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Join the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, New York, for a live zoom reading of George Tabori’s 1979 play My Mother’s Courage on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Based on the true story of legendary theatre artist George Tabori’s memoir of his Jewish mother, who miraculously—and in a great act of personal courage—managed to escape deportation in 1944. Elsa, a 55-year-old unwavering Hungarian Jew had remained in Budapest to care for her asthmatic sister after her husband had been incarcerated and her sons had left the country. Finally Else is detained and sent to the rail yard to be deported to Auschwitz—until she confronts a Nazi official and manages to obtain her release. Tabori, a collaborator of Brecht and Hitchcook, is best known for Brecht on Brecht (1961) and The Cannibals (1969). In My Mother’s Courage Tabori subverted traditional narrative form while deconstructing conventional notions of heroism. With Sigrun Schneider-Kaethner (Mother), Thomas Bockelmann (Son). New York adaptation for two actors by Thomas Bockelmann, based on the translation by Jack Zipes.Followed by a panel discussion with Thomas Bockelmann, Frank Hentschker (Director Segal Theatre Center) and Martin Kagel, Professor of Germanic & Slavic Studies at the University of Georgia.
Martin Kagel is A.G. Steer Professor in the Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies at the University of Georgia. His research comprises German literature and culture from the 18th through the 21st-century. Among his publications are several articles and book chapters on George Tabori’s writing. He also served as editor of a special section on Tabori in the German-Jewish studies yearbook Nexus: Essays in German Jewish Studies (2018) and co-edited (w/ David Saltz) the forthcoming Open Wounds: Theater of the Holocaust and the Legacy of George Tabori(Michigan University Press 2022).
In collaboration with Staatstheater Kassel (Germany), Torn Page NY, and Synagogue Center Felsberg (Germany). A full production of the play is scheduled to open in 2022 at Torn Page Space in Chelsea, New York City. The reading is part of National Jewish Theater Foundation NJTF Holocaust Theater International Initiative on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
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My Mother’s Courage Reading: NJTF Holocaust Theater International Initiative for Holocaust Remembrance Day
« Back to EventsJan 27, 12:00 noon, New York EST on Howlround
Based on the true story of legendary theatre artist George Tabori’s memoir of his Jewish mother, who miraculously—and in a great act of personal courage—managed to escape deportation in 1944. Elsa, a 55-year-old unwavering Hungarian Jew had remained in Budapest to care for her asthmatic sister after her husband had been incarcerated and her sons had left the country. Finally Else is detained and sent to the rail yard to be deported to Auschwitz—until she confronts a Nazi official and manages to obtain her release. Tabori, a collaborator of Brecht and Hitchcook, is best known for Brecht on Brecht (1961) and The Cannibals (1969). In My Mother’s Courage Tabori subverted traditional narrative form while deconstructing conventional notions of heroism. With Sigrun Schneider-Kaethner (Mother), Thomas Bockelmann (Son). New York adaptation for two actors by Thomas Bockelmann, based on the translation by Jack Zipes.Followed by a panel discussion with Thomas Bockelmann, Frank Hentschker (Director Segal Theatre Center) and Martin Kagel, Professor of Germanic & Slavic Studies at the University of Georgia.
In collaboration with Staatstheater Kassel (Germany), Torn Page NY, and Synagogue Center Felsberg (Germany). A full production of the play is scheduled to open in 2022 at Torn Page Space in Chelsea, New York City. The reading is part of National Jewish Theater Foundation NJTF Holocaust Theater International Initiative on Holocaust Remembrance Day.