Dear Colleagues,
I strongly recommend a new teaching guide- Mira Hirsch, Janet E. Rubin, and Arnold Mittelman, Enacting History: A Practical Guide to Teaching the Holocaust through Theater (Routeldge, 2020). As far as I know, it is the first book of its kind to integrate both lesson plans and theatrical materials for teachers of the Holocaust in middle and high schools. Each chapter begins with the historical context and each lesson provides directions on how to use the theatrical material to advance the students' understanding of the history. It includes verbatim testimony, scripted scenes and monologues, and best practices for performing them. This is a major contribution to our pedagogical toolbox.
- Dr. William (Bill ) Shulman is the former President of the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO).
Enacting History:
A Practical Guide to Teaching the Holocaust through Theater
Authors:
Mira Hirsch, Janet E. Rubin, Arnold Mittelman
Enacting History is a practical guide for educators that provides methodologies and resources for teaching the Holocaust through a variety of theatrical means, including scripted texts, verbatim testimony, devised theater techniques, and process-oriented creative exercises.
A close collaboration with the USC Shoah Foundation I Witness program and the National Jewish Theater Foundation Holocaust Theater International Initiative at the University of Miami Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies resulted in the ground-breaking work within this volume. The material facilitates teaching the Holocaust in a way that directly connects students to individual people and historical events through the art of theater. Each section is designed to help middle and high school educators meet curricular goals, objectives, and standards and to integrate other educational disciplines based upon best practices. Students will gain both intellectual and emotional understanding by speaking the words of survivors, as well as young characters in scripted scenes, and developing their own performances based on historical primary sources.
This book is an innovative and invaluable resource for teachers and students of the Holocaust; it is an exemplary account of how the power of theater can be harnessed within the classroom setting to encourage a deeper understanding of this defining event in history.