Children of Drancy |
“Children of Drancy” premiered at Northeastern University in the fall of 2007, directed by Nancy Kindelan, and has since been performed at schools and colleges from Maine to California.
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The “montage of voices” that became the play Children of Drancy constituted itself out of many sources that pertain to the German occupation of France during WWII, 1940-44: hundreds of letters written by children who had been separated from their parents, the missives from the German commandants and Nazi authorities in Berlin, and French Vichy collaborators who wrote with unfeeling authority, cruelly issuing orders that resulted in the deportations and assassinations of Jewish civilians. The history recounted in the play ineluctably heads toward the vortex of destruction, pulling in luminaries like René Blum (brother of the former prime minister) and the poet Max Jacob; the quietly heroic Kitty, who refuses to abandon her mother; an eight-year-old boy trying to protect his three-year-old brother; children who had forgotten their last names; and infants whose mothers had been sent ahead on earlier convoys.
You can link to its website to learn more about the Shoah in France. Information on performance rights can also be found on the site northeastern.edu/drancy. You can also link to my article about the play . |
The full text is available at:
New Play Exchange the National New Play Network
plays/87218/children-drancy
New Play Exchange the National New Play Network
plays/87218/children-drancy