Staging Holocaust Resistance

Gene A. Plunka argues that drama is the ideal art form to revitalize the collective memory of Holocaust resistance. Drama of and about the Holocaust can be staged worldwide, thereby introducing the Shoah to diverse audiences. Moreover, theatre affects audiences emotionally, subliminally, or intellectually (sometimes simultaneously) in a direct way that many other art forms cannot match. This comparative drama study examines a variety of international plays - some quite well-known, others more obscure - that focus on collective or individual defiance of the Nazis.

Gene A. Plunka is a professor of English at the University of Memphis, where he teaches courses on modern and contemporary drama. His books on the modern theatre include Peter Shaffer: Roles, Rites, and Rituals in the Theatre (1988); The Rites of Passage of Jean Genet: The Art and Aesthetics of Risk Taking (1992); Antonin Artaud and the Modern Theatre (1994); Jean-Claude van Itallie and the Off-Broadway Theatre (1999); The Black Comedy of John Guare (2002); The Plays of Beth Henley: A Critical Study (2005); and Holocaust Drama: The Theater of Atrocity (2009).