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...
Next Year in Jerusalem
Author(s): Brian C. Petti
The play traces the memories and insights of an 81-year-old Holocaust survivor who is preparing a speech he must give about his experiences. He is led through moments of his life through ghosts of his past, moving from incidents in the Warsaw Ghetto to a family Seder in Lublin to a chance encounter in 1970s Brooklyn. Cumulatively, Next Year in Jerusalem is one man's search for meaning, understanding and spiritual truth in the aftermath of a life broken by uncontrollable forces.
Format: Full length drama
Cast Size:11M/4F
Character breakdown:
Moshe (M 60+) 81-year-old Holocaust survivor who resists remembering the horrors of his past while struggling with his bitterness and lack of faith.
Moshe (Young M 20s–30s) The young artist the older Moshe once was, who tries to keep his family together in the face of uncontrollable forces.
Rachel (F 20s–30s, plays 50s as well) Steadfast wife of Moshe who reappears after given up for lost.
Leah (F 50s) Moshe’s second wife, who clings to their newfound life together when Rebecca reappears.
Ye’ev (M 20s-30s) Yeshiva friend of Moshe’s who tries to convince him to join the Warsaw Ghetto resistance movement.
Frederick (M 20s–30s) Homosexual musician who saves Moshe’s life and is in turn helped by Moshe.
Mother/Midwife (50s) Sharp-tongued midwife who shames young Moshe while preparing to deliver his daughter.
Father (M 40+) Moshe’s Rabbi father who tries to convince Moshe to regain his faith.
Rebecca (F teenage) Moshe’s daughter as she would have been had she lived.
Other roles include: Benjamin (30s–40s); Moshe’s rabbi son; Capo 1 and 2 (any age); SS 1 and 2 (20s–30s); Ghetto/transport inhabitants; Moshe’s childhood family (many of these roles can be doubled).
Snapshot
Nationality of Author: U.S.
Original Language: English
Publisher:
Published by author on Amazon Kindle, 2010.
Production Rights Holder:
Brian C. Petti
Experience(s) Chronicled: Survivors and Subsequent Generations | The Ghettos | Resistance | Women and the Holocaust | Reactions to the Holocaust | Perpetrators, Bystanders and Collaborators
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.