NEW YORK — The first comprehensive archive of theater materials related to the Holocaust has been established at the University of Miami, allowing researchers and students worldwide access to such plays as Arthur Millers’ “Broken Glass,” the stage adaptation of “The Diary of Anne Frank” and the musical “Cabaret.”
The digital Holocaust Theater Archive includes more than 550 titles and will continue to grow, including details like synopses, country of origin, casts and rights holders. Study guides and educational programs will be built around the archive.
The archive is the work of the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies and the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies — both at the University of Miami — and the National Jewish Theater Foundation. The official launch is set for Tuesday.
“Although theater has played an extraordinary role from the 1930s to today in Holocaust awareness and education, there has not been until now a comprehensive theater initiative that has sought to make understood that body of work to Holocaust educators, officials, theatrical companies and the general public,” Arnold Mittelman, the president of the National Jewish Theater Foundation and project director of the archive, said in a statement.
The archive includes “The Substance of Fire” by Jon Robin Baitz, several plays by Bertolt Brecht including “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui,” Jeff Cohen’s “The Soap Myth” and “The Sound of Music.” The site organizes the works by title and authors, as well as categories, including such common subjects as the ghettos, the extermination camps and Holocaust deniers.
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