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...
The Third Wave
The Third Wave is a true story about a high-school experiment in fascism that spiraled out of control. Set in 1967 in Palo Alto, California, during the Vietnam war, racial integration and social revolution, the play centers around a young, popular teacher, Ron Jones, and his world history class. When a student asks how so many people could be led to deny the Holocaust of World War II, Mr. Jones decides to demonstrate by giving his students an exercise in discipline not unlike that of a totalitarian society. To his surprise, the students delight in the order and power of that discipline and relinquish their freedom in favor of the prospect of supposed superiority over other students in the school. The class adopts the name "The Third Wave," and soon many others, even from neighboring schools, clamor to be part of the "elite" group.
Format: Full-length drama
Cast Size:5-11M/8-14F
Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Notes:
The experiment has also been the subject of several films and a novel.
For more information, see the author’s website: www.ronjoneswriter.com
Also, thewavehome.com is a resource created by Jones’ original Wave students.
Snapshot
Original Source Material: “The Third Wave” experiment at Cubberley Senior High School, Palo Alto, CA in 1967, and the short story, Take as Directed, written by Ron Jones about the experience, published in 1976.
Nationality of Author: U.S.
Original Language: English
Publisher:
Production Rights Holder:
Experience(s) Chronicled: Germany, Hitler and the Growth of Nazism | Allegoric or Metaphoric Representations
HTC Insights
Views, reference and research of interest.
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.
Many Questions and a Few Answers
by Robert Skloot 2022 NJTF HTII Lifetime Achievement Award AHO Winter Conference, Miami, FL I’d like to begin my remarks by asking the question that all of us have been asked often: “Why do you do the work you do?” There are, of course, many answers, but I’d imagine...