On May 6th, Hawkes Library will take part in the nationwide
effort to honor the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution by hosting a
Days of Remembrance performance at First United Methodist Church’s Zachry
Center at 7pm EDT. The one-act version
of I Never Saw Another Butterfly by
Celeste Raspanti will be performed by members of the Lafayette Theatre Academy,
following a performance for the Breman Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum in
Atlanta, Georgia.
After the successful production of the full-version of the play
at the Lafayette Society for Performing Arts in LaGrange this January, director
Amy McDow was contacted by a Breman representative inviting the cast to provide
a program for the museum. McDow shares
that, “after that first conversation, I was flooded with emotions. Although we have continuously seen positive effects
of our production locally, I never imagined that we would so strongly touch a
community that has been, and still is, directly impacted by the events we
portrayed.”
I Never Saw Another
Butterfly shares the story of how children, held in
the Terezín Concentration Camp, used art to inspire, entertain, comfort, and strengthen
themselves and each other. After
liberation, pieces of the children’s artwork, poetry, and prose were found and
used as the source for the material in the play. McDow states, “it is such an honor to continue
sharing the legacy left by these children with those whose lives are dedicated to
preserving Jewish values, culture, and history.”
On their first visit to the Breman Museum, the academy students
located many exhibits that directly related to the events in the play,
including finding the names of some of the children whose art and writing they
had studied during their production. Phoebe
Rushan, playing the role of Raya Englanderova in the production, states that “being
in this show has really opened my eyes to the struggles that these kids went
through during the Holocaust. You always
learn about it in school, but being able to read poems and look at pictures,
that these children created, really opens your eyes. It’s beautiful how expressing themselves
through art helped them during these horrible times. This show has been a really educational, but
fun experience.”
Cast member Liberty Imes remarks, “I am extremely honored to be
a part of a production like this one, with kids coming together to make
something so beautiful and respectful. I’ll
never forget it.” The cast traveling to Atlanta includes 13 students, in the
sixth through twelfth grades, from Troup, Harris, and Chambers counties.
The cast performs in Atlanta on Yom HaShoah, which is also known
as Holocaust Remembrance Day and marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising. It commemorates the lives and
heroism of the people who died in the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945 and pays
tribute to the rescuers who risked their lives to save others. This year, the date of Yom HaShoah is May 5th.
Liam McDonald, cast in the role of Honza, shares, “being a part
of I Never Saw Another Butterfly has
been an amazing and eye-opening time for me.
It’s a very powerful play and I have learned a lot from it. I’m looking forward to performing at the
Breman Museum, as it is going to be a once in a lifetime experience.”
On May 6th, the cast will repeat the performance for West Point
and surrounding communities at the Zachry Center. When asked about Hawkes Library’s involvement
in this local event, Michael Markle, a member of the Hawkes Library board,
stated that “the Holocaust was one of the greatest atrocities of recent
history. It impacted our own country and
family members, whether they were personal relatives or those who fought to end
the persecution. The Friends of Hawkes
Library is honored to have the opportunity to sponsor this production as a
remembrance of those who suffered and a reminder that such atrocities still
occur today and should not be tolerated.”
The event coincides with the nation’s annual commemoration of
the Holocaust established by Congress and led by the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Information
about the Holocaust and the children of Terezín will be on display at Hawkes
library during the Days of Remembrance.
Handmade butterflies, created by the students will also decorate the
library.
“It’s not enough to curse the darkness of the past. We have to
illuminate the future,” explains Holocaust survivor Estelle Laughlin. “On Days
of Remembrance the most important thing to remember is the humanity that is in
all of us to leave the world better for our children and for posterity." Hawkes Library’s Days of Remembrance is free to the general public.
The performance begins at 7pm at the Zachry Center in West Point. For more information, please visit www.hawkeslibrary.com or contact Amy McDow at amcdow@lsparts.org.
