Untitled Theater Company No. 61 Presents: “Cabaret in Captivity” Copy

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A LIVE PERFORMANCE ON THE STREET
PART OF NEW YORK CITY’S OPEN CULTURE PROGRAM
IN HONOR OF HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

Conceived by Edward Einhorn
Developed and Directed by Edward Einhorn and Jenny Lee Mitchell

Songs and sketches from the Terezin camp, written during the Holocaust.  Full of satire, bitter humor, and hope, these pieces demonstrate how art became a vital survival technique for the inmates.  Part of New York City’s Open Culture program, providing performances on city streets.  Please bring your own seating, we will have very limited chairs available.  All seating will be spaced 6 feet between groups and 12 feet from performers.  To get to the street, take the C, 1, 2, or 3 subway lines.

On Morningside Ave, between 114th Street and 115th Street
Near the C, 1, 2, and 3 trains

Sunday April 11 and April 18, at 5pm

$25 Ticket (suggested donation)
Buy tickets from www.untitledtheater.com

Cabaret in Captivity, an annual cabaret produced by Untitled Theater
Company No. 61 in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, will have two
LIVE performances on April 11 and 18.  The program includes songs and
sketches written in Terezin/Theresienstad. Terezin was located an hour
away from Prague, and during World War II it served as both an
internment camp and a way station for the concentration camps during
the Holocaust.  Full of satire, bitter humor, and hope, these pieces
demonstrate how art became a vital survival technique for the inmates.
Most of these pieces were recently recovered through the efforts of
scholar Lisa Peschel, who also translated the majority of the work.

This is part of New York City’s Open Culture program.  All audience
members are asked to bring their own seating, as the seats available
will be limited.  All audience members will be masked, and seating
groups will be separated by six feet.

Conceived and co-directed by Edward Einhorn (NY Times Critic’s Pick
for The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein) and starring
co-director Jenny Lee Mitchell, aka Mad Jenny (“Smart and theatrically
savvy,” NY Times review for Love Und Greed), Craig Anderson, Seth
Gilman, and Katarina Vizina.  Maria Dessano is on piano.  This is the
eighth year this production has been presented, having been previously
seen at the Center for Jewish History, the Bohemian National Hall,
Pangea, York Theatre, the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC, and The
William Goodenough House in London, England.

Some of the authors of the original work, like Karel Švenk and Ilse
Weber, were existing stars of the cabaret scene in Prague. Others were
compelled by their circumstances to create.  Some of the work is now
anonymous, as the names of the authors have been lost. All were
speaking to a small audience of fellow inmates, in the hope that one
day their story would be heard by the world.  On this anniversary of
Yom HaShoah, we are proud to be able to present that work.

Amy Oestreicher, in her Broadway World review, said “Cabaret in
Captivity is a call to action to use hope not as a means of passive
daydreaming, but a powerful act of resistance. It has been said that
humor equals truth plus distance. Perhaps humor was the most
palatable, effective way of sharing the unbelievable creativity, will,
and resistance that came from the ‘Chosen’ who ‘had no choice.’

Untitled Theater Company No. 61 (UTC61) is a Theater of Ideas:
scientific, political, philosophical, and above all theatrical.  UTC61
has been performing independent theater in New York for over 25 years,
collaborating with venues such as HERE, The New Ohio, 3LD, La MaMa,
Judson Church, The Brick, and other downtown spaces.  They have also
maintained a durable partnership with the Czech Republic, originally
established though their work with former President Vaclav Havel
during their 2006 Havel Festival.  Recent UTC61 work has been Critic’s
Picks in The New York Times, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York.

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