CAMBRIDGE, MA-In conjunction with Holocaust Remembrance Day, a Holocaust Memorial Service and a performance of "The Choice," a drama exploring moral and legal issues confronting ordinary people during the Holocaust, will be held in the MIT Chapel on Monday, May 5 beginning at 4:15 pm.
Co-written by Robert J. Campbell and David Belford and produced by the Hands & Eyes Theatre Ensemble of Somerville, "The Choice" portrays Helinka and Vladek, a Christian Polish couple, as they struggle to decide whether to take in Lynn and Samuel, a Jewish couple who have just escaped from the infamous Lublin ghetto. Dialogue and characters in the play are based on interviews with Holocaust survivors.
The action takes place in Majdenek, Poland, site of a Nazi death camp, and all four characters have witnessed Jews being taken there. The first act describes Hitler's rise to power, and the second characterizes life for each couple as the Final Solution unfolds. In the third act, Lynn and Samuel confront their Christian neighbors directly. "The Choice" relies on audience participation to draw its conclusion: dramatic action stops as Helinka and Vladek must choose whether to protect Lynn and Samuel.
Sponsored by the MIT Board of Chaplains, "The Choice" is supported by the William Abramowitz Fund of MIT Hillel, the MIT Chaplaincies and the Council for the Arts at MIT.
The MIT Chapel is next to the Stratton Student Center, across from MIT's main entrance at 77 Massachusetts Ave. For more information, call the MIT Hillel at x3-2982.
