Scottsdale students take Holocaust play to the Fringe

SHANNON LEVITT | STAFF WRITER

Last month, 16 Chaparral High School students brought “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of the world’s biggest and best-known art and media events held annually in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the fourth group of student actors and crew that Ed Como, Chaparral’s former theater head, had accompanied to the famous festival.

He said each of those trips was special in its own way, but “this time was the most meaningful by far.”

When Adena Astrowsky, vice president of Phoenix Holocaust Association and a founding member of 3GAZ (for second and third generation descendants of Holocaust survivors), first suggested the play to him, Como liked it, both for its powerful themes and its brevity. The latter increased its appeal as a candidate for the Fringe, where the maximum time for shows is 90 minutes and the guidelines don’t allow intermissions.

“I thought a play of around 45 minutes is best because it’s most comfortable for the audience,” Como said, adding the salient point: “A lot of venues aren’t air conditioned in Scotland.”

Then there’s the powerful nature of the show’s content.