Anne Frank: Holocaust, Memory and Performance Symposium

Presented in partnership with The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance and the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies

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The Anne Frank Phenomenon Keynote Address with Dr. Jeffrey Shandler October 8, 2015 | 5:00–6:15 p.m.

One of the world’s most widely read books, Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl has provoked responses in the form of musical compositions, museums, numerous works of art, biographies, poetry, dance, film, pedagogy and broadcasting. These engagements with Anne Frank’s life and work are a phenomenon that demonstrate how the work inspires individuals across the world to express their experience with the text in practices of remembrance, imagination and contestation.

Dr. Jeffrey Shandler is chair and professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. He is a cultural historian who studies Jewish memory practices, particularly those related to the remembrance of the Holocaust and pre-war Jewish life in Eastern Europe, Jewish cultural history through 20th century media practices, Yiddish language and literature and the intellectual history of Jewish Studies. Dr. Shandler is the author of numerous books including Shtetl: A Vernacular Intellectual History and While America Watches: Televising the Holocaust, and the co-editor of Anne Frank Unbound: Media, Imagination, Memory.

The Diary of Anne Frank Performance October 8, 2015 | 8:00 p.m.

Oscar G. Brockett Theatre F. Loren Winship Drama Building Immediately followed by a

Post - Performance Talkback with Dr. Brant Pope and Dr. Robert Abzug Dr. Brant Pope is the director of The Diary of the Anne Frank, the chair of The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and

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Dance and is the holder of the Z.T. Scott Chair in Family Drama. He has had a 30-year career in academic and professional theatre as both an actor and director.

Dr. Robert Abzug is the Audre and Bernard Rapoport Regents Chair of Jewish Studies, professor of History and American Studies and director of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. He works in three major fields: religion and reform in antebellum America; America and the Holocaust and, most recently, the interpretation of religion and psychology in modern American culture.

Moderator: Laura Baggs (dramaturg, The Diary of Anne Frank)

Holocaust, Education and Publics with Dr. Mary Lee Webeck, Dr. Daniel Greene, Dr. Erika Hughes and Dr. Eric Colleary October 9, 2015 | 9:00–10:30 a.m.

Museum exhibitions and dramatic interpretation of the Holocaust construct their narratives and representations in order to engage multiple audiences. These narratives shape public understanding of Holocaust history and memory. After 70 years, what is the state of these established narratives? How should educators, curators and artists working today cultivate, extend and challenge these histories?

Dr. Mary Lee Webeck is the director of education at the Holocaust Museum Houston.

Dr. Daniel Greene is an adjunct professor in History at Northwestern University and guest exhibition curator for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, D.C.).

Dr. Erika Hughes is an assistant professor at Arizona State University’s School of Film,

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Dance and Theatre. Her research interests include theatre of the Holocaust and political theatre for young audiences.

Dr. Eric Colleary is the Cline Curator of Theatre and Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center and holds a doctorate in Theatre Historiography from the University of Minnesota.

He currently serves on committees for the Theatre Library Association and the American Theatre Archives Project.

Moderator: Dr. Charlotte Canning

Diaries, Archives and History with Alexandra Zapruder and Dr. Pascale Bos

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Holocaust Performance and Representation with Tamar Rogoff, Kristen Smiarowski and Dr. Jaclyn Isaac Pryor October 9, 2015 | 2:00–3:30 p.m.

How have theatre and dance artists taken on the challenging task of representing or responding to the Holocaust? How does Holocaust performance engage site, memory, trauma and personal and collective histories in new and important ways? In this panel, dance historian and symposium director Dr. Rebecca Rossen converses with three contemporary performance makers—Tamar Rogoff, Kristen Smiarowski and Dr. Jaclyn Isaac Pryor—about past and current projects that address the Holocaust.

October 9, 2015 | 10:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m.

Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is an entry point into the history of the Holocaust for millions of readers. However, Frank was not the only young person to author a diary during this time. Alexandra Zapruder will discuss the impact of the numerous other diaries written by young people during the Holocaust. The diaries discussed feature works by 12–22 year-olds, some who survived, but most of whom perished. Taken together their accounts, unexpected thoughts, ideas and feelings serve to deepen and complicate our understanding of life during the Holocaust.

Alexandra Zapruder is the author of Salvaged Places: Young Writers’ Diaries of Holocaust, winner of the National Jewish Book Award in Holocaust scholarship.

Dr. Pascale Bos is an associate professor in the Department of Germanic Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. She is author of German-Jewish Literature in the Wake of the Holocaust (Palgrave 2005).

Moderator: Dr. Robert Abzug

Tamar Rogoff is a choreographer and filmmaker as well as the creator of Ivye Project, a large-scale, site-specific dance theatre piece performed in the woods of Belarus.

Kristen Smiarowski is the choreographer and director of Key Game Project, a multipart dance performance about Holocaust and memory.

Dr. Jaclyn Isaac Pryor is a visiting assistant professor of English and peace, justice and human rights at Haverford College. Dr. Pryor is an interdisciplinary performance artist, scholar and educator, as well as the director of Floodlines.

Moderator: Dr. Rebecca Rossen

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October 8, 2015

5:00–6:15 p.m.

Keynote Address: The Anne Frank Phenomenon with Dr. Jeffrey Shandler

6:15–7:30 p.m.

Reception 8:00 p.m

Performance: The Diary of Anne Frank followed by a Post-Performance Talkback with Dr. Brant Pope and Dr. Robert Abzug Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, F. Loren Winship Drama Building Tickets available at JoinTheDrama.org

October 9, 2015

9:00–10:30 a.m.

Panel: Holocaust, Education and Publics with Dr. Mary Lee Webeck, Dr. Daniel Greene, Dr. Erika Hughes and Dr. Eric Colleary

10:45 a.m.–12:15 p.m.

Presentation: Diaries, Archives and History with Alexandra Zapruder and Dr. Pascale Bos

2:00–3:30 p.m.

Artist Roundtable: Holocaust Performance and Representation with Tamar Rogoff, Kristen Smiarowski and Dr. Jaclyn Isaac Pryor

All events are located in the Julius Glickman Conference Center, unless noted otherwise.

Julius Glickman Conference Center The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts Building 305 East 23rd Street Austin, Texas 78712

Oscar G. Brockett Theatre The University of Texas at Austin F. Loren Winship Drama Building 300 East 23rd Street Austin, Texas 78712