“I am writing this as if nothing has happened, as if I’m in an army experienced in cruelty. But I’m young. I’m 14, and I haven’t seen much in my life, and I’m already so indifferent.” -Diary of Rutka Laskier, (6, Feb, 1943)
In 1943, Rutka Laskier was a Jewish girl trapped in a ghetto with thousands of others in Nazi-occupied Poland. Bright and articulate, Rutka navigated a maelstrom of conflicted thoughts and feelings by keeping a diary. Rutka entrusted her diary to her Gentile friend Stasia in case she didn’t survive. She didn’t. Rutka, her mother, and her brother were murdered at Auschwitz. Rutka’s diary was published in 2006. Now an indie-rock musical with aspirations of Broadway, Rutka is premiering at the Rouse Theatre at Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park.
The set designed by Todd Rosenthal is a gray stone wall on a hard slant. This is a world thrown off its axis, which Rutka (Lana Schwartz) and her friends have been cast into. They all have to grow up in a hurry, and yet they’re still kids. They giggle and gossip about who fancies whom, dreaming of that first kiss as new thoughts and feelings stir inside them. Rutka’s love interest Janek (Atden Weinstein), a boy who is habitually late with puppy-like charm.
The kids see right through the nebbishy Mordechai (Jacob Ben-Shmuel), as a stooge of the Nazis. As the voice of the Judenraat, Mordechai’s job is to relay the Nazi’s decrees and urge his people to obey. He hopes that their meekness will increase their chances of survival. He hates his job but fears what may happen if he doesn’t do it.
“Where they burn books, they will also burn people.” -Heinrich Heine
One of the first laws implemented under Nazi occupation was the expulsion of Jewish students from public schools, segregating them all into one squalid room with a single teacher and meager resources. When even that is taken away, they realize how valuable education is. Deciding that it is better to risk the consequences than let their brains turn to mush, Rutka and her friends meet in the personal library of a bookworm named Lolek (Dillon Klena) to read and learn. They do this until Mordechai piles even these books into a wheelbarrow and trots them out to the bonfire.
We know from the beginning that Rutka does not have a happy ending. Rutka Laskier and her family were murdered at Auschwitz. Janek and others talk about joining the partisans in the forest, but we don’t know if they made it. However, Rutka’s story survived even if she did not. Her story of small acts of defiance in the face of grave injustice will resonate, especially with young people.
It’s also nice to hear a new musical that is genuinely new and not a greatest hits album loosely strung together. I walked in with doubts about the genre but found myself converted. While Glenn Miller and the Andrews Sisters are far more appropriate to the period, they do not convey the feel of the play. Rutka is a coming-of-age story about a group of teenagers in an impossible situation.
The indie-rock vibe, with its intense guitar riffs and heavy percussion, captures the angst of young people trapped in a grossly unjust world. In anger and despair, they cry out to G✡d and question whether or not He even exists. The score by Jeremy Lloyd-Styles and Jocelyn Mackenzie is filled with youthful spirits screaming for rebellion, and we cheer them on.
The Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanities Center is partnering with the production for two Upstander workshops based on the lessons and themes of Rutka: one for teens on Oct. 27 after a matinee performance of the play and another for adults on Nov. 4.
