A photo from a past performance of the show.
The city’s “Open Culture” program allows performers to stage shows in the middle of the street, as a way to continue New York’s artistic vibe without the higher risk of indoor performances.
This Sunday, April 18 at 5 p.m. on Morningside Avenue, between 114th and 115th, performers from the Untitled Theater Company No. 61 will stage a show called “Cabaret in Captivity” commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The program includes songs and sketches written in Terezin/Theresienstad. Terezin was located an hour away from Prague, and during World War II it served as both an internment camp and a way station for the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Full of satire, bitter humor, and hope, these pieces demonstrate how art became a vital survival technique for the inmates. Most of these pieces were recently recovered through the efforts of scholar Lisa Peschel, who also translated the majority of the work…
“Conceived and co-directed by Edward Einhorn (NY Times Critic’s Pick for The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein) and starring co-director Jenny Lee Mitchell, aka Mad Jenny (“Smart and theatrically savvy,” NY Times review for Love Und Greed), Craig Anderson, Seth Gilman, and Katarina Vizina. Maria Dessano is on piano. This is the eighth year this production has been presented, having been previously seen at the Center for Jewish History, the Bohemian National Hall, Pangea, York Theatre, the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC, and The William Goodenough House in London, England.
Some of the authors of the original work, like Karel Švenk and Ilse Weber, were existing stars of the cabaret scene in Prague. Others were compelled by their circumstances to create. Some of the work is now anonymous, as the names of the authors have been lost. All were speaking to a small audience of fellow inmates, in the hope that one day their story would be heard by the world. On this anniversary of Yom HaShoah, we are proud to be able to present that work.”
Audience members need to be masked and groups will be placed 6 feet away from each other. Please bring your own seat!
The show is free but there’s a suggested donation of $25. You can get tickets here.
This sounds depressing. it’s already such a horribly sad time so let’s throw a show they did during the holocaust.
I’m actually very intrigued I might actually walk over and watch it
That picture makes me never want to go to the theater again.