Tags: refugees

Exodus

Based on the actual experiences of German Jews on the S.S. St. Louis who were forced to return to Europe, because they could not disembark in Cuba or the United States, where almost half perished in the Holocaust. In Exodus, Jews trying to escape Europe during the Shoah cannot find refuge and must return.

Forty Days at the Seashore [ארבעים יום על הים]

The play tells the story of Jewish refugees from Europe, coming after a very rough sea voyage to Palestine. They were caught in 1940 by British soldiers in Palestine, put aboard the ship "Patria" to be deported. The "Haganah" put a bomb on the ship in order to detain it, but the ship sank.

Haven, A New Musical

At the height of World War II, President Roosevelt is planning to bring 1,000 Holocaust refugees to the U.S. where they will be given a safe haven, but find out this is not the case.

Irena’s Vow

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Irena Gut Opdyke was forced to work as head housekeeper for a very prominent Nazi major. Over a two-year period of service, Irena would be confronted with the choice to protect twelve Jewish refugees who secretly fell under her care. This is the extraordinary true story of one woman’s choice and the twelve lives that would live or die by her decision.

Leipzig

Explores the journey of a three-member Catholic family whose matriarch descends into Alzheimer’s disease—and begins praying in Hebrew, unwittingly revealing her long held secret that she is Jewish and a child refugee of the Holocaust.

Letters from a Troubled Past

Torn Apart by War is the compelling true story about two people whose lives were turned upside-down by war and misunderstanding. If things had gone according to plan, everything would have been so different. The drama takes place against the backdrop of the Greek island of Rhodes. Letters of Loss and Refuge In 2009 Rudolf Schwab’s letters were discovered by his grandson Daniel, in a forgotten trunk in the garage of the family home. We are taken on a powerful and poignant journey of insight into Rudolf's struggles as a refugee, his displacement, loss of family, reconnection with those who survived and his surprising relationship with his German friend, Karl, a war-wounded Nazi.

None Is Too Many

An adaptation of the book by Irving Abella and Harold Troper about Canada's refusal to admit Jewish refugees into the country before, during, and after WWII.

On the Other Side of the World

1939, Germany, as Hitler's army gains momentum, only one port remains open to thousands of fleeing Jewish refugees: Shanghai, China. Inspired by the memoirs of many, and told through the eyes of a fiercely resilient young woman. On The Other Side of the World tells the dramatic, incredible, and rarely told true story of a young girl, her family, and a community who sought shelter and survival in a country and culture unlike their own. A story of hope, love, survival and adventure.

Rosenfeld’s War

A docudrama in which six actors take on the roles of 150 historic figures and which dramatizes the failure of Congress to pass legislation in 1939 that would have permitted 20,000 German Jewish children to emigrate to the United States. The play uses actual excerpts from the Congressional hearings to illustrate prevalent anti-Semitism and xenophobia in the country at that time.

Skipper Next to God

The play is based on the St. Louis affair, where a ship with Jews from Nazi Germany could not find safe haven anywhere and had to return, leading to the eventual deaths of those aboard. The play takes place in 1938 on the ship the Young Nelly, whose Dutch captain is bringing 146 Jews to South America. When they are not allowed to disembark in South America, the captain takes his ship to the United States where the Jews are also denied entry. Finally, he decides to sink his ship, with the hope that the Jews will be rescued, knowing that he is destroying his own career.

Sotto Voce

A young Jewish-Cuban researcher, Saquiel, is visiting New York and sets out to recover memories of the ill-fated SS St. Louis that left Germany in 1939 on its way to Cuba. His grandaunt was one of the Jewish refugees on board who were fleeing Nazi persecution. When the refugees were refused entry to Cuba, the U.S. and Canada, the ship returned to Europe where its passengers were doled out to countries that would take them. 254 subsequently died in the Holocaust. In his search to find out more about the voyage, Saquiel contacts Bernadette, an 80-year-old, Berlin-born author whose first love was also on board the SS St. Louis. Bemadette doesn't like to leave her New York apartment, so Saquiel contacts her by phone and email, and she reluctantly shares her story. As Bemadette recounts her memories, Saquiel assumes the place of her lover, and they embark on an affair of the imagination.

Steamship Quanza

A play written in seventeen scenes, that chronicles the true story of the S.S. Quanza, a steamship that carried Jewish refugees from Lisbon in 1940. Not permitted to disembark in Mexico, the ship arrived in Hampton Roads, Virginia with over eighty Jewish passengers, where two married U.S. Jewish attorneys fought to keep them from returning to Europe. Finally, due to the intervention of Eleanor Roosevelt, they were able to leave the ship. The play includes historical figures, such as Rabbi Stephen Wise, Breckinridge Long, and Eleanor Roosevelt as well as fictional versions of actual persons, including the attorneys.

Stormy Ship [אניה סוערת]

The hardship of Jewish illegal immigrants, their struggle with the Nazis, the rough seas and the British mandate.

The Child Dreams [הילד חולם]

A play in four parts. The life of a sleeping boy is disrupted when his home is invaded and his father is brutally murdered. He and his mother become fleeing refugees. In the final scene of the drama, the boy arrives in the land of dead children. While the play is not specifically set during the Holocaust, its imagery is clearly connected to its horrors.

The Refugee

A German-born American citizen, who supports the Nazis' anti-Jewish policies, is incensed when a Jew who has escaped from war-torn Europe becomes a tenant in the same building in which he lives.

The Trial of Franklin D. Roosevelt

A play about the ill-fated voyage in 1939 of an ocean liner, the SS St. Louis. On board were more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Having traveled from Hamburg, Germany to Havana, Cuban officials only allowed a couple dozen passengers to disembark. In desperation, passengers asked the United States to give them sanctuary, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt chose not to override the United States' strict immigration quotas. When they were also refused entry to Canada, the refugees were forced to return to Europe where 254 of the passengers died in the Holocaust. In The Trial of Franklin D. Roosevelt the audience serves as the jury.