About Lights Up on the Dark: The Holocaust Onstage
Blending performing arts and history, LUOTD delves into what it means to represent the Holocaust onstage.
Co-hosting from London and New York, theatre historian Samantha Mitschke and actor Alexandra Gellner discuss all things Holocaust-theatre. Bringing their perspectives as Holocaust educators, the pair look at how theatre can help with teaching and learning about the Holocaust as they offer fresh and thought-provoking insights.
This week, Sam and Alex delve into The Lucky Star by Karen Hartman, based on Richard Hollander’s book Every Day Lasts a Year: A Jewish Family’s Correspondence from Poland.
Following the death of his parents in a car accident, journalist Richard Hollander discovers a hidden suitcase in their attic. Inside are over 200 postcards and letters stamped with swastikas, written in three languages, spanning from 1939 to 1942. The Lucky Star - originally entitled The Book of Joseph - shifts back and forth in time to trace the life of Richard’s father, Joseph. As the Nazis occupy Poland, Joseph manages to escape to the United States. However, his family remains trapped under brutal German occupation. The play dramatises the correspondence sent between Joseph in America and his family back home. Through carefully coded words, censorship, and desperate pleas for affidavits and passage, the letters chronicle his family's attempt to survive the Holocaust alongside Joseph’s relentless, agonising efforts to save them from afar.
Sam and Alex discuss the play’s structure, including the opening framing of a ‘book talk’; the different relationships and experiences represented; the play’s historical significance, with Joseph’s real-life experiences literally serving as a ‘test case’ for US immigration; the historical context of the Krakow Ghetto; and do an unexpected deep-dive into the play’s changed title…
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Hosts: Samantha Mitschke & Alexandra Gellner
Executive Producer: Samantha Mitschke
Producer / Editor: Alexandra Gellner
Music: “Image (https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=G4K7LgpPu2E)” by Infraction Music (https://inaudio.org)
Contact: https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/ (https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/)
Episode Sources
Plays
Karen Hartman (2017) The Lucky Star (https://www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/p/64335/the-lucky-star). Samuel French, Inc.
Other sources and resources
Full list of resources coming soon
13 Apr 2026
"Here There Are Blueberries" by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich
In this week’s episode, coinciding with Yom HaShoah, Sam and Alex look at Here There Are Blueberries by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich.
Here There Are Blueberries tells the story of an album donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum containing never-before-seen photographic evidence of Nazi officers and staff at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. In the play, Museum archivist Rebecca Erbelding and her colleagues begin to unravel the shocking story behind the images. As the album makes headlines around the world, a businessman in Germany sees the photos online and recognizes his own grandfather. He begins a journey of discovery that will take him into the lives of other Nazi descendants—and into a reckoning with his family’s past and his country’s history.
Currently unable to get a copy of the playtext for love nor money, Sam and Alex rely on their memories of seeing productions in New York and London as they discuss elements such as the ‘play as museum’ and the different takeaways for different spectators; the element of ‘detective story’; the representation of perpetrators’ descendants; the concept of ‘I could never do that’ and its contemporary relevance; and the elusive quality they wanted but couldn’t quite find…
For more of the historical context around Here There Are Blueberries, listen to S3 Episode 2 - “Album Karla Höckera / The Album of Karl Höcker with Paul Bargetto.”
Don’t forget to comment, rate, review, subscribe and share!
Hosts: Samantha Mitschke & Alexandra Gellner
Executive Producer: Samantha Mitschke
Producer / Editor: Alexandra Gellner
Music: “Image (https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=G4K7LgpPu2E)” by Infraction Music (https://inaudio.org)
Contact: https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/ (https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/)
Episode Sources
Plays
Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich (2024) Here There Are Blueberries (https://www.heretherareblueberries.com/).
Selected sources and resources - for a full list, please use the Contact form above
‘Here There Are Blueberries’ Further Learning (https://www.heretherareblueberries.com/further-learning) - online resource from Tectonic Theater Project.
Jonathan Freund, 'Widen the Lens: A Learning and Discussion Guide (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62d1c23a2b79f407556007c7/t/6672225a1070e71eb35d89c3/1718755930608/Widen+The+Lens-FINAL+%281%29.pdf)', provided by the University of Miami.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Unlocking the Mystery: The Höcker Album (https://youtu.be/ah0nIWR0O1M?si=_NctG8N09jOyw0Z4) (YouTube).
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Inside the Höcker Album: The Nazis at Auschwitz (https://www.ushmm.org/collections/the-museums-collections/about/inside-the-hoecker-album?utm_campaign=blueberries&utm_medium=event&utm_content=qr_code&utm_source=banner) - further learning guides and resources relating to Here There Are Blueberries
1 Apr 2026
Women's History: "Blonde Poison" by Gail Louw
CONTENT WARNING: References to suicide; sexual references
In this week’s episode, originally recorded for Women’s History Month, Sam and Alex look at Gail Louw’s 2013 one-woman play Blonde Poison.
Stella Goldschlag was living illegally in war-torn Berlin when she herself was betrayed and tortured. When offered the chance of saving herself and her parents from the death camps, she agreed to be a Greifer for the Gestapo and inform on Jews in hiding. She was extraordinarily successful in this and her activities increased after her parents had finally been deported. The vast dimensions of Stella's character range from tortured victim to cruel killer, from loving daughter to betrayer of friends, from gentle lover to depraved promiscuity. She was given the name Blonde Poison by the Gestapo, who revelled in her treachery. Decades after the war Stella agrees to be interviewed by a well-respected journalist - her last chance for redemption. Can she ever be released from her past?
Sam and Alex discuss aspects such as the fragmented and often conflicting historical information about Stella herself; how a spectator can intensely dislike a character, and yet still empathise with them; the concepts of ‘victim as oppressor’ and Jewish antisemitism; and the double standards around female sexuality and morality.
Don’t forget to comment, rate, review, subscribe and share!
Hosts: Samantha Mitschke & Alexandra Gellner
Executive Producer: Samantha Mitschke
Producer / Editor: Alexandra Gellner
Music: “Image (https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=G4K7LgpPu2E)” by Infraction Music (https://inaudio.org)
Contact: https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/ (https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/)
Episode Sources: Full list forthcoming
Books & Articles
Stew Ross (2022) Stella Goldschlag (https://stewross.com/stella-goldschlag/).
Plays
Gail Louw (2013) Blonde Poison (https://bookfinder.com/search/?author=Gail%20Louw&binding=ANY&condition=ANY&currency=GBP&destination=GB&firstEdition=false&isbn=&keywords=&language=EN&maxPrice=&minPrice=&noIsbn=false&noPrintOnDemand=false&publicationMaxYear=&publicationMinYear=&publisher=&bunchKey=m1Tk8PxN8XDQYUFxN1bbhsC12S8_0_0&signed=false&title=Blonde%20Poison&viewAll=false&bunchTitle=Blonde%20Poison&bunchAuthor=Louw%2C%20Gail&mode=BASIC&searchOrigin=HOME). Oberon Modern Plays.
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