Natalie Mullanaphy

Natalie Mullanaphy, of Fredericksburg, has enjoyed performing since she was a toddler. Her elementary school music teacher, who taught her piano lessons, said she never saw a child so young who loved music so much. She took voice and acting lessons before entering Stafford High School, where she spent four years as part of the award-winning Stafford Players. Mullanaphy's role as Aunt Spiker in the musical "James and the Giant Peach" earned her the Riverside Center for Performing Arts Scholarship for excellence in high school musical theater in 2018.

Mullanaphy, 22, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre with a concentration in acting from Rowan University College of Performing Arts in New Jersey in May. Her audition for professors in the Theatre Department had earned her a four-year talent scholarship. She landed roles in several plays throughout her time at Rowan, but it was in her senior year when she made up her mind that historical theatre was something she was passionate about. She took Dr. Anthony Hostetter's "Theatre of the Holocaust" class and auditioned for a series of one-woman plays he created, wrote and directed. The plays depicted the lives of Holocaust survivors. Mullanaphy was cast for the role of Elizabeth Ehrlich Roth, portraying the 96-year-old Holocaust survivor in a world-premiere performance of "Rella, Rose and I: Elizabeth Ehrlich Roth's Story of Survival," at Rowan University in April. Ehrlich Roth had a front-row seat and was joined by three generations of family to view the performance.

Hostetter, who is a tenured professor and mainstage producer for the Department of Theatre and Dance at Rowan, started the "Manya Project," whose namesake is for Manya Frydman Perel, a Holocaust survivor who was in eight concentration camps. For five decades, she educated students about Nazi crimes against humanity. "The Manya Project" and the four plays performed at Rowan's theater were told through the survivors' experiences in their own words. By performing the documentary theatre pieces, Hostetter and the actors are keeping the survivor stories alive, honoring Holocaust victims and educating audiences.

bY Lenora Kruk-Mullanaphy

"I met Elizabeth quite a few times, and she is an amazing person," said Mullanaphy. "I feel it's necessary to share such important history and spread awareness of anti-Semitism to the public. It's been the most important role I've undertaken, and I want to share this play with as many people as possible to let audiences know the strong, resilient and beautiful person Elizabeth is."

Mullanaphy is working with Hostetter to share the story of Ehrlich Roth's life with audiences in the Fredericksburg area, as well as for organizations and museums that feature Holocaust remembrance ceremonies and schools throughout the region.

"I feel like this is a play I can continue to perform for the rest of my life," said Mullanaphy. "It means so much to me to be able to share Elizabeth's extraordinary story and let people know about the horrors she overcame, the love she has for her family, her losses, the kindness she shows and, in spite of everything she's been through, her sense of humor."

Mullanaphy plans to reside in the Fredericksburg area, where she said there are many outlets for theater. In the future, she will also write and direct her own plays.

For more information and to book a performance of "Rella, Rose and I: Elizabeth Ehrlich Roth's Story of Survival," contact (540) 395-2941.

Lenora Kruk-Mullanaphy is a public relations professional & freelance writer.