DISTANT SURVIVORS
TESTIMONIALS FROM
THE MID-HUDSON VALLEY TOUR
SPRING 2016
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​"Distant Survivors is brilliantly written and performed during an intense conversation between several people directly and indirectly involved in the Holocaust. Its pain and wounded memory linger on in the heart, soul and DNA of so many millions of people. Through the use of powerful words and images, the brutality and sadism of this wicked chapter in the history of our world is retold.  For present generations dealing with bigotry, racism and bullying in schools, this story needs to be told again and again so we dare not even consider repeating it.”

Rev. Canon Albert Joy Ogle, Vicar of Lithgow, St Peter's Episcopal Church
 
“By its searing emotion, authentic voices, and intimate, spare staging, instead of confronting, it moved my heart, soul and mind to reflect and relate to the horror as it unfolded. Presented to us, an interfaith community, it created an experience of bearing witness and spurred deep and pain-inspired conversation about war atrocities, cruelty, cultural blindness, and reconciliation.  It is a beautiful, spectacular piece of work.”

The Rev. Cameron Hardy, Associate Director of College Counseling, Chaplain,
Millbrook School
 
“I was deeply moved by this performance.  The actors could not have portrayed the insanity, cruelty, and horrors of the Holocaust in a more realistic way.  I found the entire play deeply disturbing, yet riveting...just what a drama about the Holocaust should invoke.”

Rabbi Jon R. Haddon, Congregation Beth David, Amenia, NY
 
“Within a graphic representation of the horrors of the Holocaust there is integrated a haunting, aesthetically satisfying poetry.  In addition, there are in the play subtle reminders that we still live in “the same castle,” that is, we still see all around us the oppression, often murderous, of the ‘Other.’ The play spurs us to think seriously about that.”

Gerald Sorin, SUNY/New Paltz, Distinguished Professor of American and Jewish Studies and Director, Louis and Mildred Resnick Institute for Study of Modern Jewish Life
 
"The play is a masterful and compelling weave of history, poetry, and second generation witnessing.  The work explores with sensitivity and depth the stance of a second generation German-American who feels the burden of the Holocaust, of being German, and suggests the ways in which we all experience the legacies of the Holocaust in the 21st century.  The actors developed their personae beautifully… the intertwining of historical fact and Heyen's poetry worked dramatically and was quite compelling…a profound and moving theatrical experience."

Jan Zlotnik Schmidt, SUNY/New Paltz Distinguished Teaching Professor 
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Distant Survivors is available for touring. Contact us at juneprager.mirage@gmail.com or at (347) 668-7666.
                         MIRAGE PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE FOR TOURING                            
DISTANT SURVIVORS
Conceived and adapted for the stage by director June Prager, Distant Survivors is based on Holocaust poetry by William Heyen.  The play explores man's attempt to fathom the evil that spurred the Holocaust and confronts the condition in mankind that allowed it to happen.

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CEDARS
CEDARS is a passionate and raw play- based on contemporary Native American poetry. It offers insight into the world of diverse indigenous peoples and their everyday struggles, but also offering glimpses of hope, celebration, resistance and the beauty of indigenous cultures.