
Jan
Josef Zachar
People on the train
Businessman
Woman on the train
Second woman on the train
Government man
Soldier
Other passengers
People from the war years
Magda’s mother
Girl 1 — Magda’s roommate
Girl 2 — Magda’s roommate
Waiter at the Carlton Hotel
A Jewish youth
Second Jewish youth
First Jewish mother
Second Jewish mother
Government man
The Man
Man in a bathrobe
The other man
Additional people after the war
Woman friend of Magda’s
Voice on the loud speaker
Government woman
Cashier
Daniela — Magda’s daughter
Laslo
Snapshot
Original or Prominent Production:
Museum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, November 1996.
Museum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, November 1996.
Original Source Material: Gregory Fabian, Magda Bednarova, Daniela Rozgonova, Juraj Spitzer
Nationality of Author: U.S.
Original Language: English
Production Rights Holder:
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.