Since I’m performing in TAKING SIDES, the play that is based on true events in the year 1946, I have been doing a lot of research about Germany, women growing up under the Nazi Regime, and I even tried to find some connection with me, my family and my past.
Well I found out earlier this year that I had a great-great aunt, who was a very famous Opera Singer, and a stage and film actress in Hungary. She lived from 1879 to 1955. Her name was Sari Fedak.
With some digging on some hungarian online groups and history websites, I found out that Sari was imprisoned after 1945 for one year. She was over 66 years old.
It turns out that she worked from 1919 on propagating the war and she ended up working for the Donausender Radio for the German Fascists.
Some searches later I also found out that at the age of 57 she adopted a jewish girl, who would have otherwise been deported to the camps.
This was not known until this girl, named Erzsebet Paksi Laszlone ( Elizabeth Paksi) went to see an exhibit about hungarian Divas in 2004 (68 years old at this time) and the exhibit inspired her to do some research in a local library.
Elizabeth found out by accident, that her father, Sandor Winter, was a jewish film maker, who married in 1935 a christian woman.
When Elizabeth was born, the family had to hide her and they took her to Sari to save her from the camp. Elizabeth’s mom never told her who her father was and Elizabeth never met her jewish dad. She only knew her mother and she was raised Catholic by Sari for 6 years and after that she was taken to a catholic convent.
I find this incredibly fascinating. What people did, what their motivation was, who they were, etc. How would I have reacted at that time? What side would I have chosen? Would I have died early or would I have survived? How do we choose between right and wrong, and how do we choose between survival or death?
I hope you will come out and see this show. I know it will inspire you in many ways.
Performances, Rehearsals, Taking Sides | 30.10.2007 16:19 | No Comments
I did some search on MySpace. I typed in the search “Chornobyl” and a bunch of stuff came up. A lot of people write about the incident and I also found some people who are personally affected by it.
One couple for example adopted two children from Chornobyl. Find out for yourself by going to MySpace.
I also found this link:
http://www.englishrussia.com/?p=293
More links are coming. My computer froze so I’ll be back…
…
…Okay, I’m back with more links:
A Band that is influenced by the diseaster:
http://www.myspace.com/manequinn
myspacetv:
http://vids.myspace.com/…
More links:
http://blog.myspace.com…
http://www.myspace.com/herefordchernobyl
and more to come later…
Voices From Chornobyl | 11.10.2007 23:05 | No Comments
It’s been a week since we performed at the Empty Stage and that chicken song won’t go out of my head. HEEEELP! I wake up with it and I go to bed with the song and thorughout the day it’s constantly, and I mean constantly, in my head.
Voices From Chornobyl | 6.10.2007 11:40 | No Comments
I performed last Sunday in VOICES FROM CHORNOBYL and we had a full house. It was incredible!
My hubby and I had a few cyclists join us on our ride to the theatre and as promised, all cyclists got $5 off their tickets :-). We were three riders going over to the west side, and we met up with three others at the Theatre.
After the show a Russian woman went up to the director in tears. She loved it!
We had people linger a bit afterward but not much. This I think is a good sign. People had a lot to think about. Some of my friends looked like in a daze from all that information that was thrown at them. It was great but also strange.
In the past couple of years I worked on shows that were happy and cheery, and we talked and laughed afterwards. But this feels almost like after “A Bright Room Called Day.” People needed time to absorb and to speak about what they experienced. Some people came over crying, remembering wars that they lived through. The responses of “Voices” reminds me of that.
We have one more show on Sunday, October 14th at 7 pm and the seats are filling up fast. Please, RSVP now at 323.552.3333 or email bookshoptheatre@gmail.com to get your seats. Again, we offer $5 off for anyone arriving on a bike. More info is on the website www.voicesfromchornobyl.com
I hope to see you after the show!
Performances, Voices From Chornobyl | 5.10.2007 16:11 | No Comments