25 years ago, playwright Faye Sholiton and her play The Interview won the top prize at the Dayton Playhouse FutureFest. The play is centered around the Holocaust, and how one woman’s memory of it affects her relationship with her daughter - and her life.
On Sunday September 18th, the Beth Jacob Synagogue will host two showings of the play, and host a Q&A with the playwright.
We spoke with synagogue board member, Helen Halcomb, about the play’s significance.
Helen Halcomb: The play is a four person play, and it's basically the story of a woman that survived the Holocaust. And all she wanted to do was get on with her life and live but was stuck in what she lived through. And her child and her in the process of growing up, the child became estranged from her, because I can relate to the issues that as a child of a survivor, you walk a very fine line of wanting to know what they went through, being willing to listen to everything and at the same time not wanting to ask the questions that would be upsetting, you know? So, it's that kind of fine line that happened.
Then another person comes in and asks to interview her, basically because she couldn't ask her own parents the question that she could ask the stranger, which I find, again, to be very truthful in life. You know, you can ask other people answers things that are your own family went through, but it's easier to hear it from a stranger, it's easier for a stranger to tell you than the emotional attachment of your own family. So that is really the premise of the story and in being so, the woman becomes enlightened and realized how she helped estrange her own daughter from her withdrawal as they all learn and heal from it.
Jerry Kenney: You mentioned that you wanted this to be free and open to the public. You want people to be unencumbered to see a performance like this. Why is it so important to keep this message and these conversations going?
Halcomb: As a child of a survivor, you know what they went through? You know that their stories are legit. You know what they shared to you that truly happened. And in Dayton right now, we have less than a half a dozen survivors left that are still alive. You know, they're all old. I mean, I'm old, so they're all old. If they're..., if we don't have situations like this to tell their story, to share what's happened, then more and more of the serious people or whatever you want to call them. Conspiracists; that World War Two didn't exist, the Holocaust didn't exist, Black Lives Matters don't exist. All that is crap. They all happened. Everybody went through this pain, and how can you educate and teach people and make sure it doesn't repeat itself if you don't share the messages? So, for me, this was an important educational message and again, a nonviolent educational message for people to learn.
I mean, we marketed this to the school districts and went out to, Helene and I went to every school district administrator with the flier to get permission for the kids to be aware of this so that they can come in and learn. They don't learn anything anymore in school. I mean, part of the issue is, I just shared with a friend, they don't teach civics anymore for people to know constitutional laws in our own state, let alone history factors like this that are so important not to repeat again. You know, my dad went through this not for nothing, you know, he went into the camps and came out with half of his family gone. Yeah.
This was one that we wanted to do. As I said, the grant was to appeal to everyone so that we could expose not just Jewish population that went through this, but the entire population of what it was like as families surviving. You know, because as I said, I remember in the fifties when I was a kid, it's hard for them to tell you when they just wanted to get on with their life and give to their children the best that they could. And some people were able to get past that. I know of people that constantly were living in the past like that. I knew other people that couldn't speak - My father was one that was very difficult until he was retired, when he was then most comfortable to go to schools and talk to children and share his story and what he went through. It's important to share the story so things like this don't happen again, so people can learn and grow and become a better about themselves and people around them.
Kenney: Helen Halcomb is a board member with the Beth Jacob Synagogue in Dayton. Helen, thanks so much for your time and good luck with the event.
Halcomb: Thank you. Thank you. Hopefully we'll see you there and tons of other people also. Thanks a lot.
