"When did there stop being miracles?" nine-year-old Eva asks in this week's production of Diane Samuels' "Kinder-transport." A joint effort between Hillel and Pen, Paint, and Pretzels, the play is part of Holocaust Commemoration Week.
"Kindertransport" is based on the actual organization of the same name that was established in England during the years leading up to World War II. Its purpose was to relocate children from Nazi-endangered countries like Germany and Austria to the safe haven of Great Britain.
In the play, Eva Schlesinger is one of these displaced children. Portrayed superbly by freshman Hillary Shayne, Eva is a German Jewish girl whose parents decide to send her to England through Kinder-transport. When she arrives, she is placed with her new foster mother, Lil Miller (freshman Sarah Rubin). At first, the German-English language barrier prevents the two from communicating much, but as time passes, Eva's English skills improve and she and Lil develop a relationship.
The play itself moves back and forth between two very different times. The first focuses on Eva's life from ages nine to 17 while she was living with Lil in Manchester. The second involves an adult Eva, now called Evelyn (freshman Laur Fisher) and her own daughter, Faith (freshman Dana Massey-Todd).
The story of Evelyn and Faith is that of an intentionally lost identity; Faith knows nothing of the first nine years of her mother's life, and Evelyn's plan is to keep it that way. However, when a box containing some of Evelyn's childhood items is left out in her bedroom, her plan goes awry.
The shift back and forth between the two halves of the story is clever and well executed. Rubin's character, Lil, is present in both periods of the story, so she is the vehicle that moves us between the storylines. During most scenes, actors from both periods are present onstage, but we know a shift in chronology is occurring when Rubin moves from one set of actors to the other.
Both threads of the play are filled with emotionally-charged scenes and highly effective acting. The compelling script is a rough compilation of many accounts of real-life kinder, the children who went through this experience. While each child's story is unique, all of the kinder suffered the similar trauma of having to grow up too quickly. Regarding her own character, Shayne said, "Eva is a little girl, but because of her life circumstances, she is forced into adulthood."
Director Carrie Davis chose the Kindertransport as the subject of the Holocaust Commemoration Week play because it remains a surprisingly underrepresented aspect in much World War II literature and film. Kindertransport's relative obscurity has given the play a fresh perspective on Holocaust events.
"I like this play, because it tackles the Holocaust in a pretty unique way," said Davis. "The story of the Kindertransports and how England took in so many children who would have otherwise perished is relatively untold. I like that we get a chance to tell it."
Actress Massey-Todd agreed. "It's really interesting to be involved in a show based on what it's like to be a survivor, what it's like to escape," she said. "It's a much more unique perspective of looking at the Holocaust, which makes it more poignant."
Rounding out the talented cast of freshmen are Sarah LaRue as Eva's birth mother, and the sole male actor, Jonah Peppiatt, in various roles. The secondary role of the male characters is no discredit to Peppiatt, as the play focuses heavily on women and their challenges and relationships with one another.
"That this is a play for female characters also appealed to me; we haven't done a lot of woman-centric plays recently," said Davis. "There's something about generations of women that really brings to life the hope and the strength of the situation."
