"Standing Up" For History

Note:  This season is called "Standing Up."  Our purpose with the shows we present this year is to show how, in various ways, we can "stand up" and make a positive difference in our world.

From 1942 to 1945 over 15,000 children arrived at Terezin, a ghetto located near Prague, Czechoslovakia. Terezin soon became a stopping point for hundreds of thousands of people on their way to Auschwitz. The children living in Terezin saw their mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and their closest friends loaded on the transports. The children knew, without being told, those who were sent to Auschwitz never returned. These children lived with hunger, disease, lice, and the constant fear of not knowing what would happen tomorrow. Over 15,000 children passed through Terezin, less than 100 survived. This play is Celeste Raspanti’s version of their story based on the poems, diaries, journals, drawings, and pictures hidden by the children.

This production has allowed our middle school students to better understand history by living a small piece of it. In order to portray each character, students were challenged to understand their motives, their feelings, their relationships, and, most of all, their resilience. Our students have worked hard to create a production worthy of the children it honors.

-P. Matanic

Presenting a show such as The Yellow Boat on the surface may seem like a very sentimental story of a young life cut too short.  But it is so much more than that in 2023.

Nearly 40 years ago scientists were just discovering the AIDS epidemic and struggling to understand it.  At that time, and for nearly 15 years, being diagnosed with HIV was almost certainly a death sentence.  But thanks to support for research, people can live long and healthy lives despite having HIV.  

But it's easy to forget that.  And it's easy to forget the millions of lives lost over the past 40 years to this horrible disease.  Benjamin's story is just one of those stories.

It is also why our Thespian Troupe continues to collect donations for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.  The entertainment industry lost so many wonderful artists, but out of the depths of grief has grown an organization that helps so many, and not just those with HIV/AIDS.  I hope that this show helps to humanize our little part of the world just a little bit more.  Because we need that right now.

--R. Palasz