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As part of the city's "Open Culture" program, the Untitled Theater Company No. 61 will be staging a show smack-dab in the middle of Harlem this weekend. Cabaret in Captivity, which commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Day, will play on Morningside Avenue between 114th and 115th Streets this Sunday at 5pm.
"Full of satire, bitter humor, and hope, these pieces demonstrate how art became a vital survival technique for the inmates," reads the official description of the show, which features songs and sketches written in Theresienstad—the dialect spoken in the city of Terezin, near Prague—by actual Jews in captivity during World War II.
Although we know about some of the material's original authors (Karel Švenk and Ilse Weber were former cabaret stars in Prague, for example), some other sketches are now anonymous. Scholar Lisa Peschel was able to retrieve each work and translate it.
Terezin served as an internment camp location and a way station for the concentration camps during the Holocaust, so do expect the show to touch upon the monstrosities that Jews had to contend with at the time.
Although new in format, given COVID-19-related restrictions, this is actually the show's eighth run across the globe. It had previously been mounted at the William Goodenough House in London; the Center for Jewish History, the Bohemian National Hall, Pangea and the York Theatre in New York; and the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC.
A few technical notes: guests will be required to wear masks and bring their own seats while groups will be placed six feet away from each other. The great news? The show is completely free, although reservations are a must (grab a ticket right here). The organizers would, however, surely appreciate a suggested donation of $25.
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