WBHS students remember Holocaust in upcoming productions

SHALLOTTE—The West Brunswick High School Theatre Department remembers the Holocaust through two upcoming dramas.

KATHRYN JACEWICZ

Gillian Gurganus, who plays the young Corrie ten Boom, is arrested upon the Nazis learning she is helping hide Jewish people in her Holland home.

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Students will perform a stage version of “Night” by Elie Wiesel and “The Hiding Place,” the story of Corrie ten Boom.

The plays will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 14, and Friday, April 15, and at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, April 16, at the West Brunswick High School theater. Admission is $3 in advance or $5 at the door.

Theater instructor Jen Negron said she wanted her students to do something dramatic so they could practice their range. Negron said productions all year have focused on people as human beings with emotions and feelings, not as numbers or names on a cell phone or computer.

“They’re very talented,” she said of her students. “There are moments you see that are heartbreaking.”

Senior Daniel Hagan, whose senior project is focused on proving the Holocaust actually happened, directs “Night."

“It’s just mind blowing that the human race could do this to themselves,” he said.

Hagan said although every sophomore student reads “Night,” the stage version is rarely done.

“It’s a great book,” he said. “It’s got a lot of detail. It’s all detail and it gives insight to what actually happened.”

“The Hiding Place,” tells the story of what happened to Corrie ten Boom and her family after the Nazis discovered they were hiding Jewish people in their Holland home.

“I think it’s an important show,” Negron said. “I always want them to learn something from the experience.”

For more information, contact Negron at 754-4338, ext. 1337, or email jcreighton@bcswan.net.