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...
Rise
Author(s): Joshua Daniel Hershfield
At the height of the Holocaust, a Jewish girl is sent to a ghetto where she joins the underground resistance as a courier. Disguising herself as Aryan, she travels through Nazi territory and joins a group of women working as spies, smugglers, and leaders of the Jewish underground. As the truth of the Final Solution becomes clear, she leads her new family of resisters in a fight not just for their lives, but for the very existence of their people. Based on real events.
Format: Rock Musical
Cast Size: 9 female and 2 male principals, plus supporting mixed ensemble including Nazis, ghetto inmates, aryan townspeople, a ghetto spokesperson, and a non-Jewish helper.
Character breakdown:
Sarah: (female) late teens
Ruth: (female) twenties
David: (male) late teens
Branka: (female) teens/twenties
Vitka: (female) teens/twenties
Justyna: (female) teens
Nina: (female) teens/twenties
Hela: (female) teens/twenties
Bela: (female) teens/twenties
Aryeh: (male) eight
Chaya: (female) six
Ruth: (female) twenties
David: (male) late teens
Branka: (female) teens/twenties
Vitka: (female) teens/twenties
Justyna: (female) teens
Nina: (female) teens/twenties
Hela: (female) teens/twenties
Bela: (female) teens/twenties
Aryeh: (male) eight
Chaya: (female) six
Snapshot
Original or Prominent Production:
CenterStage Rochester, NY.
CenterStage Rochester, NY.
Original Language: English
Production Rights Holder:
Joshua Daniel Hershfield
Experience(s) Chronicled: Righteous Gentiles | Perpetrators, Bystanders and Collaborators | The Ghettos | Resistance | Women and the Holocaust
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.