Each year the Victoria Theatre Association Education and Outreach team offers an in-depth education project at no charge to participating students and teachers. Each project is built around a performance: past projects, for example, have focused on Hairspray, Freedom Train, and Ragtime. A typical project begins with hands-on theatre workshops in the classrooms; is followed by a critical writing or art project that explores key themes of the work in question (especially its historical context) and connects those themes to the present day; and culminates in students’ attendance at the performance.

This season's project, Through the Eyes of a Child: Children and the Holocaust exposes students and their teachers to the art created by children in response to their direct experiences with the Holocaust. This yearlong education project culminates in March and April with productions of Brundibár and My Heart in a Suitcase. Brundibár is a musical fairy-tale about children who band together to overcome a bully; the show was performed 55 times by children in a Nazi concentration camp. Brundibár will be presented in partnership with Dayton Opera, and will feature the Kettering Children’s Choir and Dayton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.  My Heart in a Suitcase is a play based on the true story of a young Jewish girl forced to flee from Germany during the Holocaust in order to survive, leaving her home and family forever.

There will be school-time shows for students and teachers as part of the Physicians for Kids Discovery Series, as well as public performances, of both shows. Leading up to the performances will be a series of free community outreach events coordinated in conjunction with Dayton Holocaust Resource Center (DHRC), The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton and K12 Gallery for Young People. These events will serve to further integrate lessons of the Holocaust into students’ activities.

For more information about this special project, contact Education and Outreach Manager Luke Dennis, at 937-228-7591, ext. 3039, or luke.dennis@victoriatheatre.com.

Corporate and Foundation Project Sponsors
The Miriam Rosenthal Memorial Trust Fund
The Dayton Power and Light Company Foundation
The Reynolds and Reynolds Company
Levin Family Foundation
Sinclair Community College Holocaust Remembrance Committee
Armotte Boyer Charitable Trust, Fifth Third Bank Trustee
Charles Frydman Memorial Foundation, Renate Frydman and Family
The Jesse and Caryl Philips Foundation
Arts Midwest Performing Arts Fund

Individual Sponsors
Benjamin Schuster, M.D. - In Memory of Marian
Bernard and Carole Rabinowitz Philanthropic Fund
of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Foundation
Darlene and Max Gutmann
Diana and Jon Sebaly