By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Horizon Youth Theatre’s “And a Child Shall Lead” hits close to home.
Here we have our young people portraying Jewish youngsters imprisoned in the ghetto of Terezin awaiting transport to Nazi death camps.
They are young people – both characters and actors – so they love to play. The characters even stage their own plays as diversion, and commentary on their situation. Anything to take their minds off the nagging hunger, the guards looming above, and the increasing number of trains heading to Poland.
“And a Child Shall Lead” written by Michael Slade and directed by Cassie Greenlee will be livestreamed Thursday (Oct. 8) through Saturday 7 p.m. with a matinee Sunday (Oct. 11) at 2 p.m. Tickets and information are available on the troupe’s website and Facebook page. Performances are through Broadway on Demand and cost $10 plus a $2.95 streaming fee.
The show features two casts. The “Orange” cast performed at the dress rehearsal Wednesday evening.
The play is being staged in the Black Swamp Players’ new home. Not having more than a handful in the audience allows the troupe to occupy most of the space in the main room with the guards (Katie Partlow and Drew Thomas) looking down from behind fencing in the loft.
A thrust stage brings the action beyond the set of bunks in the rear. Given COVID-19 protocols, the actors are all masked meaning they must speak extra clearly and a bit louder than usual while still sounding natural.
The action begins with a burst of energy. Kids run on stage playing hide and seek, and a telling choice of amusement for children who can do neither.
The leader is 17-year-old Miroslav (Isaac Slater). He tells the children that their secret classroom lessons will begin. As they assemble they learn their teacher has been killed by the guards. They will teach themselves. He suggests starting with history but Eva (Terra Sloane) insists on poetry, their late teacher’s favorite subject.
Their group of six is now two larger with the arrival of Martin (Calista Motisher) and Gabriela ( Aria Weaver).
Martin especially is perplexed by the place, insisting this is a mistake and demanding to speak to someone in charge. No, the others say. You don’t want to do that.
They are determined to keep the classes going despite the dangers. Further they decide to create a newspaper to distribute to the others in the ghetto reporting on what really going on. Pavel (Gavin Miller), a musician who plays a recorder because he no longer has access to a piano, sounds a warning note. He accuses Miroslav of putting them in danger of being killed.
But they still cling to the faintest hope and seem determined to live as best they can.
They are not saintly martyrs. Erik (Liam Cooper) is frankly a bully, who seems intent on making Martin’s life even more miserable. He also insists that they fight back against the Nazis.
Alena (Alice Walters) is a live wire.
Eva is a teen now charged with the care of her little sister Jana (Claire Nelson). This is the most fraught relationship as Eva balances her involvement working with Miroslav with the desire to shield Jana.
Being in the ghetto cannot repress the hormones of the teens. As Gabriella, who has been able to bring her violin along with her, and Pavel start playing music together romance blooms. And Eva’s devotion to Miroslav is more than as comrades in the fight against the Nazis.
She laments to Gabriella how sad it would be to die a virgin. The bonding of the girls, including a scene where Gabriella teaches her friend to waltz while reminiscing about her home life, is heartwarming without being saccharine.
Throughout, the cast read excerpts from the writings of the children who lived in Terezin, and the drawings are projected on a screen. This brings us even more into the world of the ghetto.
As the play ends, a video plays linking the plight of the Terezin children to those in contemporaneous internment camps for Japanese Americans to those now in refugee camps and in cages at the border.
What connects them all is Miroslav’s plaintive declaration: “Look at us. We’re supposed to be kids.”
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Photo provided by Horizon Youth Theatre
Members of the “Purple” Cast which will perform tonight & Saturday are: Sophia Milks as Jana; Lucy Pafford as Alena; Rose Walters as Gabriela; Whitney Bechstein as Eva; Aidan Thomas as Erik; Raleigh DuShane as Martin; Gaya Edge as Pavel; and Mahaska Stiegler as Miroslav. Lauren Clifford will play the violin.
Additional voices for both performances are: Hailey Kozey, Thomas Long, Dylan Perez, Alexandra Roberts-Zibbel, Isobel Roberts-Zibbel, and Charlie Vostal.
