Breman Launches Reading Series with ‘Kindertransport’

The Breman Museum has launched free, three-part play “readings” over the course of the next five months.

A seasoned theatrical team took the stage on July 31 to showcase “Kindertransport,” harkening back to 1939 in Nazi Germany, where a Jewish woman, Helga, is preparing her 9-year-old daughter, Eva, for travel on a Kindertransport, taking her to the relative safety of a foster family in England to escape Nazi horrors. The one-night event featured an all-star cast of professional actors: Wendy Melkonian, Kate Crabtree, Pamela Gold, Kathleen McManus, Gillian Rabin, Jacob York, and Amy L. Levin. The reading was directed by Mira Hirsch.

The Breman, the story keeper of these child survivors, explains Eva’s hidden history, which was unraveled more than 40 years later in a dusty storage room in a home outside of London. This drama, which was called, “richly eloquent, deeply moving and essential viewing,” by The Independent, has enjoyed numerous productions worldwide since its London premiere in 1993. Many thousands of children were transported to England, but only 1,000 or so were relocated to the United States. Some of them found themselves in Georgia, including brothers, Ben and Jack Hirsch (Atlanta), Henry Birnbrey (Atlanta), Charlotte Dreyfus (West Point) and brothers, Gerhard and Werner Linz (Albany). The Breman holds the interviews, photographs, and materials related to them and others in the Ida Pearle and Joseph Cuba Archives (www.thebreman.org/research).

Director Mira Hirsch explained, “When Leslie Gordon [Breman CEO] approached Pamela and me about launching some theatre programming for The Breman, we quickly landed on a staged reading series. This format is affordable to produce and accessible, making it a great way to engage our community. For the first reading, we chose ‘Kindertransport’ because its themes align so closely with The Breman’s current exhibit, ‘Hidden Histories.’”

The play explores identity, family secrets, and the difficult choices people make in order to survive. Mira Hirsch first produced “Kindertransport” nearly 30 years ago with Jewish Theatre of the South, and it has stayed with her ever since. She felt that the July reading resonated with the audience as a story rooted in a specifically Jewish tragedy and also as one that speaks to the broader, contemporary issues of family separation and displacement. She stated, “I’m thrilled that this inaugural reading sold out completely; it’s a wonderful sign that our community remains eager to see theater that reflects Jewish culture and history.”

Gordon shared, “The post-show feedback has been overwhelmingly positive – the program was so well done. Mira selected and directed an amazing cast and Pamela, who had the main role, was outstanding … so I know I had the right team!”

For the past two years, The Breman partnered with Theatrical Outfit on two plays with Jewish content. This year they plan to work on a third production with Theatrical Outfit and are also partnering with Synchronicity Theatre. Gordon added, “Since Oct. 7, the need for community and connection in the Jewish space has become very clear. So, we are happy to provide more places for that to happen, through theatre. Given what I observed at the first event, we had a winner.”

Gold concurred, “This gripping story sheds light on yet another dark, hidden chapter of Jewish history, and it’s chillingly relevant today when we continue to see an alarming rise in antisemitism everywhere, and particularly in Europe, as well as witness the plight of many immigrant families in our own country who live in fear or, worse yet, have been torn apart. This play digs deep into the minds and hearts of the mothers and fathers who made the agonizing decision to send their children to England for safety, and it exposes the damaging and reverberating effects of that decision on their children, who survived, but were forever changed and scarred. I’m grateful to the Breman Museum for allowing this space.”