photos by Brian Paulette
Four Children
by Mark Edelman
Dates: October 7-24, 2021
Location: City Stage at Union Station
Director: John Rensenhouse
Featuring:
Victor Raider-Wexler
Vi Tran
Kathleen Warfel
& Marisa B. Tejeda
Running time-65 minutes. Performed without an intermission.
Developed specifically as a world premiere in honor of the Auschwitz exhibit, this emotionally charged theatrical event draws on the diary entries from teenagers who share their first-person accounts of life during the Holocaust and genocides in Armenia, Cambodia and Sarajevo. Featuring heart-wrenching stories accompanied by live music.
Their voices remind us that, without vigilance, tragedies like the ones they experienced can happen anywhere, anytime.
A World Premiere in honor of Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.
Notice:
*VACCINE REQUIREMENT: Proof of full vaccination (per CDC definition) is required for admittance into the performance; we will not be accepting negative test results at this time. We will not be making accommodations for children under 12. Masks are also required while inside the theatre. This policy is subject to change as the situation develops.
Source Material:
Adapted from:
When Broken Glass Floats by Chanrithy Him from Cambodia
The Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak from Poland
My Childhood Under Fire: A Sarajevo Diary by Nadja Halilbegovich from Sarajevo
To the Desert: Pages from my Diary by Vahram Dadrian from Armenia
Directed by John Rensenhouse
Compiled and Adapted by Mark Edelman
Music Selection and Preparation by Michael Mermagen
Lighting Designer Zoe Spangler
Projections Designer Jerry Mañan
Cellists Eman Chalshotori & Sascha Groschang
“I can’t think of a better companion piece to Union Station’s Auschwitz exhibition…’Four Children’ reminds us that brutality is a legacy we have yet to outrun.”
– Liz Cook, KC Studio
“Marisa B. Tejeda delivers a stand-out performance as Nadja, capturing the creeping terror of living ‘from siren to siren’ during the four-year siege of Sarajevo. Tejeda’s performance is urgent and incisive; their gaze lingers just slightly on the audience after each passage, as if daring us to look away.”
– Liz Cook, KC Studio
“I don’t have many gushing descriptors left to toss at Victor Raider-Wexler, a peerless performer who could make a soap opera out of an instruction manual.”
– Liz Cook, KC Studio