Kindertransport by Diane Samuels
Directed by Anna Kurtz Kuk
Performance Dates: April 1-2, 7-9, 2017

Shortly before the outbreak of WWII, the Nazi's organized an attack on Jewish people in Germany called Kristallnacht or night of broken glass. Jewish buildings and businesses were destroyed and people were murdered, attacked, and sent to concentration camps. In the wake of this violence, over the next 9 months, an initiative to save Jewish children commenced. It was known as the Kindertransport; children left their homes and families in the middle of the night and were sent by train then boat to England. 10,000 children were saved; by the end of WWII the majority were orphans.

This production centers around Eva, a young Jewish girl who escapes Germany on the Kindertransport. Now an adult with a daughter of her own, Eva (now Evelyn) is haunted by her past and tormented by deep-seated fears from long ago. Having spent her entire life hiding her roots and keeping secrets, episodes from her past start to come alive around her: her journey to England, the trauma of leaving her family behind, and her strugles to assimilate into a new culture. Will Evelyn ever truly be safe? Can she saveherself and her relationship with her daughter?

Though set in the past, Kindertransport touches on universal and contemporary themes of identity, abandonment, immigration, the plight of refugees, and survival; it also deals especially with the mother-daughter relationship.