Letters to Sala

Side note: some of you have been bitching about not being able to post comments. I worked the problem and have fixed it. Comment away!

Last night, I went to the Tennessee Williams Theatre (across the soccer field) to see the play Letters to Sala. It was a formal dress rehearsal where outsiders were allowed to come in and watch the production. The play is about this woman named Sala would survived the Holocaust. Her daughter, Ann, recently published a book called Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story. (http://www.salasgift.com/content/index.asp) The script was written by playwright, Beth Lincks. It was pretty much amazing.

Though the story is a sad one, it is a beautiful display of cultural ideology. Favorite line:

"There was a period of time that I didn't want to be Jewish anymore."

Pretty much. I blubbered like a baby from the balcony seats next to some woman who must have thought I was some unstable homeless adolescent with the way my emotions were pouring down my cheeks. There's this one scene where a woman is dragged to the gas chambers and is screaming bloody murder for her life.

There was this other scene where Sala curls up on the ground in the middle of the labor camp and sobs. Her lover has just been sent to a different camp and she is completley alone. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have had everything you owned and everyone you knew (family, friends and your lover) taken away from you. To have every promise ever made to you broken and to have no way access to comfort.

The play is a simple one. Most of the dialogue is from the letters that Sala received and wrote during her 5 1/2 year labor camp stay. I recommend everyone in Sewanee go see the play. I'm also planning to order the book. Also, Sala, the real one-in person, will be here tomorrow!

Also, I really want to plan a trip to Whitwell, TN (between Sewanee and Chattanooga on I-24) to visit the school featured in the documentary Paperclips. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380615/) If you're intersted in going. Let me know!

Good night to you all.