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...
Muse of Fire
Author(s): Jake Rosenberg
Muse of Fire, which takes place in Auschwitz, 1942, is a fictional account of Jewish prisoners who take it upon themselves at grave personal risk to perform comedy. This is their story, as one group struggles to perform a farce based on the first great anti-Semitic tragedy of the twentieth century: the infamous Dreyfus Affair. As the play goes on, and dark secrets begin to emerge about the reason for its performance, those performing must ask themselves, can comedy truly have meaning in the face of horror? Who really has the last laugh?
Format: Full-length drama/comedy
Cast Size:8M
Character breakdown:
Haas: Dreyfus
Georg: Henry
Adolph: Maurel
Emmanuel: Mercier
Gonse: Le Matin
Boisdeffre: Matthieu
Imre: De Clam
Max: Breucker, La Libre Parole, Picquart
The cast is comprised of 8 men of varying ages. After the colon is the name of the “role” the characters are playing within the play.
Notes:
For additional reading, see the paper “Last Expression: Art from Auschwitz: Theatrical Performance at Auschwitz-Birkenau” by Rebecca Rovit, property of the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University.
Snapshot
Original or Prominent Production:
Manhattan Repertory Theatre, NY, October 29–November 9, 2014; Redtwist Theatre, Chicago, February 13–March 13, 2016.
Manhattan Repertory Theatre, NY, October 29–November 9, 2014; Redtwist Theatre, Chicago, February 13–March 13, 2016.
Nationality of Author: U.S.
Original Language: English
Production Rights Holder:
Contact Jake Rosenberg: www.jakerosenbergpw.com
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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.