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‘I Never Saw Another Butterfly’ explores lives of Jewish children in Holocaust

Jackson Community College’s Drama Club will present a life-affirming drama that looks at the lives of children caught in the Holocaust of Nazi Germany in World War II in “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” a play by Celeste Raspanti, to be presented at 8 p.m. Dec. 7, 8 and 9 in Ruth Day Theatre, Potter Center.

“I Never Saw Another Butterfly” tells the story of the 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, a former military garrison set up as a ghetto in World War II as a stop-off on the way to the gas chambers in Auschwitz. Of the 15,000 Jewish children who passed through Terezin between 1942 and 1945, only about 100 children were alive to return home when it was liberated at the end of the war.

This sensitive and life-affirming work is based on the collected poems and drawings of those children, which were recovered and published in a book by the same name. It is told by Raja, based on Raja Englanderova, a child survivor of the Holocaust. Raja, having lived through it all and teaching other children when there was nothing to teach with, helping to give them hope when there was little enough reason for hope, creating a little world of laughter, of flowers and butterflies behind the barbed wire, tells the true story of the children. There were no butterflies at Terezin, but for the children, butterflies became a symbol of defiance, making it possible for them to live on and play happily while waiting to be transported to Auschwitz.

This JCC performance is student-directed and student-produced. Director is KJ Rowan, and set design is by Chris Fultz. The cast includes Caryn Showerman, Amanda Mahoney, Ashley Monk, Julia Nichols, Brad Choate, John Baker-Streevy, Luke Stanaway-Neblo, Chris Fultz, Tiffany Doan and Sean Mason. Drama club advisor is Sandy DiCesare.

All tickets are $5, which includes a $1 restoration fee, and may be purchased in advance by calling the Potter Center Ticket Office at 517.796.8600, online at www.jccmi.edu/events, or at the door.