At the talkback a few of the actors mentioned how they have been having trouble sleeping. After seeing what I saw tonight, I have a feeling I'm going to have the same problem. The cast and crew are to be commended for an amazingly truthful telling of Nysli's story. Everyone on that stage was full of real actions that led to real emotions which presented real people.
As I was listening to the talkback, I was reminded how important it is that we are doing what we are doing.
I encourage you to go see this. I saw a lot of you there tonight. I am interested in what you learned. As an actor, director, crew member, the best thing you can do is to see more theatre. You learn so much from each experience. For those of you who attended, what did you learn? What did you learn about theatre for social change? What did you learn about the black box style? What did you learn that you can apply to our show or your own character?
Again, thank you to the cast and crew of the Grey Zone for a memorable evening.
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I have to agree with Mr. Jackson that The Grey Zone was simply amazing! I saw it last night, Thursday, for the first time, and I was blown away. Every character was so real. It was great to see it in that intimate setting too; it would have been so different if we saw it from the audience. The story was stunning, and it had many of the same themes as Playing for Time.
The hardest part for me seeing the show was watching one of my best friends, Alex Karkos, die. It just got me thinking about how real this all is. She really made me proud though because she portrayed her character so well, that I want to work extra hard to play Marianne accurately.
And about sleeping, I've always sort of reviewed my day in my mind when I was about to go to sleep. Recently, it's taken me about an hour to fall asleep at night because of all the ideas in my head. I think about my religion especially and what I believe happens after death. I've cried a couple times, but I think that these emotions are the same type of thing every person in the Holocaust went through, and it's good for me to feel them. I think about Marianne a lot and wonder if she felt the same things.
Something that I really thought was interesting about The Grey Zone talk-back was the way Aaron said he felt he was so close to his character. I felt that a lot of the guys had roles that were really suited for them and they portrayed them beautifully. I think that I am the opposite of my character and yet I want to show the way she was so accurately, I almost begin to sympathize for her.
It’s just a really great show and I’m working in the lobby so I’ll see you guys there!
--Izze
I'm seeing the show tonight, but I was partly in the lobby and backstage last night. Just being backstage was an amazing experience. There was absolute silence, and everyone was completely in character. I literally felt as if I was intruding on something sacred.
I cannot wait to see the show tonight, and I know that it will be absolutely amazing. I hope that everyone takes the opportunity to do so as well. Soon enough, it will be our turn, and I hope everyone uses their experiences with watching the Grey Zone as inspiration for Playing For Time. I hope that we can all be as devoted to portraying these characters and telling their stories as the cast of the Grey Zone has been. We cannot forget that these are real people, and we must do them justice.
If you do see the show, make sure to take in all of the museum pieces. A lot of the things are difficult to see, and I was even having a hard time last night just being there. But a lot of work was put into it, and it absolutely paid off.
I know tonight will be phenomenal.
By the way, this is Claire, if you were wondering. :)
The Grey Zone is something that once you see it, you'll never see the Holocaust in the same light. Here, the Nazis and prisoners are just victims, victims to the system brainwashed and controlled by one man: Adolf Hitler. It's very well cast and you get see to all of the Nazis and prisoners in a way you never saw them before. It's the same thing in Playing for Time. Bitterness rises up among characters in both shows and you can see how everyone's lost hope and gone into an every man for himself mode while trying to retain the last of their humanity. What a horrible experience that must have been. Here, you see all the characters as humans instead of it being victim vs. villain. The real villain is Adolf Hitler, but even he is a victim of a bigger villain more so: Ignorance that one race is superior to another. How touching and the Grey Zone really drills it into your mind that all of these characters are human. It's great theater especially that the people who see these plays will get something out of it. When you get that, you know you've achieved great theater and the Grey Zone just does that. Great job everybody involved in the Grey Zone!
Seeing The Grey Zone was amazing! Everyone did such a great job. The characters were brought to life so well. You never really look at the people of the holocaust as anything more than a statistic, but once I saw this it made everythign so much more devastating and personal and real. They really did a great job with everything.
The black box style was awesome! I kinda wish our show was using that style too because I feel like it would be a really cool new experience. I would probably get really nervous and scared though becuase the audience is so close! It would kinda be awkward!
But everyone reallllllllyyy did a great job! It was sooo good and touching and amazing.
I saw the Grey Zone saturday night, the last show. I had been working on the shows makeup team however since the dress rehearsals, so I got a chance to see the process behind the show a bit too. It was really interesting seeing thier characters develop because you could see the transformation they all went through. Like Izze, for me the hardest part of the show for me to watch was seeing John and Alex killed. I was in the front row of the theatre and it seemed so real. I couldn't stop crying from the moment John got killed on, it seemed so real and so well played that I just got to thinking that it was real, and I had just watched people I cared about be killed, it was really hard for me. I was still crying during the talk back, it was so sad. The cast did an amazing thing by putting on this show and I only hope that the cast of Playing for Time can do the same honor to the real people behind our show as the cast of the Grey Zone did for their counter parts.
"I have rarely felt so totally...moved."
-Mengele,
on Fania's Un Bel Di
For me, this was The Grey Zone. It was so real, so emotionally wrenching, and so beautiful. I cried from the beginning of the talkback on during the Thursday show.
People showed surprise and occasionally concern when I said that I was going to all four shows, but I needed it for so many reasons. It was a powerful reminder of just how human the entirety of the Holocaust was, how much every aspect of it is key to our very nature. It is shocking to think how easy it is for any of us to "decide to live that way."(Muhsfeldt)
The content also drove home the terror. From Mike waiting for those being gassed to die to John and later Alex being shot, there was no pity, and more than that a sense of suppressed dread that this is what the world is really like. The black box upped the already intense actors to chilling levels.
The Grey Zone gave me much needed context for Playing for Time. Now I have a standard to hold myself to, to play a Nazi with realism that I hope will approach or perhaps equal Tom's. I want our show to be just as powerful, just as effective in conveying the message of the show.
To the cast, crew, and other members of the Grey Zone: Thank you.
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