By Melissa Hunter
Assistant Editor
This past weekend, I attended Mason High School’s winter production of “And A Child Shall Lead.” I first learned about this play from my daughter, a senior in the high school. For her digital design internship, students were given the assignment of creating a promotional poster for the show. The theater department would then select the winning design they wanted to use on their marketing material.
“The show is about the Holocaust,” my daughter explained to me as I glanced over her shoulder at the mock-up she had created on her Mac computer. “It’s a true story about children who lived in the (Terezin) ghetto and fought back by creating an underground newspaper.” I could hear in her voice her passion for this project. On so many levels, creating an image that would depict the importance of this story meant something to her, not the least because she is the great granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.
After learning about the play, I arranged to see the matinee performance on opening weekend. Sitting in the intimate, dark theater where three rows of chairs surrounded a small stage, I waited as the lights dimmed. Three children ran onstage, glancing around cautiously and with a touch of fear, and immediately the audience assumes they are in danger. But we soon discover they are simply playing a game of hide-and-seek, where finding the perfect hiding spot is all that is at stake. Those stakes grow more dire as the play continues.
Scattered throughout the show, the actors recite bits of poetry and read journal entries that were written by the actual children who lived in a state of limbo in the “Jewish city” before being transported to the camps. I was struck by one scene where the children learn that the nazis are coming to film conditions in the ghetto for propaganda, and as a result transform the grounds to appear “better” than they are. More food is passed out. Prisoners are transported so the camp doesn’t appear overcrowded. A merry-go-round is even brought in for the children to ride. In retaliation, and so that the outside world can really see what is happening, the children start a handwritten newspaper where they record what the true conditions are like, detailing the starvation, sickness, and fear they live with daily. A chill ran down my spine when I thought of how information regarding the war between Israel and Hamas is being received by the world and wondered if history is indeed repeating itself. The uptick in anti-Israel protests and antisemitism in general would suggest so. And with social media giving even the most uneducated and uniformed a voice, the spreading of disinformation is magnified.
Without giving too much of the plot away, by the end of the show, the children have all changed; they have lost their innocence and experienced more in their tender years than most should ever have to experience in their lifetime. The young students of Mason High School portrayed the heavy emotions of fear, hope, love and despair very convincingly. The simple set portrayed a much larger picture. Even the subtle use of make-up showed how these children went from being healthy to sickly in a very realistic way.
When, during the last scene of the first act, the children come out and light the candles and recite the Sabbath prayers, I felt tears in my eyes. I couldn’t help but be impressed with how these students, many of whom I assume aren’t Jewish, gave a perfect rendering of the Hebrew, which can be a mouthful even to the most experienced speaker. Kudos to all involved. When the show ended, the audience sat in a silence that was almost eerie before applauding. But applause was well deserved. And I couldn’t help but think, as I left the theater, how wonderful it is that all these years later, on another continent, young students gave a voice to those who had the courage to put their lives at risk so the truth could be told. Their voices did in fact live on.