BEVERLY — Although it dramatizes events of more than 60 years ago, a play being performed at Waring School this week couldn't be more relevant, said Anna Smulowitz, the author of "Terezin: Children of the Holocaust."
Smulowitz is bringing a cast of six to perform "Terezin" for students and the public today at Waring School. She and her Newburyport-based theater troupe will have a discussion about bullying and harassment with Waring students after a school-day performance. An evening performance will be given for members of the public.
Smulowitz wrote "Terezin" as a tribute to her parents, who survived the Auschwitz concentration camps.
"My mother, as a teen, was harassed and bullied as a Jewish girl," Smulowitz said. "It's not that different nowadays. (At school performances,) students speak out on the type of hate they see in their schools — prejudice, bullying, making fun of anyone different."
"The kids really do get it, that they (people in concentration camps) were regular people and have this tragic end, based on the fact that the bystanders did nothing for them. The audience relates to the fact that they are the bystanders."
"Terezin" follows the plight of children at a concentration camp of the same name in the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia).
Children held at the camp left poetry and art hidden in the floorboards, Smulowitz said.
She was inspired to write "Terezin" after seeing a 1969 exhibit of art found at the camp. In the past 40 years, the play has been performed all over the world, including at ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
In 1994, Smulowitz brought a cast to the Terezin site to perform her play for a group of Terezin survivors.
If you go
What: "Terezin: Children of the Holocaust"
When: Tonight at 7
Where: Waring School Theatre, 35 Standley St, Beverly
Tickets: $12 (limited seating, reservations recommended). To order, visit annadrama.com or call 978-502-8468.
