Pain through the arts

Last week my preforming arts class went to see a play "Dear Esther" at the Goodwin Holocaust museum. This play is about a survivor from the death camp Sobibor, Esther. She has been telling people about her story by giving speeches to students at assemblies. The play begins with people saying/screaming racial slurs. Then we meet "real" Esther, she is about 70 years old and is being introduced to the students there for the speech. Now we see the "young" Esther, this is "real" Esther's alter-ego, she is in her 20's and starts talking to Esther. Most of the show is "young" Esther talking to "real" Esther about facing the truth and saying what really happened in Sobibor. Every once and a while she would be talking and a flashback would occur. These involve "young" Esther and a few miscellaneous characters.

During one of the flashbacks Esther tells the story of one day when she was working in the death camp knitting the socks when she heard a train whistle, she stopped. This meant there were new people being brought into the camp, Esther, being curious, was looking out the window to see them. One of the women getting out of the box car left her baby on it, for unknown reasons, she tried to run back and get it, but one of the Nazis chased her away. He then grabbed the baby by it's ankles and slammed it's head against the box car. For the play they used a chair and a baby doll, and even though you know it is not real, just seeing that doll hit the chair was enough to make you want to cry, heck I almost did, and I haven't really cried in about a year.

Also though out the play they would stop talking and you would hear a recording of actual letters written to Esther from students she spoke to. Esther gets to the end of her story and sits in a chair. Then the three people who were shouting the racial slurs in the beginning, start to recite bits and pieces of the letters. The actress who played "real" Esther was really crying on stage, and I was yet again on the verge of breaking down into tears.

That is all I have to say, for now. See Y'all for my next post.

P.S. Don't ever let anything like the Holocaust happen ever again, we are the future and we decide what will happen.