A Season of Holocaust Theater

There were quite a few plays presented this past year on New York stages that dealt in one way or another with the Holocaust. I am not sure why this year there were so many: perhaps it was coincidence; perhaps it had something to do with the fact that survivors of the Holocaust are now old and soon none will be alive to bear witness; perhaps it has something to do with the fact that genocide, war crimes, state sanctioned acts of brutality and inhumanity are harder to conceal because of improved global communications; perhaps it has something to do with a better understanding of trauma; or perhaps it has to do with the need to remember things that leave an indelible mark on humanity at a time when change happens so fast. For whatever reason, or combination of reasons, there have been quite a few plays presented this past year on New York stages about the Holocaust.

There was one Holocaust-related play that I tried hard to see—Mel Brooks’ The Producers. You cannot get a ticket to The Producers for love or money using conventional or unconventional uses of love or money—until the fall of 2003. When I called the show's publicity office, a very harried woman told me that there were no press seats being issued to anyone, from any publication, nor for any reason. I started to say, “But I am writing a piece about—.” She had hung up before I got to the word, “Holocaust.” I spoke with two influential, New York theater friends and they just laughed when I got to the real reason for my call. There is a story, that may be true, that someone approached one of the show's producers, Rocco Landesman, asking if he could get a pair of tickets for a friend who was “dying of cancer.” Landesman replied, “That's not good enough” (Lahr, 2001). Thus, I will have to wait for two and a half years to see The Producers (unless a reader happens to have an extra ticket). I will wait with some impatience and continue to