Definition of art is very difficult to pin down. As an oil painter I look at art one way. An actor would think of it another way. But really the definition doesn’t matter all that much. Art surrounds us wherever we are, if only we choose to see it. Sometimes though, we need to be reminded of that.
When I entered the concentration camp at Terezin in the Czech Republic that November day, the last thing I thought I would see was art. I didn’t know that the children who lived there drew pictures, coloured them, and even wrote poems. But there they were. The paintings and words hung up on the museum wall. The wall was at least 50 feet high. They had miraculously survived Terezin, even when the children themselves had not. I stood in front of that wall for a long time, hesitant to leave. Afraid that maybe I would need reminding again once I was back home.
Fast forward a year and Terezin has touched my life again. Hana’s Suitcase, which is set in Terezin, is being presented by Theatre Norfolk and COMPASS Theatre Productions, in partnership with W. Ross MacDonald School for the Blind, and I had the opportunity to meet the cast and talk about my experiences at Terezin. I also had the opportunity to watch renowned actor and director Lee MacDougall guide the cast of talented local and emerging actors through the paces of this emotional, heart wrenching play which took me right back to that wall.
In this play child actors play some of the main characters. Hana was sent to Terezin when she was 11. This play is being performed for over 1200 students in Grades 4-12; Children teaching children and because this play is for everyone; children teaching adults. It speaks to hatred and intolerance. It also speaks to hope and beauty. It’s amazing how children are able to see both at the same time. I wonder when we, as adults, forget how to do that.
I hope that you will take the time to see Hana’s Suitcase and be reminded of all the things that you should never forget while watching art at its finest.
Hana’s Suitcase, adapted by Emil Sher based on the book by Karen Levine, is being presented at W. Ross MacDonald Auditorium Dec. 2nd, 3rd & 4th. Tickets are on
sale at Scotia Bank, Lynden Road, and at the Lighthouse Festival Theatre. For more info and to purchase tickets visit Silo Direct Link to Theatre Norfolk Website
By Karen Wilson. Silo Direct Link to Karen’s artsco Gallery Page
Lacie: thank you for your comments. they touched my heart. music and art really does connect us all, doesn’t it?
Thanks for adding this to our feature. Much appreciated :>
Alice Herz-Sommer, the renowned Czech pianist and the oldest known
survivor of the Holocaust and the Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration
camp, celebrates her 108th birthday this weekend. To honour her
extra-ordinary life, Web of Stories is proud to present a wonderful video archive of Alice Herz-Sommer’s first-hand experiences at
Theresienstadt and how music helped her survive. The video stories are
available free of charge for everyone to view at http://webofstories.com.
Theresienstadt opened on 24th November 1941 and operated for three-and-a-half years, serving as a transit camp for Czech Jews who were artistically and culturally talented. It was used in a propaganda
function as a show camp for the Germans to justify to the rest
of the world the deportation or resettlement of Jews from Germany to the east. In reality, it served as a ghetto, a concentration camp and a
holding bank for Jews before their deportation to killing centres in
Eastern Europe. Now, 70 years later, it retains its reputation as a place in which many gifted writers, musicians, academics and actors were
incarcerated and forced to give performances and lectures in an effort to create an impression of normality to the rest of the world, and although teaching was banned, many children were taught by these exceptionally talented individuals. Over 90 per cent of these children, however, were later murdered in death camps.
Four years ago, at the age of 104, Alice Herz-Sommer published a book
called A Garden of Eden in Hell, where she recalls her time in
Theresienstadt and how she was forced to play over a hundred concerts
inside the concentration camp. Despite the terrible atrocities she and
her family not only witnessed but also endured, she still maintains that
the Nazis were only human.
In one of her video stories, Alice Herz-Sommer recollects a Nazi who was
living in the apartment above her flat. His name was Hermann. Here she
recalls the evening before she and her family were sent to Theresienstadt
when the man came to visit her with his wife bearing biscuits, and said,
Mrs Sommer, I see you are [going] away. I don’t know what to
tell you. In any case, I hope you will come back. What I know what I want to tell you is that; I admire your playing hours and hours, the patience and the beauty of the music, I thank you. In any case, I thank you.
http://www.webofstories.com/play/17993