Boca News, 3/10/95

"KAMP!" HUMOR
Theater with concentration camp setting memorable
BY SHERMAN BECK

… Theresienstadt, in Czechoslovakia, was a false-front concentration camp designed to fool the world into believing that the Nazis had created a haven for big-name Czech entertainers, creative artists, writers and musicians. Actually it was a way-station for victims en route to Auschwitz. By the time Theresienstadt was liberated, the facade had worn thin and the truth was coming out, in bits of paper stuffed into every conceivable hiding place. The camp population had left messages on their way to death. Some of those messages were rescued and put together, in their original form, for the program presented as "KAMP" now playing at the Deerfield Beach Drama Center, (It was originally presented in three performances at Temple Beth El.) It's quite an impressive show.
Though I thought it was going to be a downer, it isn't. What comes across the footlights is optimism, hope, pride, and a sense of humor. Theresienstadt was a camp for entertainers, and the prisoners there did the only thing they knew how to do: entertain. They wrote songs, skits, music and sketches, and they played in the camp bands and orchestras. A lot of what they created endured. It reached the 70's in a revised published version and then the 80's as a play. What we see in the current offering is material worked into theatrical continuity (in English) by two highly capable young European theater people, Thomas and Caren Neile, who based their effort on the original material from those trapped at Theresienstadt. How much is original and how much is today is impossible to tell, but credits for music and lyrics are given for each of the members, and if any of the people credited are still around, they might like to claim their share. A lot of the numbers are quite good. All of them are definitely worth seeing. The performance is by two very talented people, Amy De-Mayo and Curt Buckler. Frank Spitznagel provides piano accompaniment throughout. The set is bare and black with set changes indicated by shifting two stools around, and costume changes involving only rearranged clothing, It's stark, the way it must have been in reality, with no room for any fripperies. It's all understated, and the people are totally believable. At this point, any editorial comment would be superfluous. Go see it!

Fort Lee High School 3000
Lemoine Avenue Fon Lee, New Jersey 07024

I have been involved with Holocaust studies for many years. I have participated in and brought to our school many programs that educate our students about the horrors of the Holocaust. Holocaust studies are an integral part of our curriculum. During the year 2000, Sam Lipp, a member of B'nai B'rith Fort Lee Palisades Lodge 1991, told me about a wonderful show entitled "Kamp". B'nai B'rith offered to underwrite the show, and I made arrangements so all the students in the history classes learned about Theresienstadt and what had accurred there. I also mad the arrangements to have many members of our Senior Citizens Club bused to the school so there could be interaction between people who have lived through Holocaust and our students.

The program was staged on November 30th 2000, in the Fort Lee High School Auditorium. The performance was superb. Sergei Dreznin and Curt Buckler are two of the most talented people I have seen. The music and lyrics were memorable and meaningful. The show was a great success. In terms of teaching the Holocaust, I think this is a unique and important component about which people should be aware. It is poignant but still shows us that we must never give up hope.

I heartily recommend this production to you.

Yours truly

Dr. Joan Voss
Chairman of English and Social Studies
Councilwoman for the Borough of Fort Lee