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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