And Then They Came for Me - Howard HS

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Permalink Reply by Nick Cortina on November 29, 2010 at 5:03pm

Few events have shaken the very moral and psychological fabric of world society like the systematic genocide of nearly 6 million Jewish people in the Holocaust. Though it is difficult to fathom the almost unspeakable evil of such a dark period of human history, the voices of Holocaust survivors live on today, reminding the world of the horrible consequences of intolerance. Howard High School brought these voices to life in their powerful, sobering production of And Then They Came For Me: Remembering The World of Anne Frank.

Unique in its use of multimedia as well as its mostly nonfictional perspective, And Then They Came For Me intersperses video interviews with Holocaust survivors Ed Silverberg and Eva Schloss with live performers representing their younger selves and acting out scenes from their lives. The play tells the story of how Ed (Jack Raskin) escaped his grandparents’ house in Amsterdam to be with his mother (Beckie Zimmerman) and father (Julen Rodriguez) in Nazi occupied Belgium. It also follows Eva (Paris McGrann) and her parents (Erik Parshall and Charlotte Bent) and brother Heinz (JT Hipp) as they hide in Amsterdam and eventually get caught and taken to Auschwitz. Both Ed and Eva had connections with Anne Frank (Ryann Lillis), who is also taken to Auschwitz.

The production was anchored by the emotional range of its cast along with the fluidity of movement. Each actor not only narrated the factual events of their character’s history but also remarkably portrayed the loss of innocence and varying emotions of their character. The cast also did a great job of maintaining the flow of play by silently continuing their actions while the video played.

Leading actors Jack Raskin, Paris McGrann, and Ryann Lillis all gave very powerful voices to their characters. Raskin conveyed Ed’s uncertainty and fear about the journey to find his parents through his hesitant gestures and scared tone of voice, while Zimmerman communicated Eva’s growing frustration of her plight through her increased incredulous and questioning attitude. And Lillis expressed Anne Frank’s endearing innocence through her childlike and sincere aura.

Beckie Zimmerman, Julen Rodriguez, Erik Pashall, and Charlotte Bent admirably depicted the parental figures of the play, using their calm, reassuring tones of voice to convey their mature and wiser outlook while also infusing a deep sense of familial love into their personas. On the other hand, JT Hipp portrayed Heinz’s quiet struggle through his more reserved attitude. Jarrod Meehan also played a Hitler Youth who appeared onstage throughout the play. He sustained a detached tone of voice to convey the brainwashed mentality of the indoctrinated Nazis.

The set of the production was fittingly sparse, consisting of only a few chairs and a rough, crumbling brick wall at the back of the stage to capture the somber mood of the play. While the video screen was certainly an untraditional feature, it became a familiar facet of the stage as the play progressed. Lighting was also aptly used to emphasize the serious overtone of the piece, with a candlelight sequence at the end of the production commemorating the lives lost during the Holocaust.

Overall, Howard High School paid a solemn tribute to the remarkable courage of the survivors of the Holocaust in its production of And Then They Came For Me: Remembering The World of Anne Frank. Although the mere statistics of the Holocaust are staggering, the human, emotional stories of those who survived are what teach us most, and Howard High School did its part to make sure these voices live on forever.

Permalink Reply by Priyanka Prasad on November 29, 2010 at 9:01pm

As life wanes on, one must never forget the past, as horrifying as it may be. The Howard High School Theater Department’s production of And Then They Came For Me directed by Marissa Troeschel recounted the Holocaust and the terrifying experiences of young Eva Schloss and Ed Silverberg, two individuals of Jewish faith and friends of Anne Frank.

As a whole, the cast accurately conveyed the feelings of the characters while cohesively working with multimedia elements in this documentary-styled play. Though the play generally had a somber mood, leads Paris McGrann (Eva) and Jack Raskin (Ed) effectively portrayed the nuances of their characters in various situations. As Eva, McGrann displayed a variety of emotions from the worry of a doting sister to the fear of a helpless victim. Meanwhile, Raskin embraced his role as Ed and created a stable character with multiple dimensions by carefully interacting with each member of the cast and displaying a distinct relationship with each of them. Most importantly, the leads’ portrayals of the characters were simply haunting, leaving the audience to ponder about how the incredulous situations in the play could have possibly occurred.

Supporting actress Ryann Lillis excellently played Anne Frank, bringing a lively energy to the play while emphasizing Frank’s lost dreams. Jarrod Meehan, who played the Hitler Youth, presented another perspective of the Holocaust through the eyes of the virtually brainwashed followers of Hitler. Meehan effectively depicted the evolution of his character from an enthusiastic supporter to a confused follower, emphasizing the changing feelings toward the Holocaust.

Charlotte Bent (Mutti), Erik Parshall (Pappy), JT Hipp (Heinz), Beckie Zimmerman (Ed’s mother), and Julen Rodriguez (Ed’s father) played family members of Ed and Eva and showed great care and concern for the two individuals with their outstanding facial expressions. The chorus members Kirsten Arterburn, Abby Doyle, Shannon McGovern, and Colleen McKnight wonderfully supported the cast throughout the production.

When combined with the commendable acting, the technical aspects of the play brought the production to life. Also, the lighting set the mood of every scene, changing to fit each discussion. By taking advantage of the hues of lights, the crew highlighted certain scenes and suspended reality while whisking the audience away in the process. Additionally, sound effects such as the sounds of the train and the sledgehammer were a major asset to the play. Members of the cast marvelously interacted with the sounds created as if they were physically present. Being a history play containing documentary elements, this production included sound bites of actual interviews of Eva Schloss and Ed Silverberg. Even with its complicating nature, the integration of video interviews enhanced the play by conveying the thoughts of the true Eva and Ed.

Not only did the cast and crew of And Then They Came For Me produce a production that reminded the audience of the Holocaust, but they also presented a solemn tribute to the victims who were robbed of life and hope.

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Skinner on December 2, 2010 at 4:41pm

“Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

These powerful lines written by Martin Niemoller inspired the title to the remarkable play performed by Howard High School. And Then They Came for Me recalls the tragic lives of Eva Schloss (Paris McGrann) and Ed Silverburg (Jack Raskin), two Jewish teenagers related to Anne Frank (Ryann Lillis), famous for her detailed diary she wrote during the Holocaust. Director Marissa Troeschel put together a moving and intriguing historic play while bringing in some high-tech elements like videos projected on a screen and realistic lighting and sound effects.
Two life stories are juggled around throughout the play, including Eva Schloss and Ed Silverburg, who both knew Anne. Eva, a close friend to Anne, and her mother, father, and brother endure tragic separations as they are taken away to work to death in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Simultaneously, the account of Ed, Anne’s “lover” prior to Auschwitz, and his parents is told while they hide from Nazis and avoid being taken to concentration camps.
Projected on an in-scene screen were the recorded interviews of the real Eva Schloss and Ed Silverburg. It was very realistic the way the actors playing those parts reenacted their lives, with the film narrating. McGrann and Raskin spoke along with Schloss’s and Silverburg’s words at some points, emphasizing their connection. The actors would even ask questions directed to the screen, and Mrs. Schloss and Mr. Silverburg answered in sync.
McGrann and Raskin played convincing parts, and their on-stage parents the same. Charlotte Bent (Mutti) and McGrann had a very realistic relationship, as they both stuck next to each other just like a mother and daughter would do. When Raskin and McGrann would ask questions about the lives of Mrs. Schloss and Mr. Silverburg in their recordings, they completely transformed from kids battling the Holocaust to curious teenagers trying to understand the cruelty prisoners dealt with every day.
Following the main characters was the Chorus, four girls (Arterburn, Doyle, McGovern, McKnight) who reemphasized the tremendous six million Jews that were killed in the Holocaust. Also, the minor but significant role of “Hitler Youth” (Jarrod Meehan) provided very startling realizations of the “other side” of the Holocaust. Most of the time, the actors remained in character when background video was being played, although occasionally their facial expressions did not convey the gravity of the situation.
The big screen, while a little startling at first, became an important centerpiece of the show. Accompanying the high-tech projection were subtle but important lighting changes. The colors in the lights would change from season to season, creating a more realistic setting and environment for the actors to work with. While the microphones were not always on at the right time, the actors projected their voices loud enough.
A historic play is very rare to see nowadays, perhaps because it's so hard to showcase the unfathomable tragedies like the Holocaust. The opportunity to see And Then They Came for Me will guarantee chills and provide a very powerful, sobering experience.

Permalink Reply by Shelby Roseman on February 3, 2011 at 8:47pm

Usually, when the Holocaust is reflected on, it is remembered in terms of a simple number, eleven million. Six million Jews, five million others, were all victims of heinous crimes led by an elite, deranged group. Howard High School’s production of And Then They Came For Me takes on the challenging task of applying faces and stories to the numbers, and succeeds in allowing the audience to understand the reality of a seemingly impossible event.

            And Then They Came For Me is a solemn Holocaust remembrance play that uses a combination of interviews and live performance to explain the event to audience members in a way that is believable and meaningful. In this play, actors portraying Anne Frank and two of her childhood friends recreate and narrate their Holocaust stories. Integrated throughout the show are interviews from the real Holocaust survivors in which the survivors describe their experiences, as well as the effect the Holocaust had on them. The interviews and live acting are blended together to create a unique, effective final product.

            Howard High did an incredible job recreating and bringing to life an event that has, unfortunately, died in so many memories. The way in which the actors interacted both with one another and with the video interviews created an overall effect that made the audience forget they were in a theatre. The cast did a fantastic job of using silences to allow the play’s central messages to sink into the minds of the audience. The actors’ portrayals of their characters allowed the audience to see that the people involved in the Holocaust, no matter how long ago it occurred, were no different than we are now.

            One such portrayal was Paris McGrann’s interpretation of Eva, Anne Frank’s friend. As a concentration camp survivor, young Eva was forced to mature too fast, a growth which contained struggles and pain that Paris portrayed very well both on her own and through interactions with the video interview of the real Eva. Another actor, Jarrod Meehan, also gave a standout performance as Hitler Youth, a character designed to show the German side of the Holocaust and humanize the villain of the story. Through his body language and changing moods, Jarrod was able to clearly portray the way in which Hitler Youth changed throughout the war, along with the struggles the Germans faced. The entire cast did an exceptional job of showing the enormous impact the war had, as well as the changes it caused.

            This production made excellent use of a unit stage to eliminate stage changes and keep the audience entranced in the show. The set was not an important aspect to the overall production, so it was kept sensible and simple, a design choice that added to the overall performance by allowing the audience to focus on the actors and video instead of the set. Overall, the video was well incorporated into the show, with a slight audio lag being its only major flaw.         

             Howard High School’s production of And Then They Came For Me was the single most meaningful Holocaust remembrance exhibit that I have ever witnessed because of the way it successfully brought to life the faces behind the statistics. As candles flicker at the ending of the show, the message to never forget is universally shared, leaving the audience speechless and marking a successful performance that is well worth experiencing.

 

Permalink Reply by Miles Morgan on March 2, 2011 at 4:22pm

While the Holocaust is always a sorrowful time to remember, Howard High School brought it home with a rendition of James Still’s documentary theatre production And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank, under the direction of Marissa Troeschel.

Performed on a unit set in front of a projector screen, And Then They Came for Me presents the stories of Holocaust survivors Eva Schloss and Ed Silverburg as they share their memories in taped interviews. The two retold their experiences surrounding Anne Frank, Ed having had a crush on her at a young age and Eva’s mother eventually marrying Otto Frank, Anne’s father. Live actors enacted the stories alongside their real-life counterparts, sometimes speaking in unison and sometimes playing out scenes from the past. The play follows the two, as well as a young Anne Frank (Ryann Lillis), from 1938 until the liberation of the camps in 1944. In a short sixty minutes, Paris McGrann (Young Eva) and Jack Raskin (Young Ed), managed to portray six years worth of hardships, emotion, and perseverance with a moving depiction.  Seeing children interact with videos of the actual Holocaust survivors drew out the reality of the situation – the victims were, in fact, children.

Narrating with them was Jarrod Meehan as a Hitler Youth, an unnamed boy who stood for all the children brainwashed by the Nazis. Meehan’s portrayal forced the feeling of contempt away from the mind and allowed a small amount of sympathy to enter the mix. Torn between orders and morality, the Hitler Youth did what he was told, no matter what the cost was to him or his victims.

The projected interviews complimented the production well. Halfway through the show, it started to seem only natural that the actors paused to hear from the elders they portrayed. Besides video, audio clips and sound effects helped to bring the memories to life and take the audience into 1942 Amsterdam, where no one was safe and every noise you heard might have been the last.

The set was three different settings on one stage. Laid out in front of damaged gray brick wall topped with barb wire, two less than comfortable hiding places and homes were decorated with simple wooden chairs and tables. Next to them was a platform that represented the meager conditions of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Various spot lights illuminated the stage, one color at a time. Blue light shined down on solemn moments, bright white represented the sunlight Schloss had not seen for days, and darkness surrounded memorial candles to close the show. The candles rested on the ground in front of Anne’s diary, for every life lost, two shoes for every shoe collected, and a scarf for every scarf stolen.

And Then They Came for Me is an interesting production. With sobering portrayals and a simplistic set, it can be seen several different ways, depending on how much you know coming in and what you believe. Walking away from the show, one can choose to believe that all the Nazis were evil, or one could see that all of the children, Jewish and German alike, were victims of the horrors.

Permalink Reply by Grace Davenport on April 28, 2011 at 2:40pm

A New Kind Of Theatre

 

One of our world’s most tragic events, the Holocaust, has just been remembered in the minds of the audience who went to see “And Then They Came For Me” put on by Howard High School.  This production was a very powerful piece and reminds us all that humans are anything but perfect.

“And Then They Came For Me “ is a documentary based on the teenage lives of Holocaust survivors Ed Silverberg and Eva Schloss.  It portrays the events that led up to their freedom including going into hiding and, for Eva, experiences in the concentration camps. In addition to this, it shows the emotions and thoughts of a teenager who had been a Hitler youth since the age of seven.  There are hardships on each side of the story, and inner and outer battles that each person must face.

The story was told from two perspectives: The experienced remembering the past, and the young experiencing the present.  Interviews of Eva and Ed were listened to and watched on a projection screen, while the actors told the story through actions and words. The actors played off of the movie well, and on occasion, spoke along with it.  The interviews were well accented by the actors’ portrayal of the story and mood. Neither the actors nor the interviews countered the overall mood.

Paris McGrann played Eva Schloss and Jack Raskin played Ed Silverberg.  Although they rarely interacted with each other, they played off of each other nicely in their actions and words.  They each represented the older version of them selves accurately.  They expressed the hardships, emotions, and events very well through their reactions to every thing around them.  They duplicated the emotions that Eva and Ed felt during this period of their lives.

The rest of the cast was phenomenal. While watching this piece, you could immediately tell that the actors on stage had great chemistry together.  They show great care in what happens to the fates of the other characters with whom they are acquainted.  They told the story with passion while still understanding the content of such a heavy subjected play.

            The technical elements pulled the piece together.  The lights were simple, so they did not draw attention away from the story. The sounds were loud and realistic, which helped the audience to understand the story. The sets were expressionistic to the mood of the play. There was barbed wire and crumbling bricks. Costumes were realistic in that they were branded with the Jewish star, such that was a custom for that time period and place.

            This was a production with much serious content, and it was well executed. Bravo to Howard High School’s theatre department on such a fantastic performance!

 

 

Permalink Reply by Steven Tremor Cale on April 28, 2011 at 4:00pm

Steven Cale
And Then They Came For Me

    Holocaust survivors speak! Howard high school presented a show called “and then they came for me” set during WWII, but more closely to the victims and youth  of Germany during the holocaust. The whole crowed was surprised a high school put on a show with such a serious tone but pulled it off with flying colors the cast did a wonderful job of showing the emotions of someone in the situation making it a wonderful experience.

    The show “and then they came for me” is a play not seen by many ,it is a documentary play which is just what you think tells you about a part of history though people who were actually there. They used a screen and projector to show interviews of Ed Silverberg and Eva Schloss who were friends of Anne Frank before they were captured of went into hiding. The actors would act out the part the actual holocaust survivor was explaining. The characters would talk about there life before and who was in there family and talked about what they went through and how they survived ,the ending told you how the characters lives turned out.

    The first thing you see in the beginning of the show is the wonderful set. The set was simple yet elegant, the actors gave reactions and facial expressions that could convince someone who was actually there. The screen was the perfect size not to take away from the mood of the set. I thought it was an interesting piece to add the German youth in the play who was represented by one  seven year old kid who joined the Nazi army and showed all the things they believed and all the horrible things they made them do in order to be accepted. Overall presented the touchy playwrite in a very nice way.

    The main characters in the play were Anne Frank played by Ryann Lilis, young Ed Silverberg played by Jack Raskin, and Eva Schloss played by Paris McGrann. All of the cast did a wonderful job but the leads really blew mw away, they had a tough job staying on time and under pressure going with the screen the reacted to sounds at the exact time and portrayed the person in the story amazingly. All of the lines were spoken very clearly and crisply, even the parts spoken in German.  

    Although you can have a good play with only lead characters, you have an even better one with a great supporting cast. The other actors were very believable they seemed to fit right in when it was there time to be the brother or sister they were there and when it was time to be another person on the street they pulled it off amazingly. No one seemed out of place or late everything just came together beautifully in perfect harmony.

    The play was not only up on its feet with the actors but all the behind the seens were together as well. The set was simple yet elegant it put you right into the mood of the holocaust with its platforms of different heights creating an uneasy feeling and the wall seemingly to extend forever with barbwire at the top kept you in the mood the entire show. The sound played a major part of the show too, the actors would react to sounds instead of getting actors to make the sounds and I thought it was a terrific idea with excellent execution. The lights were very lucid and was more focused on just the acting and just setting the mood to the particular time.
   
    Howard high did a wonderful job of showing the back story of Anne Frank and her friends and was presented in such a way to keep peoples attention who weren’t even interested in the subject. With such a hard task the school set out to do ,the show turned out quite eccentric making this a wonderful play to see. I cant wait to see what they produce next.