When Alex Burkart, Theater Director at Cherry Creek High School, chose a play about the Holocaust for the school’s spring production, he could not fully envision the ways that his decision would open doors and minds in the school community.
But that is exactly what happened.
By the time the play was performed in late April, the mostly non-Jewish cast of “Kindertransport” had met with members of JEWISHcolorado’s Jewish Student Connection (JSC) Club at Creek to ask questions about the Holocaust and the characters they were playing.
In turn, the members of the Cherry Creek High School JSC had the opportunity to share knowledge unique to their heritage and experience and expand the impact of JSC at the school.
“I was amazed how much the JSC kids knew about their history and how much that history still impacted their lives today,” says Burkart. “They are generations away from the Holocaust, but some have visited concentration camps, and they know how historical events unfolded and ricocheted around the world.”
Thanks to the good-faith efforts of many—Burkart, student leaders in the theater department, the play’s cast, JSC student leaders and faculty sponsors, and JEWISHcolorado advisors, a play that debuted the night after Holocaust Remembrance Day as entertainment was transformed into education—and even raised money for JEWISHcolorado.
“Students who are Jewish talked to non-Jewish students who were performing in a Jewish-themed play,” says JSC Teen Engagement Manager Zachary Zimmermann. “This turned out to be an excellent way to offer students a deeper understanding of the Holocaust, and it was a way for students to see each other’s cultural identities and backgrounds.”
The play
Burkart calls “Kindertransport” a “generational play” because it moves between the years immediately before World War II and the 1980s. Eva is a Jewish Kindertransport child, sent by her parents on a train to the U.K., where she is adopted by a British couple who change her name to Evelyn. Gradually, she loses her Jewish identity. Decades later, Evelyn’s own child uncovers buried trauma when she discovers her mother’s long-lost Jewish roots.
Kinsey Perlman, who is a freshman at Creek and was one of only a few Jewish students involved in the production, was cast as young Eva.
“It was so wonderful that Alex chose a play tied to the Holocaust,” Kinsey says. “In school, you are taught the horror of what happened, but the emotional impact is so much greater when you hear individual stories.”
Bear Brickley, a non-Jewish member of the theater program, initiated the idea of asking the cast to take a deep dive into their characters.
“I believe that as an actor, to act well and truthfully, you really need to understand who you are playing,” Bear says. “We could not do that as a majority non-Jewish cast without reaching out to Jewish people.”
Bear’s original idea was to meet with a Jewish organization outside the school, but when they talked with the school’s Activities Director, they learned about Cherry Creek’s Jewish Student Connection Club.
That’s when Eliana Sagel, Co-president of the JSC Club, came into the picture.
“They wanted to do this play accurately, and they wanted to do the best they could,” Eliana says. “The fact that, through Bear, they reached out to us instead of us having to reach out to them was incredible to see.”
The meeting
The door that Bear opened led the cast of “Kindertransport” to a meeting with members of JSC. Eliana describes the meeting as “more than just a Q and A.”
“You could tell they were listening to us and absorbing what we were saying,” she says. “One of the cast members asked about Holocaust denialism and antisemitism today. That was an important moment for me because we were able to talk about how we move forward as individuals fighting antisemitism and Holocaust denialism.”
Kinsey brought her own questions to the group—“What did the British people know about what was happening in Germany at that time?” she asked, and she discovered that another JSC member, Andrew Melun, had researched the topic and had the answer.
“I was so grateful to see how respectful the cast was as stories were being told,” she says. “It showed how much they cared about the play and about the people helping us.”
For Bear, the meeting fulfilled the mission they had intended.
“Before that day, we were doing the best we could, but we were just reading the words on paper,” Bear says. “When we talked to people who could relate to these experiences, we began to see things in 3D. We know that the Holocaust was terrible, but to hear people say, ‘My great-grandpa was in Auschwitz’ made us realize how impactful the Holocaust is even today.’”
The performance
Cherry Creek High School presented four performances of “Kindertransport” with two different casts. Normally, the theater department raises funds for a nonprofit connected to the theme of the play. Bear went to the JSC with some ideas for the best organization to receive the funds. JSC students offered some additional options.
“We didn’t make the decision for them,” Eliana says. “We wanted to give meaningful choices.”
The cast felt that the play represented the need to preserve Jewish identity and culture for future generations. They raised more than $400 and donated the money to an organization they felt best nourished robust Jewish life in the present day—JEWISHcolorado.
“Cherry Creek has been all about collaboration throughout this entire process,” says Zimmermann. “Alex had so many things on his plate, but he was quick to jump on this, the students—both Jewish and non-Jewish owned the entire process—and the JSC sponsor teachers Noah Zepelin and Jonathan Johnson were great facilitators for the students.”
But ultimately, the play is for the people in the audience. Their reaction might best be summed up by one interaction that a performer had with a family after the play.
With tears in their eyes, they said, “My father was the Eva in this story. Thank you so much for telling his story.”