The Asides program from the Shakespeare Theatre Company
The Asides program for Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., contains a multitude of interesting background information about the production. The creative process is especially highlighted, showing how a person like Karski – self-described as an “insignificant little man” but caught up in the historically rich timeframe of World War II and the Holocaust – ended up as a character in a major theatrical production.
Now in a mobile app format (rather than paper as in past years), the program includes interviews with the co-creators and star of the production, along with comments from artistic director Simon Godwin. Additionally, there is background about how the production came into being from an ensemble at Georgetown University to its present version as a one-man play.
Included is a very illuminating piece about Remember This by Dr. Drew Lichtenberg, who asks these questions
· What is needed to create a piece of theatre?
· And how does the theatrical event lead to social and political change?
Dr. Lichtenberg then discusses the creative process as employed by Greek playwrights and Shakespeare and how the message of Jan Karski resonates with its contemporary social significance. He ends on a thoughtful but optimistic note “…the act of holding the mirror up to nature has always been fundamental to theatre, and, one might say, to human civilization.”
The program finishes with colorful and arresting samples of a graphic novel about Karski, Karski’s Mission: To Stop the Holocaust.
Attached below is an edited version of Asides, shortened to fit website technical constraints.
remember-this-the-lesson-of-jan-karski-sct-in-washington-program-sized-down.pdf
