Perseverance

Few visitors to the G&S Jewelry Store in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood during the 1960s and 70s were aware that the cheerful proprietor, Melvin Goldman, had spent his teens enduring the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. Born in Lodz, he spent roughly five years in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto and was later moved to Auschwitz and other camps. After the war, he immigrated to the USA in 1950, a penniless refugee in postwar Pittsburgh. In his new life as the proprietor of a jewelry store, he was intent on reshaping his family’s destiny and replacing darkness with light, one shop patron at a time. Perseverance brings to the stage his powerful memoir of healing and renewal.

Notes:

Original or Prominent Production:
The New Hazlett Theater Center for Performing Arts, Pittsburgh PA; April 15–16, 2023; directed by Art Deconcilis.

Original Source Material: Based on the book Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor's Journey from Poland to America by Melvin Goldman and Lee Goldman Kikel. Melvin Goldman recorded his memoir on a series of cassette tapes in the 1970s. His daughter, Lee Goldman Kikel, found the tapes over 20 years after her father's death. In the recordings, Melvin Goldman mentioned his desire to transcribe his story into a book—a task his daughter undertook in 2015 and completed in 2019. In writing the stage adaptation of the book, McCullough listened to more than 15 hours of tapes and worked closely with Kikel to adapt the story.

Original Language: English

Publisher:

Visit author’s website: leekikel.com

Experience(s) Chronicled: Concentration and Extermination Camps | Survivors and Subsequent Generations