The Yom Hashoah Community Arts Project
More Prose
FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION
About the artist: Susan has written essays for the LA Review of Books, Los Angeles Magazine and The LA Times Magazine, among others. She has also written for film and television. A film she wrote won an Academy Award.
by Susan Baskin
THE MENSCH FROM HELL
A note from the artist: The story has a coda. Shortly after visiting Rudi in Cologne, he and his wife came to the U.S.to visit me and my wife. He had no sooner entered our home when he pulled out a harmonica and serenaded is with "God Bless America," his personal tribute to America for defeating the Nazis.
About the artist: Peter Philipps was born in Essen, Germany and came to the U.S. with his family in 1941, spending most of his early formative years fleeing the Nazis via Prague, Genoa, and Quito, Ecuador. When he became of age, he served in the United States military before becoming an award-winning journalist and editor for The New York Times and Business Week. Philipps was also a proud, founding volunteer for The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum In Washington, D.C., and served in that capacity for ten years.
by Peter Philipps
SO, I KNIT (A MONOLOGUE)
A note from the artist: This monologue was inspired by a magazine article, B'yachad Together, the Jewish National Fund Magazine. This monologue had a staged reading at the 14th St.
About the artist: Jessica’s plays have been chosen for readings, workshops and productions in New York, regionally, and virtually. Recent readings/productions include: Crossways Theatre, Women’s Festival, Jewish Women’s Festival, 14th St. Y., The Playground Experiment, Round The Bend Theatre (Bedford Playhouse), Tiger’s Heart Players (Bronx NY), Project Y (Women in Theatre Festival/HONOR ROLL MONOLOGUE SLAM). Member: Dramatists Guild Honor Roll! LPTW (League of Professional Theatre Women), Advisory Board Clutch Productions. Initiating Artist JTC (Jewish Theatre Circle).
by Jessica Feder-Birnbaum
SURVIVING THE STORM
A note from the artist: This piece was born out of my despair and frustration at being able to communicate with others who have a different narrative about the Israel Hamas war, and are not able to acknowledge or recognize the pain of the Jewish people.
About the artist: K'vod Wieder has served as the rabbi of Temple Beth El of South Orange County since 2011. He’s been teaching meditation and Jewish spirituality for over 30 years, is the husband of Ilana, and father of Levi, Aiden, and Aviv.
by K’vod Wieder
THE BOX
A note from the artist: A longer version of this monologue was presented by Kate Fuglei at Women, Theatre and the Holocaust in New York City, a Yom HaShoah event of Remember the Women Institute. This selection is based on conversations with and dedicated to Rena Bernstein, an artist and a Holocaust survivor, who also published a memoir of her mother, Jaffa Wallach, 'Bitter Freedom,' published by Gihon River Press. Specially dedicated to Rena Bernstein, and her mother, Jafa Wallach.
About the artist: Cynthia L. Cooper is a playwright, journalist and author. Her award-winning plays have been produced in the U.S, Canada, U.K., Europe and Israel, and are in 17 volumes. Her works often touch upon social justice and Jewish themes, including Gretel Bergmann about a Jewish athlete removed from the 1936 Olympics, Silence Not, A Love Story about a Jewish woman who became an early resister to the Nazis, Strange Light about the second-generation effects of antisemitism, The Spoken and the Unspoken about sexual abuse in the Holocaust, and Here Lived (Hier Wohnte) about memorial for those killed in the Holocaust. Her recent play, I Was A Stranger Too, is about a Jewish woman who seeks to help asylum seekers. For nine years, her works have been included in annual Yom HaShoah performances for “Women, Theatre and the Holocaust” by Remember the Women Institute. She is the co-initiator of the Jewish Theatre Circle in New York. www.cyncooperwriter.net