In 2017, two teams of artists from Australia and South Africa reimagined a cabaret created in 1943 by Jewish prisoners in the wartime ghetto at Terezín (Theresienstadt) in Czechoslovakia. Using video from both performances, Dr. Lisa Peschel, Associate Professor in Theatre at the University of York, will show how the artists used the archival traces of the original script to bring Terezín’s past into our present while engaging with deeply felt contemporary concerns.

Keynote Speaker: Preserving Jewish History: Exploring Centropa’s Library of Rescued Memories

Join Dr. Janet Rubin, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Visual and Performing Arts, Humanities, and Speech at Eastern Florida State College, as she demonstrates how the power of theater can be harnessed within the classroom to encourage a deeper understanding of the Holocaust while directly connecting students with survivors. Dr. Rubin will provide methodologies and resources on teaching about this tragic historical event through performance.

In Afghanistan, Sohaila Kakar was a practicing surgeon; then, in 2021, the Taliban took over the country. Join us as Sohaila discusses life before and after the Taliban's takeover in Afghanistan–and the physical, economic, and psychological toll it had upon her family as they fled. Her story also highlights the compassionate work done by Upwardly Global, the non-profit agency that provided guidance to Sohaila’s family as they settled in the U.S.

Co-sponsored with Kupferberg Holocaust Center, Queensborough Community College, CUNY